ANAHEIM — The government shutdown may have ended, but the Jets were still grounded on Sunday night at Honda Center.
There, the Ducks soared to remain the hottest team in the NHL by topping Winnipeg, 4-1.
Beating the 2025 Pacific Division champs in Vegas and last year’s Presidents’ Trophy winners on consecutive nights, the Ducks have now taken seven straight games. That’s their longest streak since the 2021-22 season, when they won eight in a row and they’ve triumphed in nine out of their past 10 matches. Leo Carlsson is now tied with the only player drafted ahead of him in 2023, Chicago’s Connor Bedard, for second place in points league-wide.
Carlsson’s two goals extended his personal scoring surge to 10 games, tying fellow Swede William Nylander of the Toronto Maple Leafs for the longest active streak in the NHL. Both players have 19 points in that span.
Rookie Beckett Sennecke scored two goals, both of which were set up by Cutter Gauthier. Carlsson lit the lamp twice on the power play, with Chris Kreider assisting both times. Lukáš Dostál won his sixth straight decision with 23 saves.
Kyle Connor tallied for Winnipeg. Eric Comrie, the Jets’ trusted No. 2, stopped just 17 shots in his first loss this season.
Through 20 minutes, the Ducks already led 2-0 off a goal apiece from Carlsson and Sennecke.
Sennecke saw the second of two odd-man rushes fizzle out but persisted as the Ducks regained the puck and the offensive zone, with Sennecke taking punishment in the right corner. The Ducks’ doggedness culminated in Gauthier chasing a puck behind the goal line and taking three Jets with him toward the end boards before slipping a backhanded pass to a wide-open Sennecke in the slot. He hammered home the game’s first goal, 7:18 after the opening faceoff.
With 57 seconds remaining in the first period, Carlsson’s first power-play goal and ninth tally overall this season extended the Ducks’ edge to 2-0. Kreider dug Jackson LaCombe’s rebound out of the crease, moving it to Troy Terry, who alertly found Carlsson inside the left faceoff dot. The lateral pass and an accurate shot gave Comrie little chance.
In the second stanza, the two sides swapped goals to keep the Ducks up two at the second intermission.
After Connor, who signed a $96 million contract extension last month, got Winnipeg on the board with an incredible all-in-one motion reception and snipe at 4:22, Sennecke turned in the first multi-goal game of his career.
It was a forechecking exhibition by the Ducks, who recovered three pucks before Mason McTavish’s drop pass for Gauthier generated a rebound that Sennecke sent fluttering five-hole. Once again, Comrie had no chance to set his position as the Ducks regained a two-goal advantage at the 11:48 mark.
Just 2:47 into the final frame, the Ducks locked down two more points when Carlsson struck again with the extra man. Terry gained the zone only to be poke checked, after which Carlsson alertly nudged the puck to LaCombe. That duo was joined by Kreider to form a triangle, moving the puck until Carlsson’s redirection from the left circle beat Comrie.
With 45.3 seconds displayed on the game clock, Sennecke set up Gauthier for a one-timer that would have put him back in the NHL lead for goals, but the entry was offside, nullifying a goal that would have been little more than a luxury.