ANAHEIM — The government shutdown may have ended, but the Jets were still grounded on Sunday night at Honda Center.
There, the Ducks soared to remain the hottest team in the NHL by topping Winnipeg, 4-1.
Beating the 2025 Pacific Division champs in Vegas and last year’s Presidents’ Trophy winners on consecutive nights, the Ducks have now taken seven straight games. That’s their longest streak since the 2021-22 season when they won eight in a row, and they’ve triumphed in nine out of their past 10 matches.
“It’s awesome. It’s fun to be a part of. I heard about the losing days of the past couple years from the older guys, and they’re pretty pumped right now,” Sennecke said.
During their rampage, they’ve also bested the reigning two-time Stanley Cup winners twice, along with a Western Conference finalist and another 2025 playoff team. Next up, they’ll travel to Denver to duel with the Colorado Avalanche in a matchup of the NHL’s two best teams by points percentage.
“It’ll be a good challenge for us. We knew that our schedule had a bunch of tough teams in a row here, and I think we’re proving why we’re an established team,” Sennecke said.
Leo Carlsson is now tied with the only player drafted ahead of him in 2023, Chicago’s Connor Bedard, for second place in points league-wide, behind Colorado’s Nathan MacKinnon. Carlsson’s two goals extended his personal scoring surge to 10 games, matching fellow Swede William Nylander of the Toronto Maple Leafs for the longest active streak in the NHL. Both players have 19 points in that span.
Sennecke also scored two goals, both of which were set up by Cutter Gauthier. Lukáš Dostál won his sixth straight decision behind 23 saves.
Kyle Connor tallied for Winnipeg. Eric Comrie, the Jets’ trusted No. 2, stopped just 17 shots in his first loss this season.
Through 20 minutes, the Ducks already led 2-0 off a goal apiece from Carlsson and Sennecke.
Sennecke saw the second of two odd-man rushes fizzle out but persisted as the Ducks regained the puck and the offensive zone, with Sennecke taking punishment in the right corner. The Ducks’ doggedness culminated in Gauthier chasing a puck behind the goal line and taking three Jets with him toward the end boards before slipping a backhanded pass to a wide-open Sennecke in the slot. He hammered home the game’s first goal, 7:18 after the opening faceoff.
“Tonight he added more elements to his game that we appreciated, whether it was coming up with loose pucks or strength on the puck; he sustained some good situations for us,” Coach Joel Quenneville said. “[He had] two two-on-ones right off the bat and we didn’t get a shot, and it was like ‘okay,’ and then he scored right on the same shift.”
With 57 seconds remaining in the first period, Carlsson’s first power-play goal this season extended the Ducks’ edge to 2-0. Kreider dug Jackson LaCombe’s rebound out of the crease, moving it to Troy Terry, who alertly found Carlsson inside the left faceoff dot. The lateral pass and an accurate shot gave Comrie little chance.
In the second stanza, the two sides swapped goals to keep the Ducks up two at the second intermission.
After Connor, who signed a $96 million contract extension last month, got Winnipeg on the board with an incredible all-in-one motion reception and snipe at 4:22, Sennecke turned in the first multi-goal game of his career.
It was a forechecking exhibition by the Ducks, who recovered three pucks before Mason McTavish’s drop pass for Gauthier generated a rebound that Sennecke sent fluttering five-hole. Once again, Comrie had no chance to set his position as the Ducks regained a two-goal advantage at the 11:48 mark.
“Our forechecking set the tone for us tonight, we were turning over a lot of pucks and creating and moving off each other really well,” Sennecke said.
Just 2:47 into the final frame, the Ducks locked down two more points when Carlsson struck again with the extra man for his 10th goal overall. Terry gained the zone only to be poke-checked, after which Carlsson alertly nudged the puck to LaCombe. That duo was joined by Kreider to form a triangle, moving the puck until Carlsson’s redirection from the left circle beat Comrie.
“Leo, again, he’s having a great week and a great start to the season,” said Quenneville of Carlsson’s five-goal, nine-point week that included two game-winners.
He added: “He’s been doing some things that are very special and fun to watch.”
With 45.3 seconds displayed on the game clock, Sennecke set up Gauthier for a one-timer off the rush that would have put Gauthier back in the NHL lead for goals, but the entry was offside, nullifying a marker that would have been little more than a luxury.
So what does the Ducks’ newfound success say about them?
“It says that we’re an amazing team,” Carlsson said. “We’ve just got to keep this thing going.