ANAHEIM — The Ducks were down to their minor-league goalie tandem and they did them few favors defensively in a 7-0 walloping by the Utah Mammoth on Wednesday night at Honda Center.
It was the Ducks’ most lopsided loss of the season; they hadn’t lost by more than three goals. They were shut out for the second time in 2025-26, and this time neither Lukáš Dostál nor Petr Mrázek was available in net.
Ville Husso stopped 17 of 21 shots before being relieved by Vyacheslav Buteyets, who made his NHL debut and nine of 12 saves in one period of action. Beckett Sennecke and Leo Carlsson had their scoring streaks of eight and seven games, respectively, snapped.
J.J. Peterka led the Utah assault with two goals and two assists. Clayton Keller notched a goal and two assists. Dylan Guenther and Ian Cole added a goal and an assist apiece. Lawson Crouse and Liam O’Brien also scored, and Nick Schmaltz and Jack McBain each chipped in two assists. Karel Vejmelka had 27 saves to earn his first shutout of the season.
After scoring first in consecutive games, the Ducks surrendered the first goal again.
And the second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh as well.
Despite an early push in the first period and their dominance in the faceoff circle through 20 minutes, the Ducks found themselves down 2-0 at the first intermission. They were aggressive in the second as well, but their hole had only grown deeper, to 4-0, through 40 minutes.
Crouse got the Mammoth moving, 5:59 after puck drop, after they out-worked the Ducks along the walls and below the goal line. There, Michael Carcone’s backhand feed allowed Crouse to traverse the goal crease and score off his backhand.
Jacob Trouba, who was on for five goals by Utah, stepped up in the neutral zone to play a long pass. Guenther skated into the loose puck with speed and zoomed past a diving Pavel Mintyukov. Guenther’s combination of velocity and confident stickhandling opened up Husso’s five hole with ease, 10:30 into the game.
The Ducks contracted low in their defensive zone, leaving Cole space to glide into the left circle for a shot that seared past both Trouba and Husso, 5:43 into the second period.
With 7:04 to play in the middle frame, the Ducks appeared to score off a slick exchange between Cutter Gauthier and Mason McTavish. McTavish’s tally was nullified, however, by an offside challenge by André Tourigny.
Instead it was Utah slathering on another goal, and the hosts headed to the dressing room with one more shot on net but four fewer goals than the visitors.
Off a set breakout, three overcommitted forwards left the Ducks with just two defensemen to defend an odd-man break. Clayton Keller gained the zone with speed, moving the puck to Peterka on the flank. Two cross-ice passes later, the Mammoth held a 4-0 lead at the 14:34 mark.
Immediately after making his first NHL save, Buteyets received a rude reception to the league. His pad save sent the puck off the end boards and directly to O’Brien, whose spinning bid banked in off Drew Helleson’s skate, 1:41 into the third period.
After O’Brien turned down a vociferous invitation to fight from Ross Johnston, who was assessed a roughing penalty. On the ensuing power play, some overly cute penalty killing and a puck that eluded Mintyukov at the blue line exposed Trouba to a three-on-one Utah rush, which culminated in Peterka’s power-play goal with 9:54 left.
Utah kicked the extra point through the uprights 2:46 later, when Keller’s fling in the general direction of the net bounced off LaCombe to pour salt in the Ducks’ wounds.
More to come on this story.