NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Ducks rookie Beckett Sennecke collected his third goal of the season and the Ducks beat the Nashville Predators, 5-2, on Tuesday night.
The 19-year-old Sennecke dropped to one knee to blast a feed from Mason McTavish past Juuse Saros with just over three minutes left in the second period to give the Ducks a two-goal lead they never came close to squandering. Sennecke, the third overall pick in this year’s draft, now has five points in five games.
Ross Johnston scored his first goal of the season and added two assists, while Cutter Gauthier, Leo Carlsson and Troy Terry also scored for the Ducks, who lit the lamp first for the first time in six games this season. Jacob Trouba had two assists and Lukas Dostal made 26 saves.
The Ducks played without veteran forward Chris Kreider, who missed the game due to an illness.
Tyson Jost and Filip Forsberg scored for the Predators, who have dropped four straight. Saros made 28 saves for Nashville, which has surrendered 19 goals during its slide.
The teams traded goals in the first period and again in the opening minutes of the second before the Ducks took control in the latter stages of the period.
Gauthier gave the Ducks the lead for good when he and Alex Killorn broke in 2-on-1 on Saros. Gauthier’s wrist shot from the slot beat Saros to the glove side to make it 3-2 at 15:07.
Sennecke doubled the visitors’ advantage later in the period thanks in part to some sloppy stickhandling behind the Nashville net by Saros, who left the puck for Brady Skjei. Johnston stripped it from Skjei and fed it to McTavish, who then fed a cross-ice pass to a streaking Sennecke for a one-timer and a 4-2 lead at 16:59.
Johnston helped force another turnover in the Nashville zone and Ryan Poehling fed Terry for a redirection to extend the lead to 5-2 at 11:40 of the third period.
Johnston capped his night by fighting Michael McCarron with 6:29 left for the Gordie Howe hat trick.
The Ducks had drawn first blood in the opening period. Saros knocked down a shot with his blocker, but the rebound went to Johnston and his shot from the bottom of the left circle clipped off the stick blade of Predators defenseman Skjei and into the net for a 1-0 lead at 8:52 of the first.
The Predators tied it 1-1 at 14:29 when Spencer Stastney brought the puck down the right side and centered a pass to Jost, who redirected it into the net from in front of the crease.
Carlsson scored on another rebound to move the Ducks back ahead, 2-1, at 4:23 of the second, but Forsberg tied it again when he tipped in a shot by Roman Josi at 6:39.
The Predators killed a 5-on-3 power play that lasted 1:23, but they couldn’t ride the momentum and the Ducks took control with their two goals in the final five minutes of the second period.
UP NEXT
The Ducks continue their five-game road trip in Boston on Thursday at 4 p.m. PT.