Young Ducks flying high, strive to ground Jets

The high-octane Anaheim Ducks will ride a six-game winning streak and a red-hot offense into a home matchup against the Winnipeg Jets on Sunday in a clash of two of the top teams in the NHLs Western Conference.

The Ducks will enter off a 4-3 road victory over the Vegas Golden Knights on Saturday that followed a pair of seven-goal victories over the Dallas Stars and the two-time defending champion Florida Panthers. Those outcomes marked the first time in franchise history that the Ducks scored seven goals in consecutive games.

Anaheim has scored 58 goals in 14 games for an average of 4.2 per contest under new head coach Joel Quenneville, who guided the Chicago Blackhawks to three Stanley Cup titles in the 2010s.

Leo Carlsson scored a pair of second-period goals and assisted on the game winner as the Ducks rallied from an early 1-0 deficit to earn the victory Saturday. Anaheim took a 3-1 lead but Vegas scored twice in the third period to force overtime.

Jacob Trouba scored the game winner on a backhand with 32 seconds remaining in the extra period. Petr Mrazek made 36 saves as Anaheim won for the eighth time in nine games.

"We're playing our game, having fun with it," said Carlsson, who is in his third season and on pace to crush his career highs in goals (20) and points (45). "Q's a great coach, likes to push us on the bench. We're on a heater right now and it shows."

Speed and youth have served the Ducks well, with the team collecting 23 goals and 53 points from players 21 or younger so far this season.

Carlsson leads the Anaheim youth movement with eight goals and 23 points, while Cutter Gauthier has 11 goals and 18 points. Carlsson extended his points streak to nine games, while Gauthier saw his eight-game run come to an end.

Carlsson is 20. Gauthier is 21.

After a 9-3-0 start to the season, the Jets have hit a rut to open a six-game road trip. They enter off a 2-1 loss at San Jose on Friday that followed a 3-0 loss at Los Angeles on Tuesday. Those were just the second and third games in which Winnipeg has scored one goal or no goals in a game.

Josh Morrissey scored the lone goal in the two defeats for the Jets.

"They were the better team for two periods, second and third," Winnipeg coach Scott Arniel said of San Jose. "We turned pucks over. We didn't defend very well. We gave up lots of odd-man looks. (Goalie Connor) Hellebuyck had to make some big stops."

Hellebuyck, who had 25 saves, saw 19-year-old Sharks wunderkind Macklin Celebrini score a goal with an assist Friday. Now the Jets face an arsenal of speedy, young Ducks players Sunday.

The Jets, who started last season 15-1-0, now face the prospect of a three-game losing streak, something they experienced just three times in 2024-25. They never lost more than four consecutive games last season.

At 9-5-0 (18 points) this season, Winnipeg trails three teams in the Western Conference at the start of play Sunday: NHL-best Colorado Avalanche (9-1-5, 23 points), Anaheim (10-3-1, 21 points) and the Dallas Stars (8-4-3, 19 points).

--Field Level Media