DETROIT – A seven-game win streak quickly shifted into the first back-to-back losses of the season for the Anaheim Ducks.

Despite the Ducks battling back to tie twice in the second period, Anaheim couldn’t outrun their mistakes, and the Detroit Red Wings never trailed in a 6-3 win on Thursday at Little Caesars Arena to split the cross-conference season series.

Anaheim defeated John Gibson in his return to Honda Center on Oct. 31, but Gibson left the game after two periods in the lead with 15 saves through 40 minutes. Cam Talbot earned the win in third-period relief.

Lukáš Dostál stopped 27 of 32 shots against.

Cutter Gauthier scored in his 100th career NHL game, and in his 13th game in a Ducks sweater, Chris Kreider became the second-fastest player to 10 goals with the club. Steve Thomas netted 10 in 12 games following a mid-season trade in 2003.

Mikael Granlund returned to the line-up from an eight-game lower-body injury and scored, with Ryan Strome earning an assist in his season debut. Strome came off injured reserve from an upper-body injury on Sunday.

Just three days go, Anaheim (11-5-1, 23 points) was the hottest team in the NHL, and now the Ducks look to reset and salvage the three-game road trip in the finale at Minnesota on Saturday. The Ducks are home against the Utah Mammoth on Monday.

Ducks equalize. Great chop out of the zone by Beckett Sennecke and push up ice. The rookie doesn’t take the shot, tries to dangle through the defenseman, but luckily Cutter Gauthier is there for the swift finish.

Local(ish) kid scores in his 100th NHL game. 1-1. #FlyTogether pic.twitter.com/PmnHjOGabG

— Zach Cavanagh (@ZachCav) November 14, 2025

It was a fitting locale for Cutter Gauthier to play in his 100th career NHL game, and the 21-year-old found the back of the net in the state where his youth hockey career took off on Thursday.

After being born in Sweden and early years in Arizona, Gauthier’s family moved to Michigan when the young player was 10 years old. He then skated through the Honeybaked and Compuware youth systems before joining the United States National Team Development Program. Gauthier sizzled in two seasons at Boston College before joining the Anaheim Ducks.

Gauthier played his first NHL game in the last game of the 2023-24 season in Vegas on April 18, 2024, and 574 days later, he took to the ice for his 100th career game back home in Michigan. Gauthier has not missed a game in his NHL career so far.

Just under two minutes after Detroit’s opening strike, Beckett Sennecke chopped the puck out of the defensive zone and raced up the right wing with Gauthier steaming up the left flank. Sennecke elected not to shoot on the two-on-one, and while he couldn’t complete the move through the defenseman, Guathier followed up for a swift strike on his 12th goal of the season.

The three games without a goal was his longest stretch of the season, as Gauthier kept pace with the top-three of the NHL goal-scoring race and retook the Ducks’ goal lead from Leo Carlsson, whose NHL-high 11-game point streak came to an end in Detroit. Gauthier is tied for second in the NHL on 12 goals with Bo Horvat of the New York Islanders and Cole Caulfield of the Montreal Canadiens. Nathan MacKinnon leads the league with 14 goals.

Starts have been a problem for Anaheim. On Tuesday in Colorado, the Avalanche scored just 28 seconds into the game, and despite a scoreless first period on Thursday in Detroit, the Ducks still ended up behind the eight-ball and constantly skating uphill.

A Mason McTavish penalty put the Red Wings on the power play, where a point shot found its way though traffic for Detroit’s opening strike six minutes into the second period.

Anaheim has allowed the first goal of the game 11 times in just 17 games this season. The Ducks are 5-5-1 in those games and 6-0-0 in games where they score first.

The Ducks battled back to tie the game twice in the second period with goals from Cutter Gauthier and Chris Kreider.

However, it was Ducks mistakes and Detroit quick strikes that continually killed Anaheim’s momentum.

After Kreider tied the game, Mason McTavish had the opportunity for a quick and easy exit, but passed a brutal turnover right to a Red Wings stick. Detroit scored on the ensuing sequence to regain the lead, 3-2, just 39 seconds after the Ducks equalized.

Kreider took a roughing penalty only 45 seconds into the third period, and Detroit scored off the ensuing face-off on a tip four seconds into the power play. Alex DeBrincat netted his 17th goal in only 20 games against Anaheim for a 4-2 lead.

Mikael Granlund brought the Ducks back within one, but again, Detroit retaliated immediately. 

With defenseman Olen Zellweger along with Cutter Gauthier and Leo Carlsson all below the offensive goalline, Jacob Trouba pinched, but the puck got through leaving Beckett Sennecke as the lone Duck back.

Sennecke tried to make play on the puck, but Dylan Larkin squeezed through for a two-on-none opportunity that Lukas Dostal’s best efforts couldn’t quite corral. The Red Wings were back up by two, 5-3, only 33 seconds after Granlund’s goal.

DeBrincat sealed it with an empty netter, his 18th career goal against the Ducks.

Ducks back within one. Mikael Granlund scores in his return on this tip that bounces past an Alex Killorn screen and Cam Talbot. Ryan Strome with an assist in his season debut.

4-3 Red Wings. #FlyTogether pic.twitter.com/kKe6f2aLAw

— Zach Cavanagh (@ZachCav) November 14, 2025

Mikael Granlund made his return to the line-up after missing eight games with a lower-body injury. Granlund tipped in his third goal of the season in the third period. Granlund returned to the third-line center spot between Nikita Nesterenko and Alex Killorn, who played despite a cut to the face suffered late against Colorado.

Ryan Strome made his season debut after missing the first 16 games with an upper-body injury. Strome centered the fourth line between Ross Johnston and Frank Vatrano. Strome earned a secondary assist on Granlund’s goal.

Ryan Poehling, who had been moved up to third-line center in Granlund’s absence and was regularly the fourth-line center, was ruled out with an upper-body injury before the game.

Radko Gudas is still on injured reserve with a lower-body injury, but the captain skated in the morning skate on Tuesday.

Sam Colangelo was sent down to AHL San Diego with the full activation of Granlund and Strome.