Sennecke providing Ducks spark, swagger during playoff run

LAS VEGAS -- Swagger. 

The Anaheim Ducks use that word often to describe forward Beckett Sennecke.

Off the ice, the 20-year-old will give it right back when a teammate chirps him, whether he's getting it from another young player or a veteran.

"He's a little bit of a clown, but he's a good guy," forward Cutter Gauthier said. "Loves working hard, loves getting better, and he definitely brings a fun, lighthearted side to the locker room. … One-liners. Always has a comeback for everything. Got a loud mouth."

On the ice, Sennecke had 60 points (23 goals, 37 assists) in 82 regular-season games, tying New York Islanders defenseman Matthew Schaefer for the rookie lead in goals and finishing two points behind Montreal Canadiens forward Ivan Demidov for the rookie lead in points.

The NHL announced Tuesday that Demidov, Schaefer and Sennecke were voted finalists for the Calder Trophy given to the NHL rookie of the year.

Then Sennecke scored his second goal of the Stanley Cup Playoffs in a 3-1 win against the Vegas Golden Knights in Game 2 of the Western Conference Second Round at T-Mobile Arena on Wednesday, helping tie the best-of-7 series 1-1 entering Game 3 at Honda Center on Friday (9:30 p.m. ET; HBO MAX, truTV, TNT, SN360, SN, TVAS).

He became the fourth player in Ducks history to score multiple goals in a single postseason at age 20 or younger, following Stanislav Chistov (four in 2003), Emerson Etem (three in 2013) and Ryan Getzlaf (two in 2006).

"Usually, guys come in a little timid and maybe a little bit worried about making plays or whatever and that's kind of the complete opposite of him," said forward Alex Killorn, a 36-year-old in his 14th NHL season. "Sometimes you've got to pull him back a little bit, but it's great.

"When guys don't have confidence, it's really hard to manufacture that. When a guy is just born with it, when he makes a bad play, he's not worried about doing it again. He's going to learn from it, but he's not scared and I think that's a huge thing."

Anaheim selected Sennecke with the No. 3 pick of the 2024 NHL Draft. He returned to the Ontario Hockey League last season and had 86 points (36 goals, 50 assists) in 56 games for Oshawa.

He was still only 19 entering this season; he wouldn't turn 20 until Jan. 28. He said he figured the Ducks would give him a chance and wanted to give them a reason to keep him. His goal was to stay in the NHL the whole season.

Well, he scored his first goal 4:11 into his NHL debut, a 3-1 loss at the Seattle Kraken on Oct. 9. He said about 10 games into the season he felt more comfortable carrying the puck and trying to take guys one-on-one.

Sometimes he got too comfortable.

"He's had some tremendous games this year," Ducks coach Joel Quenneville said. "He has some tremendous moments where I'm sitting there, saying, 'You can't do that in this league. You can't try that at that time of the game. You can't do that against that type of defenseman or make that play where you're trapping everybody.'"

The Ducks have tried to find a balance, letting him flash his talent to an extent, reining him in when necessary.

"When we're showing clips to the guys, whether it's individually or with the team, sometimes he's in it," Quenneville said. "I think he understands and he absorbs it, and he doesn't feel bad. He just knows it's part of the learning curve, and we try to do things in a positive way with him and all our guys, but he probably gets talked to more than most guys."

Quenneville smirked and paused.

"Or everybody," he continued with a big laugh.

Quenneville called him "very likeable."

"You enjoy trying to help him, and I think he understands when your tone gets a little more direct, but he's a sharp kid," he said. "I mean, he understands how he's got to get better. He's willing to do whatever it takes."

Sennecke helped the Ducks make the playoffs for the first time since 2018 and then earn their first series win since 2017 when they defeated the Edmonton Oilers in six games in the first round. He scored a goal in a 7-4 victory in Game 3 of that series.

"He was great," Killorn said. "Maybe he didn't produce as much as he wanted to, but in terms of chances created and what he brings to our team, even on the power play, he made a huge impact in the games."

Sennecke is still learning about the playoffs.

He said you expect the pace to be quicker, but you don't know how fast it is until you experience it firsthand. Quenneville said he needs to be stronger in puck battles, as most young players need to be when they're maturing physically. Despite his goal in Game 2 against Vegas, he played only 11:03, the least he has in the playoffs to this point.

This is just the start for him.

"He's not afraid of the physicality of the game at all and he's really good at protecting pucks, and he's super young, so that's only going to get better," Killorn said. "As he gets older and stronger, he's going to be hard to play against."