ANAHEIM, Calif. – It was a necessary response from the Anaheim Ducks. After suffering their worst home loss in franchise history, the Ducks needed to enter Friday’s clash with the Washington Capitals with fire and brimstone, and if all went well, come out with two points.

Anaheim threw its bodies, the Ducks came out with vigor, and after battling past the finish line, Anaheim left Honda Center with everything it wanted.

The Ducks bounced back from a 7-0 defeat on Wednesday by tying the game three separate times and outlasting the Metropolitan Division-leading Capitals, 4-3 in a shootout.

Anaheim (17-10-1, 35 points) maintained its position atop the Pacific Division matching Vegas (13-6-8, 34 points), which shut out New Jersey earlier in the night.

“(I liked) the way we competed,” Ross Johnston said. “They came out, they were hitting us. We were physical. We responded the right way. We didn’t fold up and we didn’t feel bad for ourselves for what happened the other night. The desperation we had in our game that we needed on home ice is what I liked the most.”

The bruising Johnston put up his second career multi-point game of the season, third of his career, with the Ducks’ second game-tying goal and an assist on Anaheim’s third game-tying goal scored by rookie Beckett Sennecke.

“It was a heavy, heavy hockey game,” Sennecke said, “and everyone was involved with rolling all the lines, and it was definitely kind of a team contribution today.”

Sennecke regained the rookie points lead (22 points) and moved back into a tie for first in rookie goals (8 goals) with an assist on Cutter Gauthier’s game-tying goal in the first period and his own third-period tally.

After a thrilling back-and-forth overtime and a recalled Leo Carlsson shootout attempt, Troy Terry and Mason McTavish froze Washington netminder Logan Thompson, and Ville Husso stopped two of three Capitals shooters for the win.

“I thought right from the get go we did a really good job,” Ducks coach Joel Quenneville said. “We had a lot of good things going for us. We had pace, I know, we were chasing a game a couple times from behind. We scored pretty quickly after to get ourselves back into it. But I thought everybody contributed in a lot of ways. Some great action in overtime. Some thrilling shootout moves as well. So, a lot of good things tonight, but the crowd was great, and it was a good bounce back game from the other night.”

Anaheim saddles up for a revenge game against the rising rival Connor Bedard and the Chicago Blackhawks to close the three-game homestand on Sunday.

Beckett Sennecke Back in Front

Just 28 games into the Calder Trophy race, there are three rookie skaters beginning to form a top pack, and once again, it’s 19-year-old Beckett Sennecke that New York Islanders 18-year-old No. 1 overall pick defenseman Matthew Schaefer and Montreal Canadiens sensationally dynamic forward Ivan Demidov are looking up to on the stat sheet.

Sennecke’s 22 points are two clear of Schaefer and Demidov for the rookie lead, his eight goals put him neck-and-neck with Schaefer and Montreal’s Oliver Kapanen and two ahead of Demidov and his 14 assists are level with Demidov and two clear of Schaefer.

“He’s got evasiveness that is a little bit unpredictable,” Quenneville said. “A lot of guys haven’t seen him yet, and I think they’re still probably trying to gauge what the next move could be, because he is so slippery.”

Sennecke showed that innate ability in setting up Gauthier on the Ducks’ first game-tying goal of the night.

As a Capitals power play ended, Sennecke opted to hold onto the puck at the top of the zone with just enough deception for him to squeeze down the right wing wall. From there, he scanned and fed to Gauthier in a crowded slot for the five-hole goal.

“Every game, every practice especially, you get more kind of comfortable making those plays, especially at the top,” Sennecke said. “I definitely don’t want to turn over up there, but I think it’s something that you kind of get used to with time, how much space you have and how much defenders are gonna bite.”

For a teenager whose physical assets did not quite look up to snuff in rookie camp and training camp, Sennecke has improved his body control and positioning immensely over the course of the season, and it showed on his second goal.

Slotted into fourth-line wing for a while, Sennecke nearly drove into the net to set up an offensive zone faceoff. Off the draw, Johnston collected a rebound and dished to Sennecke, who crashed the net for the finish down on one knee to tie the game, 3-3.

