Gauthier hits 40 goals

Cutter Gauthier hit 40 goals on Sunday night, scoring twice in Anaheim’s 4-3 overtime loss to Vancouver after missing five games with an upper-body injury. (nhl.com) The 21-year-old gave the Ducks a 1-0 lead at 3:41 of the first period, then scored again later in the game to reach the mark with two regular-season games left. Anaheim fell to 42-32-6 when Marco Rossi scored a power-play winner for Vancouver with 10 seconds left in overtime. (nhl.com) Gauthier’s jump is steep: he scored 20 goals in 82 games in his first full National Hockey League season in 2024-25, and his player page says he had his first hat trick and first four-point game on Nov. 4, 2025 against Florida. (nhl.com) He got to Anaheim in a trade that reshaped two franchises. The Ducks acquired Gauthier from the Philadelphia Flyers on Jan. 8, 2024 for defenseman Jamie Drysdale and a 2025 second-round draft pick. (nhl.com) The timing matters because Anaheim is trying to end a long playoff absence at the same moment Gauthier is turning into a top-line scorer. The Ducks would have clinched their first playoff berth since 2017-18 with any kind of win Sunday, but the overtime loss left them still waiting. (nhl.com) As of the latest official standings, Anaheim is third in the Pacific Division with 89 points in 79 games, three points ahead of the Los Angeles Kings, who have a game in hand. The Ducks can clinch if the Nashville Predators lose Monday at San Jose; otherwise their next chance comes Tuesday at Minnesota. (nhl.com; nhl.com) League-wide, Gauthier’s 40-goal season puts him in rare company for a player in his second year. The National Hockey League stats page lists Connor McDavid, Nikita Kucherov and Nathan MacKinnon among the scoring leaders, underscoring the caliber of names at the top of this season’s race. (nhl.com) Anaheim’s path has not been smooth in the final week. The Ducks snapped a six-game skid with a 6-1 win over San Jose on April 9, then lost to Vancouver on April 12 and dropped to 1-5-2 over their last eight games. (nhl.com; nhl.com) Gauthier said after Sunday’s game, “With two games to play, there’s still a lot of work to do.” For Anaheim, the 40th goal changed his season total; the next point in the standings would change the spring. (nhl.com)