Gauthier gets 1st NHL hat trick, Ducks score 7 to pull away from Panthers

ANAHEIM -- Cutter Gauthier scored his first NHL hat trick, and the Anaheim Ducks pulled away from the Florida Panthers for their fourth straight win, 7-3 at Honda Center on Tuesday.

Gauthier also had an assist for his first career four-point game.

"It's a pretty special night," Gauthier said. "Most important thing is we got the job done, so it was super fun."

Nikita Nesterenko had a goal and an assist, and Leo Carlsson and Troy Terry each had two assists for the Ducks (8-3-1), who have won four in a row and six of seven. Lukas Dostal made 18 saves.

Evan Rodrigues had a goal and an assist, and Brad Marchand and Eetu Luostarinen also scored for the Panthers (6-6-1), who were 2-0-1 in their previous three games. Sergei Bobrovsky made 25 saves.

The two-time defending Stanley Cup champions also lost to Anaheim, 3-2, in a shootout on Oct. 28 in Sunrise, Florida.

"They're in that mix of teams that have acquired the talent through the draft and have done a really good job with it, and then developed some players," Florida coach Paul Maurice said of the Ducks. "Now they're going to get the payoff from it."

Gauthier gave Anaheim a 1-0 lead at 3:09 of the first period, scoring five-hole on a breakaway.

"That's just a go-to shot," Gauthier said. "I tried to get it off quick, try to make it as deceptive as possible. I know 'Bob's' a really good goalie and just wanted to get it off quick so he couldn't read anything."

Marchand tied it 1-1 at 10:14 on a breakaway following a Ducks turnover in the neutral zone.

Gauthier put Anaheim back ahead 2-1 on the power play at 15:17, scoring his second goal on a one-timer from the right circle.

"He's just a pure goal-scorer," Nesterenko said. "He's got an unbelievable shot, unbelievable release. I saw him do it a bunch [at Boston College]."

Rodrigues scored on a breakaway to tie it 2-2 at 5:21 of the second period, and Luostarinen’s power-play goal gave Florida a 3-2 lead at 10:37. He scored from in close off a feed from Rodrigues.

The Ducks then scored five consecutive goals to take a 7-3 lead.

Gauthier completed the hat trick and tied it 3-3 at 15:36, scoring again on the power play with a one-timer from the right circle. It was his Ducks-leading 10th goal of the season, which is also tied for the NHL lead.

"When the puck's going in, it's going in," Gauthier said. "I'm just trying to get shots on net as much as possible. Create opportunities off of it if it doesn't go in, or hopefully goes in, so tonight they ended up going in, which is nice."

Nesterenko moved Anaheim in front 4-3 at 17:19 when he scored his first goal of the season on a rebound.

Rodrigues went to the locker room after a collision with Carlsson on a power play 51 seconds into the third period, resulting in a five-minute major interference penalty and a game misconduct on Carlsson.

"I didn't think it was a major," Ducks coach Joel Quenneville said. "I think everybody could look at it a different way, but it looked like there was no intention there. He was just going through the middle. It was just one of those unfortunate hits."

Rodrigues returned just before Jacob Trouba scored on a rebound to extend it to 5-3 at 11:43 of the third period.

"We played well enough to be in it, but it’s not really well enough and up to our standards," Panthers forward Noah Gregor said. "So some stuff we got to work on.”

Chris Kreider scored off a tip to push it to 6-3 at 13:21, and Jansen Harkins swept the puck into the net while on his stomach at 14:47 for the 7-3 final.

The Ducks scored at least seven goals for an NHL-leading third time this season. They lead the League at 3.92 goals per game.

"We're super confident," Gauthier said. We have a really good team. A lot of depth, guys buying in in this locker room. There's no complaining. Coach ‘Q’ says stuff and we get it done."

NOTES: Gauthier (21 years, 289 days) became the fourth-youngest player in franchise history to record a hat trick for the Ducks, following Carlsson (18 years, 319 days on Nov. 10, 2023), Sam Steel (21 years, 51 days on March 26, 2019) and Isac Lundestrom (21 years, 115 days on March 1, 2021). ... Gauthier (seven goals, six assists) and Carlsson (three goals, nine assists) each extended his point streak to an NHL-career high seven games. They became the first set of teammates age 21 or younger to record simultaneous point streaks of at least seven games since Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl of the Edmonton Oilers in 2016-17. ... Marchand has 13 points (seven goals, six assists) in his first 12 games this season.