Gauthier Carries Ducks Back to Anaheim
A 22-year-old's two-goal game ties the series and ends an eight-year home playoff drought
Cutter Gauthier scored twice, including the go-ahead goal with 4:52 left in the third period, to lift the Anaheim Ducks to a 6-4 win over the Edmonton Oilers in Game 2 on Wednesday at Rogers Place. The series is tied 1-1. Game 3 on Friday at Honda Center will be the first Anaheim home playoff game since 2018.
Gauthier, 22, became the youngest player in Ducks franchise playoff history to record a three-point game, passing Paul Kariya's mark set in 1997. It was also his first career Stanley Cup Playoff goals — both of them, scored in the same night, in the same comeback.
The win came after Edmonton erased a two-goal Anaheim lead late in regulation before Gauthier answered. Oilers star Connor McDavid exited the game with a leg injury and his status for Game 3 is unclear, which changes the math for Edmonton considerably.
Anaheim's rebuild has produced a 40-goal scorer in Gauthier and, now, a series split on the road. The Ducks, the heat of a raucous Honda Center crowd and eight years of pent-up playoff hunger behind them, host Game 3 Friday night.