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In a thrilling matchup at Rogers Arena, the Anaheim Ducks secured a 5-4 win against the Vancouver Canucks on Tuesday night, propelled by Cutter Gauthier's second straight hat trick. Gauthier's feat marks a historic first for the franchise, as he becomes the first player in Ducks history to achieve back-to-back three-goal performances.
Mikael Granlund contributed a goal and two assists, while Leo Carlsson added a short-handed marker and Beckett Sennecke chipped in with four assists. Goaltender Laurent Brossoit made 19 saves to preserve the win for Anaheim.
The Ducks entered the contest with the league's second-best power play at 34%, trailing only the Utah Mammoth, and they capitalized on all three of their man-advantage opportunities. Two of Gauthier's goals came with the extra man, and Anaheim has now scored 10 power-play goals on 12 chances over their last three games.
Vancouver received two goals from Jake DeBrusk, and one each from Liam Ohgren and Linus Karlsson. Elias Pettersson recorded two assists, and goalie Kevin Lankinen stopped 17 shots in the losing effort.
Granlund opened the scoring with a power-play goal just over four minutes into the first period. Vancouver responded with a man-advantage goal two minutes later, as Marco Rossi set up Ohgren just above the crease. The Ducks took a 2-1 lead into the first intermission when Gauthier scored on their second power play of the night at 17:07.
Gauthier, who also scored three times in Anaheim's 6-3 comeback win over the Ottawa Senators on Sunday, has now tallied eight goals in his last three games after going nine games without a goal. The 22-year-old American was in the penalty box midway through the third period when DeBrusk scored his fourth of the season to make it 5-3.
DeBrusk then brought Rogers Arena to life with just over 10 minutes remaining, blasting a point shot to cut Vancouver's deficit to one goal. However, the Ducks held on for the victory.
Anaheim will next visit the Edmonton Oilers on Thursday, while Vancouver travels to face the Winnipeg Jets on Thursday.
_ See AP's full NHL coverage here.
Originally reported by yahoo.