The Anaheim Ducks had been rolling into Wednesday night with goals coming in waves and wins piling up behind them. That run hit a wall at Honda Center.
Nashville kept its own surge alive, cashing in on chances Anaheim couldn’t finish and leaning on a sharp night from Justus Annunen in a 4-2 Predators win. The result snapped Anaheim’s five-game winning streak and ended a stretch in which the Ducks had scored five or more goals in eight straight games. Nashville, meanwhile, stretched its winning streak to six.
Cutter Gauthier kept his remarkable scoring run going anyway. The puck found him in the first period for his seventh straight game with a goal, giving him 14 goals in that span.
That tied Corey Perry (2013-14) for the third-longest streak in team history. Teemu Selanne owns the top two, with eight games in 1998-99 and 11 games in 1997-98.
Still, the Ducks spent most of the night chasing. Jayden Struble tied it in the first period after pushing into open ice while Travis Mitchell and Tristan Luneau jumped into the play and couldn’t stop him.
Nashville grabbed the lead late in the second period on a slick finish from Nils Höglander. Jackson LaCombe had vacated the front of the net to make a play, and the puck slipped behind him to Höglander, who went between his legs and upstairs for a highlight-reel goal.
The Predators appeared to make it 3-1 midway through the third when Anaheim failed to clear the zone and newly acquired Shane Wright found a rebound in the slot. His shot hit the center post and went in, but the puck came out so fast that it wasn’t immediately recognized as a goal. Review confirmed it had crossed the line.
Anaheim answered late through Mikael Granlund, who buried a one-timer off a feed from Beckett Sennecke after Sennecke bounced back from his second missed breakaway.
But Nashville shut the door with another insurance goal after getting around a pinching Drew Helleson. Mavrik Borque set up Steven Stamkos around a sprawling Jackson LaCombe to restore the two-goal cushion at 4-2.
Annunen finished with 25 saves and more than 2.12 goals saved above expected. Laurent Brossoit stopped 18 of 22 shots for Anaheim in his fifth start in more than a week. Lukáš Dostál backed him up, while Ville Husso was a healthy scratch.
Anaheim stays at home for the first half of a back-to-back, facing the New York Islanders on Saturday before hosting Calgary on Sunday. Then comes a four-game road trip.
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Ducks Prospect Pipeline Just Delivered Another Encouraging Sign
The Ducks prospect pool got another useful checkpoint Saturday night in San Diego, where the Gulls handled the Barracuda 4-1 at Pechanga Arena and kept building on their edge in the season series. It was the kind of win that matters beyond the standings for Anaheim, because it featured a young roster finding a little more rhythm in the same areas the organization has been trying to sharpen all season.
Anton Wahlberg provided the biggest lift with a pair of goals after an 11-game drought, and Damian Clara gave the Gulls a steady night in net with 19 saves in his sixth start. San Diego also got a boost from a special teams group that has been searching for traction, with the power play finally cashing in and the penalty kill continuing to do its job, a combination that gives the Ducks another encouraging data point as they track their pipeline. [Read more 🡒]