The Ducks’ Tim Washe, left, and the New Jersey Devils’ Brett Pesce compete for the puck during the third period on Thursday, Oct. 22, 2026, in Newark, N.J. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
The New Jersey Devils’ Nico Hischier, center, tries to keep the puck from Ducks players during the first period on Thursday, Oct. 22, 2026, in Newark, N.J. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
The Ducks’ Tyson Hinds controls the puck during the first period of their game against the New Jersey Devils on Thursday, Oct. 22, 2026, in Newark, N.J. (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images)
The Ducks’ Jackson LaCombe, right, moves the puck up the ice while the New Jersey Devils’ Luke Evangelista defends during the first period on Thursday, Oct. 22, 2026, in Newark, N.J. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
The New Jersey Devils’ Arseny Gritsyuk, second from left, celebrates his goal with teammates during the first period of their game against the Ducks on Thursday, Oct. 22, 2026, in Newark, N.J. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
The Ducks’ Mikael Granlund, left, and the New Jersey Devils’ Luke Evangelista (77) pursue the puck during the first period on Thursday, Oct. 22, 2026, in Newark, N.J. (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images)
The Ducks’ Nikita Nesterenko, right, and the New Jersey Devils’ Dougie Hamilton collide during the first period on Thursday, Oct. 22, 2026, in Newark, N.J. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
The Ducks’ Tim Washe, top, gets tangled with the New Jersey Devils’ Jesper Bratt during the first period on Thursday, Oct. 22, 2026, in Newark, N.J. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
The New Jersey Devils’ Nico Hischier (13) celebrates his goal with teammates during the first period of their game against the Ducks on Thursday, Oct. 22, 2026, in Newark, N.J. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
The Ducks’ Roger McQueen, right, and the New Jersey Devils’ Jesper Bratt reach for the puck during the first period on Thursday night in Newark, N.J. The Ducks lost their fifth straight game, 4-1. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
The New Jersey Devils’ Cody Glass, left, and the Ducks’ Sam Colangelo compete for the puck during the first period on Thursday, Oct. 22, 2026, in Newark, N.J. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
The Ducks’ Nick Jensen, left, and the New Jersey Devils’ Anthony Mantha compete for the puck during the second period on Thursday, Oct. 22, 2026, in Newark, N.J. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
The New Jersey Devils’ Connor Brown reaches for the puck during the second period of their game against the Ducks on Thursday, Oct. 22, 2026, in Newark, N.J. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
The New Jersey Devils’ Jack Hughes, left, takes a shot as Ducks goaltender Ville Husso defends his net during the second period on Thursday, Oct. 22, 2026, in Newark, N.J. (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images)
The Ducks’ Jackson LaCombe, front, wraps around the net as the New Jersey Devils’ Connor Brown defends during the second period on Thursday, Oct. 22, 2026, in Newark, N.J. (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images)
Ducks goaltender Ville Husso defends the net during the second period of their game against the New Jersey Devils on Thursday, Oct. 22, 2026, in Newark, N.J. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
The Ducks’ Drew Helleson, bottom, tries to block a shot attempt by the New Jersey Devils’ Luke Evangelista (77) during the second period on Thursday, Oct. 22, 2026, in Newark, N.J. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
The Ducks’ Beckett Sennecke, left, and the New Jersey Devils’ Luke Evangelista (77) go after the puck during the second period on Thursday, Oct. 22, 2026, in Newark, N.J. (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images)
Ducks goaltender Ville Husso, left, defends the net and keeps his eyes on the action in front of him during the second period of their game against the New Jersey Devils on Thursday, Oct. 22, 2026, in Newark, N.J. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
The New Jersey Devils’ Evan Rodrigues, right, passes the puck up the ice as the Ducks’ Tim Washe looks on during the second period on Thursday, Oct. 22, 2026, in Newark, N.J. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
The Ducks’ Jackson LaCombe, front, controls the puck as the New Jersey Devils’ Connor Brown defends during the second period on Thursday, Oct. 22, 2026, in Newark, N.J. (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images)
New Jersey Devils goaltender Nico Daws makes a save during the third period of their game against the Ducks on Thursday, Oct. 22, 2026, in Newark, N.J. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
The New Jersey Devils’ Johnathan Kovacevic, left, and the Ducks’ Tim Washe chase the puck during the third period on Thursday, Oct. 22, 2026, in Newark, N.J. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
