Sometimes, numbers tell a story better than words ever could.
With the Ducks’ recent offensive outburst, that’s certainly the case.
Four Ducks placed among the NHL’s top five active point streaks entering Saturday’s action.
Jackson LaCombe’s nine-gamer is the second longest behind Edmonton captain Connor McDavid’s jaw-dropping 17 consecutive matches with a point or more. LaCombe’s point and assist streaks are now the longest in franchise history for a defenseman, and he’s approaching the longest assist streak for any Ducks skater ahead of Sunday’s all-avian tilt with the Pittsburgh Penguins.
Leo Carlsson’s seven-game surge may not be the longest in the league – it’s tied for fifth – but it’s the second-most prolific, with his 15 points trailing only McDavid’s 44. He’s tied for the fastest sprint to 20 assists in Ducks lore with icon Ryan Getzlaf and he hit 10 multipoint games in a season faster than even Paul Kariya, who held the organizational record. Only McDavid and his linemate Leon Draisaitl beat Carlsson to 10 multipoint efforts this season. Zooming out, Carlsson also became the youngest Duck ever to 100 career assists.
Cutter Gauthier’s seven-game tear may be 10 games shorter than McDavid’s and feature less than 10% of its assist total, but he has the same number of goals during its span with 10. His five-game goal streak is one shy of the longest in the NHL this season, by Carolina’s Mark Jankowski. Back-to-back hat tricks highlighted a five-game stretch that saw him score those 10 goals, a first in franchise history, and seven on the power play, just the second Duck and third NHL player to do so in more than 90 years of recorded figures.
Tristan Luneau has 10 points over his seven-game spike, the fourth-most prolific stretch for a defenseman behind LaCombe, Norris Trophy winner Quinn Hughes and two-time Stanley Cup champion Mikhail Sergachev. That seems pretty amazing for a guy whom many people had never even heard of when he signed a six-year, $43.2 million extension this fall.
Oh, and Beckett Sennecke is averaging a point for each sweet macaron in his package, three per game in his past three outings. He had 13 points in his past seven appearances.
As a team, the Ducks have put up five or more goals in seven straight games.
That marks the first occurrence since the Penguins did so in 1991-92 with the likes of Mario Lemieux and Jaromir Jágr, who were en route to their second Stanley Cup in a row. The Ducks sit two efforts shy of the longest such streak in 40 years, which was nine by the Kings during Wayne Gretzky’s first campaign in Los Angeles.
Since Oct. 17, the Ducks’ power play has been tops in the league and from Oct. 22 onward it has capitalized on a whopping 50% of its opportunities. That propelled a vulgar display of offensive power that’s vaulted the Ducks’ overall attack to first in the league since Oct. 20.
The Ducks have also strung together four victories, including their sweep of a three-games-in-four-nights swing through Western Canada with a visit to McDavid’s division-leading Oilers.
The Penguins have been heading in the opposite direction. With four core players born in 1990 or earlier – Sidney Crosby, Erik Karlsson, Kris Letang and Evgeni Malkin – the Pens could ill afford a freefall like the one they’ve been experiencing.
They had lost eight of 10 games before their weekend back-to-back set with the Kings and Ducks. Ubiquitous hockey insider Elliotte Friedman reported that Pens general manager Kyle Dubas might soon be open for business, albeit with caveats about trade protection for much of Pittsburgh’s nucleus.
Pittsburgh at Ducks
When: 5 p.m. Sunday
Where: Honda Center
TV: Prime Video