The Anaheim Ducks got the kind of answer they were looking for in Winnipeg, and it came from the one group that never got shuffled around.
With Joel Quenneville mixing up most of the lineup after Wednesday’s loss to Edmonton, Anaheim’s fourth line stayed intact and drove the night in a 5-1 win over the Jets at Canada Life Centre. Judd Caulfield, Tim Washe and Jeff Malott all posted the first multi-point games of their NHL careers, and Caulfield scored his first career NHL goal as the Ducks handed Winnipeg its first regulation loss.
Caulfield’s moment came early and set the tone. Washe and Caulfield worked the puck out through center, Malott attacked with speed for a partial breakaway, and after Eric Stevenson turned aside Malott’s backhand, Caulfield jumped into the crease to shove in the rebound for a 1-0 Anaheim lead.
The 25-year-old was playing in just his fourth NHL game, and the goal carried a little extra meaning. Family and friends made the two and a half hour drive from Grand Forks, North Dakota, to be there, and Caulfield soaked it in after the game.
“That’s pretty awesome having a ton of family tonight,” Judd Caulfield told the Ducks broadcast postgame. “I remember my dad texted me before the game and he said they’d be on that end a couple rows up.
That’s a pretty cool moment to have them there for me. Unbelievable experience.”
Caulfield spent four years at the University of North Dakota before logging more than 200 AHL games with the San Diego Gulls, including an AHL-only contract last season.
That fourth line kept rolling in the second period. Five minutes into the frame, Washe stripped the puck in the defensive zone, Caulfield helped spring the rush, and Malott pushed the play up the right side before feeding Washe in the middle for Anaheim’s second goal.
“We all try to make it easy on each other,” Caulfield said. “We’re talking a lot on the ice.
Letting us know where each other are. Just playing predictable.”
By the numbers, that trio was dominant at five-on-five, finishing with more than 93% of the expected goals share while on the ice.
Anaheim’s penalty kill also did its part, wiping out four Winnipeg power plays in the second period alone. Then the Ducks’ reworked top line finally joined the party in the third.
Sam Colangelo buried a feed from a wide-driving Beckett Sennecke to make it 3-0, scoring his first NHL goal in nearly a calendar year. His last NHL tally came on Oct. 23, 2025 in Boston, his hometown. Colangelo had 12 goals in 49 AHL games with San Diego last season.
Winnipeg spoiled the shutout bid when Kyle Connor slipped behind the Anaheim defense for a breakaway goal in the third, but the Ducks answered back quickly enough to keep the game out of reach. Mikael Granlund scored his 200th career NHL goal on a wrist shot from distance with just under six minutes left, and Nikita Nesterenko added an empty-netter in the final minute.
Lukáš Dostál made 15 saves on 16 shots to bounce back after allowing five goals in a period against Edmonton on Wednesday. Stevenson stopped 12 for Winnipeg.
Anaheim is now 3-1-0 and heads to Calgary for the second half of its back-to-back tomorrow before returning home to face the Flames on Tuesday.
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