The Ducks’ A.J. Greer, right, celebrates after teammate Tim Washe scored on New Jersey Devils goaltender Nico Daws, left, during the third period on Thursday, Oct. 22, 2026, in Newark, N.J. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
New Jersey Devils’ Anthony Mantha (39), second from left, celebrates with teammates after scoring during the third period of an NHL hockey game in Newark, N.J., Thursday, Oct. 22, 2026. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
The Ducks’ Mikael Granlund, front, pushes the puck up the ice as the New Jersey Devils’ Luke Evangelista defends during the third period on Thursday, Oct. 22, 2026, in Newark, N.J. (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images)
The New Jersey Devils’ Brett Pesce, left, tries to block a shot by the Ducks’ Mikael Granlund during the third period on Thursday, Oct. 22, 2026, in Newark, N.J. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
The Ducks’ Tim Washe controls the puck during the first period of their game against the New Jersey Devils on Thursday, Oct. 22, 2026, in Newark, N.J. (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images)
The New Jersey Devils’ Jack Hughes, center, celebrates with teammates after scoring an empty-net goal during the third period of their game against the Ducks on Thursday, Oct. 22, 2026, in Newark, N.J. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
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The Ducks’ Tim Washe, left, and the New Jersey Devils’ Brett Pesce compete for the puck during the third period on Thursday, Oct. 22, 2026, in Newark, N.J. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
NEWARK, N.J. — The Ducks’ strong start to the season is starting to feel like a distant memory.
Arseny Gritsyuk and Nico Hischier scored first-period goals, Nico Daws made 16 saves and the New Jersey Devils beat the Ducks, 4-1, on Thursday night, handing the visitors their fifth consecutive loss.
Anthony Mantha restored a two-goal lead with 6:33 left in the third, and Jack Hughes added an empty-netter with 6.1 seconds remaining as New Jersey (6-4-0) won its second straight and fourth in the past five games.
Gritsyuk and Hischier each scored their fifth goal of the season, with Jesper Bratt assisting on both scores. Hughes assisted on Gritsyuk’s goal.
Tim Washe scored a third-period goal and Ville Husso made 25 saves for the Ducks, who have struggled since their 4-1-0 start.
“We’ve been behind early in games and we’re trying to chase it to get back,” Ducks coach Joel Quenneville told NHL.com. “Early (in the losing streak) there were a couple games we should have got points. We haven’t been very good on this trip. At the same time, we got to be better than we are.
“We’re a little bit … I’m going to say out of sorts. But it still felt that we had way more battle tonight than we had in the last couple of games.”
Gritsyuk scored at 4:38 of the first period to cap a long possession in the Ducks’ zone and give New Jersey a 1-0 lead.
Hughes had the puck above the left circle when he skated toward the middle of the ice and delivered a horizontal pass to Bratt in the right circle. Bratt made a touch pass to Gritsyuk in front of the crease and he redirected the puck into the net for his fifth goal of the season.
Late in the first period, Ducks forward Roger McQueen briefly appeared to score his first NHL goal off a feed from Alex Killorn, but Killorn was called for tripping Johnathan Kovacevic just after stealing the puck from him.
New Jersey scored on the ensuing power play after Bratt took a one-timer from the bottom of the right circle that Husso saved with his right pad, but his momentum took him out of the crease.
The rebound was left behind and Hischier had position on the Ducks’ defenders, allowing him to sweep the puck into the net for his fifth goal of the season, stretching the lead to 2-0 with 41 seconds left in the first period.
The Ducks were outshot 11-2 in the first period.
After a scoreless second period, the Ducks cut the deficit to 2-1 at 8:20 of the third when Jackson LaCombe took a shot from the left point that Washe tipped into the net for his third goal of the season, the second most on the team.
“Losing isn’t fun, but I think just our compete,” LaCombe told NHL.com. “It got better throughout the game, but I think we got to start the game kind of moving our feet. As a group, we got to make that decision. So, yeah, that’s frustrating.”
Mantha re-established the two-goal lead when he pushed a rebound between Husso’s pads and the puck slowly slid across the goal line for a 3-1 lead at 13:27.
Ducks defenseman Pavel Mintyukov has returned home and will miss the rest of the four-game trip, which ends Saturday in Philadelphia. He is day-to-day with a lower-body injury. … Ducks forward Jeff Malott was a late scratch due to an illness.
UP NEXT
The Ducks conclude their four-game trip at Philadelphia on Saturday at 10 a.m. PT.