The Anaheim Ducks are set to play the Edmonton Oilers tonight in the second game of a back-to-back series. The Ducks, with a record of 28-21-3, recently secured their seventh consecutive win after defeating the Calgary Flames 4-3 in overtime. This marks the second time this season that Anaheim has achieved a seven-game winning streak, currently the longest active run in the NHL.
Beckett Sennecke played a key role in Sunday’s victory, scoring his first career hat trick and becoming only the ninth rookie in NHL history to include an overtime goal as part of his three-goal performance. Sennecke now leads all rookies with 18 goals this season.
“I noticed they had an extra forward caught down low, so I just tried to get speed up, and then their ‘D’ kind of took the pass away, so I just decided to shoot it and it went in,” Sennecke said about his overtime winner. “It’s awesome. Definitely something I’ll remember. It was my first game in Canada, so that’s pretty awesome, too.”
Head coach Joel Quenneville praised Sennecke’s development over the course of the season: “He had a special night tonight. He’s one of these kids that’s just growing as the season has gone along here. Has the puck a lot, likes to keep it, sometimes a little bit too long, but at the same time, he can make high-end plays.”
Tonight’s contest is part of six straight Pacific Division games for Anaheim. The standings remain close between these two teams; Edmonton holds 60 points while Anaheim has 59.
The Oilers recently ended a two-game losing streak with a 6-5 overtime win against Washington on Saturday. Connor McDavid continues to lead both his team and the league with 90 points—32 goals and 58 assists—and scored the decisive goal in their latest victory.
This will be the first meeting between Anaheim and Edmonton this season. They are scheduled to face each other again on February 25 in Anaheim.
