Cutter Gauthier kept the streak rolling and finished the night with the biggest shot of all, lifting the Anaheim Ducks to a 5-3 comeback win over the Calgary Flames on Friday.
Gauthier scored the go-ahead goal late in the third period, extending his goal streak to five games and giving Anaheim its fourth straight victory. The Ducks improved to 9-7-1 after erasing a 3-2 deficit heading into the final frame.
Anaheim got goals from Jeff Malott, Tristan Luneau, Leo Carlsson and Nikita Nesterenko, who sealed it into an empty net. Beckett Sennecke and Mikael Granlund each picked up two assists.
Calgary’s offense came from William Stromgren, Joel Hanley and Joel Farabee, while Morgan Frost and Zayne Parekh each finished with two assists. The loss snapped the Flames’ five-game home winning streak and dropped them to 7-9-1.
The turning point came early in the third when Matt Coronato was whistled for delay of game just 17 seconds in. Anaheim’s power play, which has been scorching, made the Flames pay almost immediately. Carlsson tied the game at 0:55 with his sixth goal of the season, and he added an assist to stretch his point streak to seven games.
Then came Gauthier’s finish at 18:26. Granlund fed him a pass, and Gauthier hammered in the one-timer for his 12th goal of the season. It was also his 10th goal during the five-game streak.
Anaheim’s comeback erased an uneven start from Lukas Dostal, who was in net to begin the night but got chased after allowing three goals on 11 shots in the first period.
Dustin Wolf made his third straight start for Calgary and stopped 24 shots, falling to 3-5-1.
The Ducks’ blue line also kept making noise. Jackson LaCombe had an assist, extending his point streak to nine games at 0-13-13, the longest in franchise history for a defenceman. He moved past Scott Niedermayer (2006-07) and Oleg Tverdovsky (1999-00) on the Ducks’ all-time list.
For Calgary, Hanley’s goal came in his first game since Oct. 3 after he was inserted into the lineup when Kevin Bahl was scratched late with a lower-body injury. Farabee also kept his home scoring run alive, finding the net in his fifth straight game at the Saddledome, the first Flame to do that since Elias Lindholm scored in seven straight home games in 2021-22.
Anaheim’s power play was the other major storyline. Over its last five games, the Ducks have gone 13 for 23 with the extra skater. They entered the night ranked No. 2 in the NHL after finishing 23rd last season.
The Ducks host the Pittsburgh Penguins on Sunday, while the Flames welcome the Philadelphia Flyers that same day.
In Other News...
Flames Suddenly Have Two Injury Situations Fans Need To Watch
The Flames got a small bit of movement on the injury front this week, with Samuel Honzek beginning to skate on his own after nearly a month out with a lower-body issue. It is the kind of progress Calgary has been waiting for from a young winger whose development matters, especially with every missed practice and game slowing his push to get back into the mix.
There is still more uncertainty around the blue line, though, after Kevin Bahl was scratched late against Anaheim because of a lower-body injury and the club has not offered a timeline. For a Flames team trying to keep its depth intact, that leaves two separate injury situations worth monitoring closely, even as other teams around the league deal with their own health questions and roster shuffles. [Read more 🡒]
Flames Let A Winnable Home Game Slip Away Fast
The Flames had a home game against Anaheim in hand early, scoring first and carrying a lead through the opening period before the night started to tilt. What looked like a manageable matchup at the Saddledome turned into a frustrating one as the Ducks settled in, cleaned up their own game and began pressing Calgary into mistakes.
Turnovers became the story from there, with the Flames giving Anaheim chances that quickly turned into goals and erased the cushion they had built. Calgary also had to watch the momentum swing after a goalie change on the Ducks side, and from that point the visitors controlled the pace well enough to leave with a 5-3 win while the Flames were left to wonder how fast a winnable game got away from them. [Read more 🡒]
Flames Prospects Are Suddenly Giving Fans A New World Juniors Debate
The World Juniors conversation around Calgarys prospect pool got a little more interesting after Daily Faceoff put together a projected United States roster for the 2027 tournament. Ethan Wyttenbach and Cullen Potter both made the list, giving Flames fans another reason to track a pipeline that already looks unusually busy on the international stage. Wyttenbach, a 2025 fifth-round pick, has been piling up points in NCAA play and turned heads at the World Junior Summer Showcase, while Potter arrived in the organization as a first-rounder with plenty of attention already attached to his name.
Potters path has been especially notable because he is back from shoulder surgery and has started well at Michigan State, where his coach also happens to be Team USAs head coach for the tournament. With projections like this, the Flames could wind up with as many as six players in World Juniors action, which is the kind of depth chart development that tends to matter long after the summer roster debates fade. For now, though, the intriguing part is less about the final answer than how many Calgary prospects are suddenly in the mix. [Read more 🡒]