Cutter Gauthier, Ville Husso lead Ducks past Islanders

ANAHEIM — The New York Islanders’ Matthew Schaefer and the Ducks’ Beckett Sennecke could be squaring off in the Calder Trophy balloting at season’s end, but first their teams clashed on Wednesday night at Honda Center.

There, the Ducks produced five unanswered goals to split the season series with one of the Metropolitan Division’s top teams, prevailing 5-1.

Sennecke, 20, scored a goal and earned the primary assist on one of two by Cutter Gauthier. Ryan Poehling and Frank Vatrano each lit the lamp, and Chris Kreider contributed two assists.

The Isles, who beat the Ducks, 5-2, on Dec. 11, got a goal from captain Anders Lee. Schaefer, 18, had game highs in time on ice and shots on goal, but finished with a minus-2 rating.

In net, it was a battle of backups. Ville Husso stopped a staggering 42 shots for the Ducks, while “Big Save Dave” Rittich made 20 stops of varying importance.

True to form, Isles coach Patrick Roy, regarded by many as the greatest goalie in NHL history, pulled Rittich with 8:34 to play, facing a three-goal deficit. Though New York defended its empty net successfully for more than four minutes, Vatrano’s first goal since Dec. 7 and first point since Dec. 20 drove in the dagger with 4:11 on the clock.

After weathering a second-period storm, the Ducks made it 4-1, 2:11 into the third.

Playing in his first game since Dec. 27 (broken shoulder), Frank Vatrano barreled in on the forecheck, separating Schaefer from the puck. It came to Ryan Strome, who last played on Jan. 26, and he sent it to Poehling in front for a forehand-to-backhand tally that banked off Rittich’s skate. Poehling has seven goals in his first year as a Duck.

Husso and company kept the second period scoreless despite a 13-4 shot disadvantage and three New York power plays.

Before that, the visitors struck first but the hosts responded with three consecutive goals in their opening salvo.

Sennecke moved into a tie with Schaefer for most goals by a rookie with his 20th of the campaign, with 80 seconds remaining. He and Mason McTavish battled at the net front as Ian Moore shot directly for Rittich’s right pad. The big Czech kicked a mouth-watering rebound right to Sennecke, who leads all rookies in points with 51.

The Ducks now have three 50-point scorers with Leo Carlsson, Sennecke and Gauthier.

With 3:55 left, Gauthier put himself on natural hat trick watch when he roared off the rush. Kreider found a puck that squirted into the neutral zone, making a between-the-legs drop pass that sprung Carlsson. Scott Mayfield’s overeagerness left Schaefer alone with Carlsson and Gauthier, and Carlsson waited out his pass for a Gauthier one-timer until the last instant.

Gauthier drew the Ducks even at 12:56 with a man-advantage marker after Sennecke’s pass from below the goal line found him in the left circle. Gauthier has 31 goals to lead the team and eight of those have come in his past seven appearances. He also became the first player in Ducks’ history, per team PR, to score five consecutive goals for the team, doing so across three games.

Just under five minutes into the match, the Ducks gave up the game’s first goal for the fifth consecutive contest, a power-play tally. Lee slammed home Tony DeAngelo’s rebound.

The Ducks next host the Montreal Canadiens on Friday night, just hours after the NHL trade deadline.

More to come on this story.