Beckett Sennecke’s 1st NHL hat trick gives surging Ducks an OT win over Flames
CALGARY, Alberta — Rookie Beckett Sennecke recorded a milestone for a Ducks team that is red hot again.
Sennecke scored at 2:54 of overtime for his first NHL hat trick as the Ducks rallied to beat the Calgary Flames, 4-3, on Sunday night at Scotiabank Saddledome for their seventh consecutive win.
Sennecke finished an entertaining overtime by electing to shoot during a 2-on-1 rush and burying a top-shelf shot over Dustin Wolf’s glove, just inside the post. It was his 18th goal of the season, the most among NHL rookies.
“I noticed they had an extra forward caught down low, so I just tried to get speed up, and then their ‘D’ kind of took the pass away, so I just decided to shoot it and it went in,” Sennecke told NHL.com. “It’s awesome, definitely something I’ll remember. It was my first game in Canada, so that’s pretty awesome, too.”
His three-goal effort gives him 41 points overall, which places him second in rookie scoring to Montreal’s Ivan Demidov, who has 11 goals and 32 assists for 43 points.
Chris Kreider also scored for the Ducks (28-21-3), who have a league-leading 12 extra-time wins. Mikael Granlund and Alex Killorn each had two assists. Lukas Dostal made 32 saves and improved to 19-12-2.
“All credit to the guys to bounce back,” Dostal told NHL.com before commending Sennecke for his performance. “He’s a great player. Obviously, a big congratulations to him tonight. He got three goals and [his] first career hat trick, and hopefully more to come.”
The Ducks, who are pushing to make the Stanley Cup playoffs for the first time in eight seasons, moved to within one point of the second-place Edmonton Oilers in the Pacific Division. The Ducks hold one game in hand. The Ducks and Oilers square off on Monday night in Edmonton.
Jonathan Huberdeau, Matt Coronato and Hunter Brzustewicz, who had his first NHL goal, scored for Calgary (21-25-6), which is winless in its last four games (0-2-2). Wolf, who had 17 stops, fell to 15-21-2.
Calgary entered the game having scored just once in each of its last three games since trading away defenseman Rasmus Andersson but dominated the opening period – outshooting the Ducks 17-3 – and was rewarded with a two-goal lead.
Goals less than two minutes apart by Huberdeau and Brzustewicz staked the Flames to a 2-0 lead eight minutes into the game.
Huberdeau opened the scoring with his ninth goal of the season, ending a 10-game goal-less drought by being on the spot for a loose puck after Mikael Backlund’s golden chance was denied and buried the loose puck at the 6:17 mark.
Brzustewicz netted his milestone marker 99 seconds later. While attempting a pass from his point position, the Brzustewicz’s effort ricocheted off a defender’s stick and into the net.
The Ducks put tougher a better effort in the second period and were rewarded with a pair of Sennecke goals. He put the Ducks on the board by finishing a nifty three-way passing play at 3:22 of the period. Situated in front of the net, Killorn took a pass from Granlund before sending a short backhand feed to Sennecke, who one-timed it glove side on Wolf from the right circle.
“It’s just one of those games where everything kind of goes in for you,” Sennecke told NHL.com. “You get them every once in a while.”
Sennecke then tied the clash at 12:41. He took a backdoor, cross-ice feed from Granlund at the left post on a 3-on-2 rush and buried a sharp-angled shot over Wolf’s outstretched right pad.
“He had a special night tonight,” Ducks coach Joel Quenneville told NHL.com. “He’s one of these kids that’s just growing as the season has gone along here. Has the puck a lot, likes to keep it, sometimes a little bit too long, but at the same time, he can make high-end plays.”
Coronato’s power-play goal, coming when was parked at the side of the net when Matvei Gridin slipped a cross-crease pass for him to bury, restored Calgary’s lead at 4:50 of the third period.
However, Kreider again pulled the Ducks even by scoring on a one-timer from the right circle off a perfect feed from Ryan Poehling while on a 2-on-1 rush at 13:08 of the third period.
“Nice goal, nice play,” Quenneville told NHL.com. “The timing of getting that 2-on-1 was a great finish as well.”
NOTES
The Ducks’ second seven-game winning streak of the season gives them multiple seven-game runs in a season for the first time since 2014-15, when they also had two. … Sennecke became the fourth rookie in Ducks history to score a hat trick. At 19 years and 362 days, he also became the second-youngest player in Ducks history to score a hat trick, behind only teammate Leo Carlsson (18 years, 319 days). … The Ducks earned their league-leading seventh multigoal comeback win this season.
UP NEXT
The Ducks play at Edmonton on Monday at 5:30 p.m. PT in the fourth game of a five-game trip.