BOSTON – For the first time in six games this season, the Anaheim Ducks scored the first goal of the game on Tuesday in Nashville.
No, it wasn’t Leo Carlsson blazing through the neutral zone and firing off a laser. No, it wasn’t Cutter Gauthier ripping off a wrist shot and picking a corner. No, it wasn’t even Beckett Sennecke continuing his red-hot rookie start.
No, while all three of those Ducks did score in a 5-2 road win over the Predators, the first opening goal scorer for Anaheim in the 2025-26 season was… Ross Johnston?
Yes, the veteran fourth-line physical presence picked up a rebound, shot from a sharp angle and the puck deflected off a Nashville stick for the 1-0 first-period lead. The initial tally kicked off a career-high three-point night for Johnston and marked the first notch in the belt of the 31-year-old’s first Gordie Howe Hat Trick with a goal, two assists and a fight.
“It was pretty special,” Johnston said after practice on Wednesday at Boston University. “That’s probably the pinnacle of a hat trick for me, so yeah, I know it was pretty special for sure. It was nice to be able to get the win and enjoy and get ready for tomorrow against Boston.”
It was just Johnston’s second multi-point effort of his career, with the first coming on a two-assist night as a member of the New York Islanders in–of all places–Anaheim on Feb. 27, 2022.
It was an effort sprung, once again, by the Ducks’ forecheck, which has been one of the most visible offensive changes under coach Joel Quenneville. Anaheim has hounded pucks and been hard on puck retrievals to extend zone time and rack up offensive chances.
It was Johnston’s forecheck that forced turnovers for the Ducks’ fourth and fifth goals, with a big hit behind the net to earn a secondary assist on Sennecke’s goal and a nifty stick check to free the puck up to Ryan Poehling who fed Troy Terry for his first goal of the season.
“There’s not much thinking. We’re just going,” Johnston said of the forecheck. “You see the puck, you’re over your top of your guy and you get your stick in there and kind of disrupt things. We’re kind of in the rhythm, and whether it’s the system or whatever it is, we’re able to get in there and disrupt. It all starts with getting pucks in good places, keeping them away from the goalies and as you see last night, we were able to get those pucks back and get rewarded.”
It was also a return to the lineup for Johnston after being a healthy scratch on Sunday in Chicago, where Quenneville opted for an 11-forward, 7-defenseman lineup rather than roll four complete lines of 12 forwards.
Johnston had played in the Ducks’ four previous games and had earned praise from Quenneville during the preseason.
“Even taking him out of the lineup (in Chicago), he didn’t deserve to come out of the lineup,” Quenneville told reporters in Nashville. “He’s played four really good games prior to the last game. He continues on having a real good start to the season. A good camp. I don’t know if he’s going to play (every game) the rest of the way. It’s one game. He had a good response knowing that, hey, you might not play them all, but keep yourself ready to go. Tonight was a good indication that he’s ready.”
As a player that has not been an every-night fixture in his career, Johnston is keenly aware of his role and what’s expected of him, especially in light of Quenneville’s last notion there. Johnston knows he’s not out there to be a point producer.
“No, listen, my job doesn’t change too much whether I’m in the lineup or not,” Johnston said. “I’m out again, I’m still going to come back in and try to do the same thing. Create space for mates again, reiterate the forecheck and do all the simple things. If we can get rewarded like we did last game, great. If not, just keep plugging away and do the same thing the following game.”
It’s a no-nonsense brand of hockey for Johnston, and while he’s had his fair shares of ups and downs at the bottom of the line-up and calls for him not to be in the line-up, that straight-ahead hockey has paid dividends for him this season.
Beyond the three-point night on Tuesday–Johnston’s first three points of the season–he has been a surprisingly decent player by the analytics.
Per Natural Stat Trick, Anaheim is earning 50.06% of expected goals at five-on-five with Johnston on the ice and 50.82% of the shot attempts. MoneyPuck has the same metrics at 48% of expected goals and 51% of shot attempts. In the Nashville game alone, MoneyPuck had those metrics at 78.6% of expected goals and 54.1% of shot attempts.
“Usually those numbers don’t favor me,” Johnston said with a smile.
In the long run, the numbers will probably not stay that high, and even Johnston would tell you, they don’t mean that he’s being bumped up to the first line any time soon. However, it is that work ethic that Johnston brings every practice and every game that will translate into long-term success if the rest of the Ducks continue to bring it as they have through six games.
“We’ve been getting in, getting forechecks, getting pucks back,” Johnston said. “I think last game we were rewarded. Pucks were kind of bouncing the right way, and guys were able to bury them. So, I don’t think necessarily last game was anything different than what we’ve been doing, but we were rewarded.”
Anaheim will seek another road trip reward in the third game of this five-game eastward swing Thursday night in Boston.