ANAHEIM — The Ducks rebounded from Friday’s trampling with a 4-3 victory over the Columbus Blue Jackets on Saturday night at Honda Center.
Twenty-four hours after they were roughed up by the Dallas Stars, 8-3, the Ducks never trailed. They collected two points to gain sole possession of first place in the Pacific Division after the Vegas Golden Knights lost in Calgary on Saturday.
The Ducks came into the clash as losers of four of their previous five games, including a 4-3 overtime defeat in Columbus on Tuesday. That was the Blue Jackets’ only win in their past seven decisions.
Mikael Granlund, Jacob Trouba, Mason McTavish and Pavel Mintyukov found the back of the net for the Ducks, with Granlund picking up an assist. Lukáš Dostál had 23 saves, bouncing back after being pulled a night earlier.
Columbus entered the matchup as the Eastern Conference’s coldest team since Nov. 21, losing 10 of 13 games. The Blue Jackets saw the debut of Mason Marchment. He was acquired on Friday night in a trade with the Seattle Kraken, who have been the NHL’s worst team during that same span.
Marchment scored a goal, as did Dmitri Voronkov and Zach Werenski, who added an assist but didn’t finish the game (lower-body injury). Elvis Merzļikins stopped 24 shots.
“It was a great response, I thought the start was the response we were hoping for,” Ducks coach Joel Quenneville said. “(Mintyukov) scored a gigantic goal for us. It was an important (win) in a lot of ways. We were asking about a response from last night’s game, and we got it.”
As 3:29 showed on the game clock, the Ducks deposited the game-winner when Granlund dished from the right-wing wall across the slot to an activated Mintyukov. It was the Russian defender’s fourth goal of the season, all coming since Nov. 28.
Adding injury to insult, Werenski blocked a Troy Terry shot with his ankle, and was unable to skate to the bench or put weight on his leg as he went down the tunnel. As he struggled his way off the ice, another Columbus player came on, and a bench minor penalty was assessed for too many men. Werenski is the Blue Jackets’ leading scorer, on pace to set the franchise record for points in a season.
“It’s a tough call. He can’t skate, and we were a little frustrated because they blew one down where (Ryan Poehling) gets hit and then our guy gets hit, and they just let him crawl off,” Columbus coach Dean Evason said.
The final frame was the Ducks’ strongest analytically, but they failed to thicken their one-goal cushion. Chris Kreider’s backhand went just wide on a breakaway, among other potent chances.
That opened the door for Werenski’s short-side snipe from the left dot, perfectly placed above Dostál’s shoulder for an equalizer with 7:16 to play.
The Ducks held a 3-2 edge at the second intermission.
After a controversial goalie interference call against Beckett Sennecke – he appeared to be tripped into Merzļikins – there was nearly a “puck don’t lie” moment, but a short-handed two-on-one saw Jackson LaCombe robbed by the glove of the lanky Latvian.
Instead, the Ducks reclaimed the lead with 6:24 to play in the period. Sound forechecking from the fourth line allowed Ross Johnston to recover the puck below the goal line and find McTavish streaking off the bench and into the slot for his eighth goal of the campaign.
Columbus had leveled the contest at 3:39. Damon Severson made a seeing-eye pass and then a seeing-eye shot, both eluding four Ducks. The shot was redirected home by Marchment, ingratiating him with his new chums.
“To come into a situation like that today, getting here in the afternoon, jumping in and playing as well as he did, he’s just a hockey player,” Evason said.
Columbus had nearly knotted the score late in the opening frame when a sizzling sequence saw Werenski set up Kent Johnson for a one-timer, which Dostál repelled.
The Blue Jackets halved their deficit at 5:54, converting on a power play. Werenski and Charlie Coyle played pitch and catch until Coyle slid down the left-wing wall and fired a centering feed for Voronkov at the back post.
The Ducks dashed out to a 2-0 lead with two goals in 46 seconds between the 2:14 and 3:00 marks.
Poehling protected the puck down low, battling to open up a seam to Trouba, whose one-timer from above the left circle became his sixth goal of 2025-26. Trouba is tied with LaCombe for the lead among Ducks’ defensemen in goals and Poehling extended his surge to four games and six points.
Olen Zellweger, who returned to action after a scratch on Friday, keyed the opening goal after he blocked a shot. He then collected a loose puck in the defensive zone and zoomed ahead without hesitation, gliding into the right circle to deliver the puck to Granlund between the hashmarks for his sixth goal as a Duck and his third in three games.
“He’s gotten his pace to his game back, and now that he has that, his play recognition and ability to make plays in tight areas have been very noticeable,” Quenneville said of Granlund, who missed half the season to date with a lower-body injury. “He’s one of the better guys in the league at seeing quality opportunities.”