Cutter Gauthier getting hot at an important time for Ducks

It hasn’t been the best of starts for the Anaheim Ducks. After winning their first playoff series since 2017 last season, the Ducks were hoping to take the proverbial next step this year. They stumbled out of the blocks, however, going 5-7-1 for just 11 points over their first 13 games.

Since then, though, Anaheim has won two straight games thanks in large part to the herculean effort of winger Cutter Gauthier, who notched hat tricks in each of those wins, including in Tuesday’s 5-4 victory over the Vancouver Canucks. Gauthier, 22, won’t be able to score a hat trick every game, but if he can get back to his 40-goal form from last season, it’ll go a long way towards getting the Ducks firmly back in the Western Conference’s playoff picture.

On Wednesday’s episode of Daily Faceoff LIVE, hosts Tyler Yaremchuk and Carter Hutton discussed the significance of Gauthier’s recent performance for Anaheim.

Tyler Yaremchuk: Things weren’t going good for Anaheim and they were heading into a stretch of their season that I don’t think is a stretch to call pivotal. If they would’ve stumbled here for another week or two there would’ve been some serious red flags being waived in regards to this team. I have a lot of respect for a guy like Gauthier who just kind of shrugs and says “Boys, hop on, I’ve got this one.” Eight goals in three games, and yesterday the way he was scoring them, it’s like borderline unstoppable. It’s weird, usually a left shot is set up on the other side of the ice on the power play when they have the kind of shot that Gautheir does. He goes on that other side, and it’s almost like teams don’t know how to react or read or cover him.

Carter Hutton: I think what they’re trying to do, is as that guy drops to the goal line on the power play and he’s the lefty on the goalies blocker side, is play that bumper to the middle which kind of opens him up. The first one is a great example, it goes low to high and he’s ready to hit that one-timer right away. The second one, I kind of blame Vancouver a bit. The coverage just gets lost with guys going up and down. It’s kind of like a piston system when you’re defending, you’re out and you’re back, and if you get crossed up you have to switch your man, it was a miscommunication. And then the third one, the goal to give him the hat trick was absolutely world class. It’s a pass, you probably don’t want to let a seam through the middle, but his catch and release coming down right at the hashmarks is unbelievable.

You can catch the full discussion and the rest of Wednesday’s episode here…