Gauthier's Late Winner Caps Ducks' Four-Goal Comeback in 5-3 Win Over Flames

With 94 seconds left in Calgary and overtime looming, Beckett Sennecke pulled off the kind of play that makes a bench jump to its feet. The young winger slipped a between-the-legs pass to Mikael Granlund, Granlund fed Cutter Gauthier in the right circle, and Gauthier hammered a one-timer past Dustin Wolf. The Anaheim Ducks had their first lead of the night, and 14 seconds later Nikita Nesterenko's empty-net goal made it a 5-3 final. It was a comeback built in stages. Calgary had scored three times in the first period — Joel Farabee, William Stromgren and Joel Hanley all beating the Ducks early — and the Flames looked in control of a game that would have stretched their home winning streak to six. Instead, Anaheim scored four unanswered goals. Tristan Luneau pulled one back in the second period, Leo Carlsson tied it 3-3 on a power-play one-timer just 55 seconds into the third, and then Gauthier delivered the winner. Gauthier is playing the best hockey of his young life. The goal was his 12th of the season and his 10th in a five-game goal streak, part of a 13-point run over his past seven games. Carlsson, who also picked up an assist, has 15 points in his own seven-game point streak, and Granlund and Sennecke each finished with two assists. Defenceman Jackson LaCombe added an assist to stretch his point streak to nine games, 13 assists in that span, the longest by a defenceman in Ducks history. Ville Husso, who took over in goal after the first intermission, made 10 saves to earn the win. The bigger story is the one the whole league is starting to notice. The Ducks have now scored at least five goals in seven consecutive games, the first team to do that since the 1991-92 Pittsburgh Penguins. They are 9-7-1, winners of four straight and 5-1-1 over their past seven, and Friday's win completed a perfect three-game road trip that began with Thursday's 5-4 win at Edmonton. Calgary, meanwhile, saw its five-game home winning streak end and fell to 7-9-1, despite arriving at the game 7-3-1 in its previous 11. Wolf made 24 saves, but the Flames had no answer once Anaheim's attack found its rhythm in the third period. The Ducks return home to host Pittsburgh on Sunday, while Calgary welcomes Philadelphia the same day. Anaheim's goal-scoring run has already lasted longer than anyone expected. The question now is how much further it can go.