As the Ducks jet north, they’ll have to declare a unique item to Canadian customs agents: a double-edged sword.
The majority of their losses this season have seen them give up a lead. But their last two wins have been multi-goal comebacks, the type they specialized in last season when they and the Montreal Canadiens ran neck and neck for the most come-from-behind victories in the NHL.
“It’s a 60-minute game, it’s a long hockey game and a lot can happen. We’ve seen it both ways this season,” said Cutter Gauthier, whose hat trick Sunday gave him five goals in his last two appearances. “We just have to have a lot of belief and play a simple brand [of hockey].”
Even the NHL’s Stars of the Week honors had a give-and-take vibe. Leo Carlsson was named the third star, but Buffalo’s Tage Thompson was the first star, thanks in large measure to his five-point explosion against the Ducks on Thursday.
The Ducks’ big-ticket forwards, Carlsson and Gauthier, resplended as the Ducks poured on six consecutive goals and four on the power play to upend the Ottawa Senators on Sunday. That duo and upstart winger Judd Caulfield combined for nine points in the win.
Carlsson’s three assists gave him four straight games with two or more points and 10 points in that span. Carlsson, who signed a record-breaking $18 million annual average value contract in the offseason, now sat tied for seventh in the Art Ross race and had sole possession of third place in assists.
“Leo’s a very special player. It doesn’t really surprise me too much how well he’s doing,” Gauthier said. “He’s a tremendous player and also a tremendous person, so I’m super happy for him and his success. He’s helping us a lot and keeping us in a handful of these games.”
Multiple Ducks rookies also shined. Noah Warren contributed a primary assist and Tristan Luneau had two helpers while playing a man up to continue his impressive early-season run. But the night belonged to Caulfield.
Caulfield, 25, was not on many preseason radars, but he not only secured a roster spot, he ascended from the fourth line to the first and finagled his way onto the second power-play unit. On Sunday, he had perhaps the best all-around game of any Duck, compiling two goals and an assist.
“That’s as good of an example as you can set, getting rewarded by efficiency and what you’ve been doing,” Coach Joel Quenneville said. “Judd made the team, we probably didn’t envision him being there at the beginning of the year. The next thing you know, he’s on the power play and the top line. He does all the little things well, and those things add up.”
In the bout with Ottawa, A.J. Greer sustained an upper-body injury as a result of a blindside hit from Dylan Cozens, for which Cozens received a major penalty. Greer was moved to injured reserve and the Ducks recalled Nico Myatovic in his stead.
As these Ducks gain experience and recapture moxie, they’ll travel for a rapid-fire slate of three games in four nights that will pit them against the Vancouver Canucks on Tuesday, the Edmonton Oilers on Thursday and Calgary Flames on Friday.
Vancouver has only three wins all season for seven total points, leaving the Canucks dead last in the league. Yet one of those wins, and their only one since Oct. 3, came against the Ducks a week prior to this meeting.
Calgary entered the campaign as a similar candidate to tank, but so far their players and coaches haven’t performed accordingly. They’d won five of six matches, including a four-game win streak, before their loss to the Avalanche in Colorado on Saturday. The Ducks and Flames have split two meetings to date this season, with the road team prevailing in both clashes.
The Ducks will carry three goaltenders on the trip and the Flames have been buoyed by their goalie depth. Backup Devin Cooley accounted for every win during their surge, posting a save percentage of .929 or better in each triumph. He’s also become known for postgame interviews that can be equal parts insightful and eccentric.
Matt Coronato and Joel Farabee have caught fire, combining for 23 points in eight games for Calgary. They and Vancouver’s Elias Pettersson were at or above a point-per-game rate entering the week.
In between, the Ducks will confront the Edmonton Oilers, whose captain Connor McDavid had maintained a point-per-period pace until recently. His 39 points in 15 outings, including three in a 5-2 win over the Ducks, have him running away with the scoring title.
In the two slots behind him on the leaderboard are two more Oilers, forward Leon Draisaitl and defenseman Evan Bouchard. The trio had 93 combined points after Sunday’s thumping of the New York Rangers, who’d only lost one game at home this season before a 4-1 dismissal by Edmonton.
That 93-point total is as many as the entire Kings’ roster and greater than the cumulative production of four franchises: Philadelphia, Columbus, Chicago and Winnipeg.