ANAHEIM — The Ducks scored three times in less than three minutes during the second period to get past the San Jose Sharks, 3-2, on Monday night at Honda Center.
They improved to 3-2-0 this preseason with a rematch in San Jose slated for Wednesday.
Cutter Gauthier, Radko Gudas and Frank Vatrano each sounded the goal horn. Ville Husso made 22 saves, including several timely ones.
Former Duck Pavol Regenda and Adam Gaudette scored for San Jose. Jakub Škarek stopped 27 shots.
The Ducks bookended the game with scoreless periods, but they cranked up their offense in the middle frame.
“In the first period, they played hard and they worked … we were doing a lot of good things,” Coach Joel Quenneville said. “Obviously, scoring bang-bang-bang, it was like, OK, we liked what we saw, and that was our production.”
The Ducks took control with a lineup full of NHL talent against the “B” team of the league’s worst franchise two years running.
Beckett Sennecke, the No. 3 overall draft pick in 2024, drew a penalty, and then Gauthier, the No. 5 overall pick in 2022, converted on the power play.
A give-and-go play between Alex Killorn on the wall and Ryan Strome below the goal line sucked in all four San Jose penalty killers, one of whom, Cole Clayton, knocked the puck off Killorn’s stick. It went straight to Gauthier in the right circle, where he snapped home the game’s first goal.
Just 47 seconds later, the Ducks popped in a second puck. This time it was the captain, Gudas.
Some gritty work low in the zone again overextended the opposing defense, allowing Sam Colangelo to find Gudas in the high slot, where he flicked a shot past his Czech countryman Škarek.
“We kept it simple, we got the puck in, we tried to create energy for the other lines and tire their ‘D’ out,” said Nikita Nesterenko, who earned the secondary assist.
At the 9:13 mark, the Ducks struck off a rush that was keyed by a saucer pass from Strome to Tyson Hinds, whose own brilliant pass found Vatrano for an insurance marker just after he streaked past Clayton.
“(Vatrano) did a great job crashing the net and it was a great pass from (Strome), so I’ve got to give credit to those guys,” Hinds said.
Regenda deflected Shakir Mukhamadullin’s one-timer from the right point to break up Husso’s shutout with a power-play tally at 13:29.
With 4:03 remaining in the match, Gaudette drew San Jose to within a goal.
Gaudette’s next attempt created a deflection opportunity for Ty Dellandrea, who had a game-high six shots, all of which were denied by Husso as he earned a 3-2 win.
McTAVISH PRACTICES
Center Mason McTavish signed a six-year, $42 million contract extension on Saturday and was at his first practice of training camp on Monday, speaking with reporters afterward.
Like former Ducks Jamie Drysdale and Trevor Zegras, McTavish’s negotiations gnawed into training camp and at a time when a new coach was implementing fresh systems (then it was Greg Cronin, now it’s Joel Quenneville). McTavish said he “talked to those guys and you can kind of know what to expect at that point. I figured it was going to be a while.”
“I still don’t really know why it takes that long. It’s a cliché, but it’s just the business side of it,” McTavish said. “I’m very fortunate and grateful to be back here.”
McTavish, who will likely play in the preseason finale against the Kings on Saturday afternoon, was less enthusiastic about the departure of Zegras over the summer, when he was traded to the Philadelphia Flyers.
“That sucked. Brutal. I pretty much spent every day with him. He’s happy there, which is good,” McTavish said. “It’s tough seeing your best friend kind of go away. At least he knows a couple of guys there, Jamie, obviously. It’ll be good to see them on the road.”
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