Gauthier's Third Hat Trick in Five Games Led Anaheim Past Pittsburgh 5-2

ANAHEIM

Cutter Gauthier never looked at the net on the first one. Pittsburgh had just burned nearly four and a half straight minutes of power-play time early in the second period — a 5-on-3 included — and come away with nothing. Anaheim's power play needed one chance. Gauthier took Mikael Granlund's pass in the right circle at 6:28 and put it between Arturs Silovs' pads without glancing up. Less than three minutes later he came through the middle at full speed, uncovered, and snapped a wrist shot home for 3-0.

The opener had arrived at 8:26 of the first, a second after Anaheim's first power play expired. Gauthier's shot was blocked by Declan Carlile and the puck dropped into the slot, where Granlund fired it in. Gauthier and Jackson LaCombe drew the assists.

Gauthier finished the hat trick with 34 seconds left, a long empty-net shot that brought the hats down and closed the scoring at 5-2. It was his third hat trick of the season, and his third in five games. He has 13 goals across a six-game goal streak — tied for the longest in the league this season — and 15 goals in all, with a point in eight straight games to match his career best. The company predates him: Corey Perry, Frank Vatrano and Teemu Selanne were the only Ducks before him to record three hat tricks in one season.

Granlund's night was nearly as loud as the headliner's. The captain added three assists to his goal. LaCombe's three assists stretched his assist streak to 10 games with 15 assists in the run, tying Ryan Getzlaf and Perry for the longest in team history.

Tristan Luneau's power-play point shot early in the third made it 4-0, and for a while the only open question was the shutout. Pittsburgh answered it the hard way. Kris Letang scored on a 6-on-4 at 8:05 — the first goal of his 21st NHL season — and Rickard Rakell followed with another 6-on-4 goal at 13:42. Both came with Silovs pulled, and Pittsburgh pulled him a third time in the final minutes. Laurent Brossoit kept the door shut. He made 32 saves on a night the Penguins outshot Anaheim 34-25.

Anaheim has won five in a row and sits at 10-7-1. The Ducks have scored at least five goals in eight consecutive games, something no team had done since the 1988-89 Los Angeles Kings. They did this one in the debut of their Hometown Remix uniforms, the jade-green throwbacks built around the old Mighty Ducks mask, in front of 17,174 at Honda Center. Pittsburgh fell to 6-10-2, one night after winning 5-2 in Los Angeles to end a four-game skid. The homestand continues Wednesday against Nashville, and the streak math gets harder to argue with by the game.

Full box score and play-by-play: Game Center — Penguins at Ducks · More NHL: the NHL hub