Cutter Gauthier scored three more on Sunday as the Ducks beat Pittsburgh 5-2. It was his third hat trick in five games, and his 13th goal in six. Anaheim has won five straight and is 10-7-1.
Two weeks ago we wrote that Anaheim sold its blue line and the offence went with it. Gauthier had two goals on 38 shots at the time, and we pointed to him as the clearest sign of a team that had stopped creating. The goals have come back in a rush, and we owe him a correction. What we got right is still there underneath it.
How did he go from 2 goals to 15?
By shooting more and watching the puck finally go in. In his first 11 games Gauthier had two goals on 37 shots. In the six since, he has 13 on 34 shots.
| Cutter Gauthier, 2026-27 | Games | Goals | Shots |
|---|---|---|---|
| First 11 games | 11 | 2 | 37 |
| Last 6 games | 6 | 13 | 34 |
| Season | 17 | 15 | 71 |
He has been shooting more, about 5.7 times a game against 3.4 before, but the bigger change is the finishing. His shots this season add up to 8.5 expected goals. He has scored 15, which is 6.5 more than his chances were worth, the biggest gap in the league.
That is why we were wrong in October. Gauthier scored 41 goals last season on 29.8 expected goals, so he finished well above the average shooter last season. Two goals on 37 shots was the outlier. A stretch like this one is closer to the player he has always been, even if 13 in six will not be repeated.
Where are the goals coming from?
Mostly the power play. Nine of Gauthier's 15 goals have come at five-on-four, and only four at five-on-five. Anaheim leads the NHL with 22 power-play goals at five-on-four and is shooting 31.4 per cent with the extra man, also first. Its power play is converting 38.5 per cent of the time.
The chances on the power play are only 16th in the league. Anaheim is not creating far more than other teams. It is turning an ordinary number of chances into an extraordinary number of goals.
And at five-on-five?
This is the part of our October piece that holds up. Anaheim has 44 per cent of the five-on-five expected goals, 28th, and allows chances at the fourth-highest rate in the league. Gauthier's own line, with Mikael Granlund and Beckett Sennecke, is at 34 per cent of the expected goals, even though it has outscored opponents 5-3.
Jackson LaCombe is still playing 27.3 minutes a night at 38 per cent. Nothing about the blue line has been fixed. Leo Carlsson leads the team with 26 points, and Sennecke has 10 goals, but the team in front of the goaltenders is giving up as much as it did a month ago.
| Anaheim, 2026-27 | Figure | League rank |
|---|---|---|
| Power play | 38.5% | 1st |
| Power-play goals at five-on-four | 22 | 1st |
| Five-on-five expected goals share | 44% | 28th |
| Five-on-five chances allowed per 60 | 2.90 | 29th |
The case for patience, stated fairly
The case for believing in this run is that Gauthier and Carlsson are two of the best young forwards in the league, Troy Terry is due back from a hip injury, and a power play this dangerous wins games on its own. Anaheim does not need to dominate at five-on-five if it can score on a third of its power plays.
The other side is that no power play stays at 31 per cent shooting for a season, and no forward keeps scoring at 13 goals in six games. When both cool, Anaheim is left with the team underneath, which is 28th at five-on-five. The winning streak is real. The foundation under it has not changed.
Our view is that Gauthier is a 40-goal player again, and that we were too quick to read his slow start as a sign of anything more than bad luck. Anaheim's front office should treat the streak as time bought to fix the blue line, not as proof that it does not need fixing.
What to watch
Anaheim is home to Nashville on Wednesday, the Islanders on Saturday and Calgary on Sunday. Watch the five-on-five shot share, because that is the number that has to rise before the power play cools. Every Ducks number is on the team stats page, and the Pacific race is on the standings.