WINNIPEG \u2014 The Anaheim Ducks are in the middle of a fierce battle for top spot in the Pacific Division, but they aren\u2019t letting the standings distract them from their ultimate goal.<\/p>\n
With the intensity of the stretch drive ramping up, the Ducks (36-25-3) took another step toward securing their post-season berth with a 4-1 victory over the Winnipeg Jets at Canada Life Centre Tuesday.<\/p>\n
\u201cA month ago, it was a different situation, then we go on a run and now we\u2019re in first in the Pacific,\u201d said veteran forward Alex Killorn, who had a goal and an assist in the win.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou try not to think about it too much, but it\u2019s just one of those things that it\u2019s so tight, every game is so important. Points are so important that you need to get them when you can.\u201d<\/p>\n
Anaheim\u2019s rise to the top of the division has been largely powered by a youth movement, with the Ducks boasting an NHL-leading 100 goals this season from players 22 and younger. Forwards Cutter Gauthier (32 goals, 57 points), Leo Carlsson (21, 52) and Beckett Sennecke (20, 51), all of whom are 22 years old or younger, and have carried a lot of the offence for Anaheim this season.<\/p>\n
However, against a desperate Jets club on Tuesday, it was the team\u2019s veterans who carried the torch.<\/p>\n
Ryan Poehling, who also had a goal and an assist, provided the spark along with Killorn, with the Ducks playing a more defensive game in order to shut down Winnipeg\u2019s top scorers and halt the Jets\u2019 momentum.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis has been one of our most complete games when you look at the three periods,\u201d Killorn said. \u201cA lot of games we\u2019ve been down and had to come back. We were down here tonight but for a majority of the game we played the right way. It was a great game for our team.\u201d<\/p>\n
Killorn acknowledged the heavy lifting the younger players have done this year, noting that it\u2019s nice when the veterans can \u201cchip in and help out\u201d on nights when they need the extra scoring. For Poehling, the blend of veteran leadership and young talent is a major reason why the Ducks find themselves fighting for top spot in the Pacific.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a ton of fun. Just watching these young guys play hockey, it\u2019s so special,\u201d Poehling said. \u201cAt such a young age, to be this good, is hard to come by, and we have so many of them. For me, to just watch them and learn from them, but also show them the ropes on how to play the right way sometimes, I\u2019ve enjoyed every minute of it.\u201c<\/p>\n
Head coach Joel Quenneville, drawing on the experience of more than 1,800 career NHL games behind the bench and three Stanley Cups, has made sure his group stays grounded. The Ducks are just three points up on the Vegas Golden Knights and three points up on the Edmonton Oilers.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe want to do one thing: we want to make the playoffs. That\u2019s our priority,\u201d Quenneville said. \u201cWe don\u2019t want to look past our next opponent. Teams that might look like they have a tough time getting into the playoffs, those teams are playing loose and they can beat anybody. So, there are no easy games.\u201d<\/p>\n
That was echoed by another young star in Ducks goaltender Lukas Dostal. The 25-year-old Dostal picked up his 13th win in his last 15 appearances on Tuesday, providing a steadying presence for a team with championship aspirations.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe do our best, but we\u2019ve got to focus for every single game because our main goal is to get to the playoffs, and that would be a cherry on top,\u201d Dostal said of the division race.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, for the Winnipeg Jets, Tuesday\u2019s 3-1 defeat was a harsh blow to their post-season hopes.<\/p>\n
A battered Winnipeg roster had been playing well since returning from the Olympic break, picking up points in six straight games (4-0-2) and riding a three-game win streak to stay alive for the final wild-card spot in the Western Conference.<\/p>\n
This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 11, 2026.<\/p>\n
Jeff Hamilton, The Canadian Press<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"WINNIPEG \u2014 The Anaheim Ducks are in the middle of a fierce battle for top spot in the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":215855,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[163,165,164,127],"class_list":["post-215854","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-anaheim","tag-anaheim","tag-anaheim-headlines","tag-anaheim-news","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/215854","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=215854"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/215854\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/215855"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=215854"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=215854"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=215854"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}