Ducks Rout Pittsburgh 5-2 as C. Gauthier Nets a Hat Trick

Six games went final Sunday and one name topped every stat sheet. C. Gauthier scored three goals and added an assist as the Ducks beat Pittsburgh 5-2. The rest of the slate had a road shutout in Toronto, a winner with two seconds left in Winnipeg and an overtime finish in Calgary.

• C. Gauthier finished 3-1=4 for Anaheim. His third goal, an empty-netter with 34 seconds left, completed the hat trick.
• C. Hellebuyck stopped all 23 shots he faced and the Devils beat Toronto 4-0 on the road.
• Winnipeg led 3-0, watched Tampa Bay score three straight, then took it 4-3 on M. Scheifele with 2.0 seconds left in regulation.
• M. Coronato ended Philadelphia 4-3 at 4:08 of overtime for Calgary.
• J. Swayman made 40 saves on 41 shots and Boston beat Florida 4-1, and Florida outshot Boston 41 to 36 doing it.

What mattered

The hat trick, the shutout, the two-second winner and the overtime game.

Anaheim led 1-0 after M. Granlund opened the scoring in the first, then Gauthier struck twice 2:43 apart midway through the second. Granlund finished 1-3=4 and J. LaCombe added three assists. Pittsburgh trailed 4-0 before K. Letang and R. Rakell cut it to 4-2 late, and the empty-netter made the final 5-2.

New Jersey scored twice in the second period and twice more in the third while Toronto managed nothing. T. Meier had two goals, N. Hischier 1-1=2, and J. Bratt and J. Hughes two assists each. Hellebuyck, in net for the Devils, was 23 for 23. A. Stolarz took the loss at 25 of 28.

Winnipeg carried a 3-0 lead into the final eight minutes on goals from C. Perfetti, M. Barron and B. Yager. Tampa Bay answered three times, with P. Holmberg scoring twice 26 seconds apart to make it 3-3. M. Scheifele won it at 19:58 off passes from C. Perfetti and G. Vilardi, his own second point of the night.

Calgary and Philadelphia traded one-goal leads all night, six goals through three periods and never a margin above one. J. Farabee tied it 3-3 with 11:33 left in the third. M. Coronato ended it at 4:08 of overtime, and D. Cooley was 32 of 35 in the Calgary net.

The other two

A 4-1 road win in Buffalo and a 4-1 matinee win in Boston.

Vegas led 2-0 after two periods on an unassisted M. Marner goal and one from J. Eichel, then pulled away 4-1 in Buffalo. T. Hertl scored twice in the third and A. Hill was 28 of 29. B. Malenstyn managed the Sabres’ only goal, and C. Ellis was 22 of 26 in net on the night.

Boston scored three times in the opening period, led 3-1 after one and won 4-1 over Florida. J. Peterka’s goal 58 seconds into the third was the fourth, and C. Verhaeghe’s first-period goal, set up by B. Tkachuk and M. Tkachuk, was Florida’s only marker.

The full slate

All six Sunday finals in start order with each game’s top performer.

Final	Star of the game	Line
FLA 1 at BOS 4	J. Swayman	40 saves on 41
VGK 4 at BUF 1	T. Hertl	2-0=2, both goals in the third
TBL 3 at WPG 4	M. Scheifele	1-1=2, winner with 2.0 seconds left
NJD 4 at TOR 0	C. Hellebuyck	23 saves on 23, shutout
PHI 3 at CGY 4, OT	M. Coronato	OT winner at 4:08
PIT 2 at ANA 5	C. Gauthier	3-1=4, hat trick

Pro Hockey Stats models the NHL in public. Every pick is graded on the Ledger, no deletions.