“He’s doing great,” Johnston said. “He’s a young player. He’s big, he’s strong. He can pull a puck. As a power forward, he’s nice to play with because he can finish and just got to feed in the puck.”

Only 28 games into his NHL career, and the 2024 No. 3 overall pick continues to turn heads every single night.

Ross Johnston Uses Hands in Atypical Fashion

Anaheim has largely been buoyed offensively by the rising young core of the top two lines, but depth scoring from usual brawler Johnston helped propel the Ducks into a competitive fight.

With a goal and an assist, Johnston recorded his second multi-point game of the season, including a three-point night in Nashville in October. Johnston only has three such games in his career. His seven points in 28 games tie his career-high for points in a season, set in 32 games with the 2021-22 New York Islanders.

“It’s always nice to contribute on the scoreboard,” Johnston said. “Job’s go out there and create some space for our linemates, and hopefully good things happen tonight, the pucks are finding me.”

The one thing missing from Johnston’s ledger, unlike the night in Nashville, was a fight to record what would have been his second career Gordie Howe Hat Trick–a goal, an assist and a fight.

In a chippy and physical affair, it was almost surprising it didn’t come to be for Johnston.

“You can’t be searching for them everywhere now. Can’t get too greedy,” Johnston said with a smile.

For all the offensive good to run through, Anaheim went 0-for-5 on the power play on Friday night, and the Ducks are scoreless on their last 15 power play opportunities, with two goals in their last 26 tries and three in their last 37.

“I thought today was better than it’s been,” Quenneville said. “I think before the last couple of games got a little bit disjointed. And today, I thought the first one was okay, and then we got some rhythm going in it, and it looked like we had zone time, possession, some good looks. They made some timely saves, but at the same time, I liked the movement. Been a while since it looked like that.”

Prior to this 13-game stretch, the Ducks had actually scored two power play goals in three of five games (the last five games of that season-high seven-game win streak) and at least one power play goal in nine of the first 15 games of the season.

Anaheim did not go more than one game without a power play strike in those first 15 games.

“You kinda go through highs and lows as a team,” Sennecke said. “Started pretty, pretty hot, and then you cool off a little bit as a power play, but I think we just kind of gotta stay with it and trust our offensive instincts.”

Trouba Train Straddles the Line

The league-wide highlight of the game came with a booming hit in the first period.

Ducks defenseman Jacob Trouba plays with an undeniable edge to his game, which has regularly brought him up to and sometimes over the line of legality with his physical play.

Friday night added another entry into his file, but Trouba again walked that line to near expert degree.

In the first period, Trouba laid a shoulder into unsuspecting rookie Ryan Leonard coming around the back of the Ducks net, which sent Leonard to the ice bleeding and the Capitals swarming to Trouba.

Trouba was initially given a five-minute major, which allowed the referees to review the play.

Upon looking at the video, Leonard was skating forward around the net and reached back to play the puck behind him. While it was a bit blindside, Trouba committed to hit Leonard’s shoulder and side before the rookie turned his head to reach back.

Ultimately, the referees rescinded the penalty on Trouba, deeming no direct head contact despite the injury to Leonard, who was bleeding from the mouth and did not return.

Anaheim actually ended up with a power play out of the sequence, with Washington penalized for roughing in the aftermath on Trouba.

The only response in the Ducks locker room was concern for Leonard’s injury from Quenneville.

Here’s what the Capitals’ locker room reaction to Trouba’s hit sounded like:

Tom Wilson on Jacob Trouba’s hit on Ryan Leonard: “I saw it coming, he knows exactly what he’s doing and the kid’s in a vulnerable spot. Obviously Leno’s pretty banged up. I asked him to fight and he said no, so we’ll leave it at that.”

— Bailey Johnson (@BaileyAJohnson_) December 6, 2025

Spencer Carbery’s chief complaint with Trouba’s hit on Ryan Leonard is that Leonard was engaged with Olen Zellweger behind the net when Trouba lined him up.
“To me, that’s now a player looking for someone that’s in a vulnerable spot,” Carbery said. “I think those are dicey hits.” pic.twitter.com/rSgqBe724J

— Bailey Johnson (@BaileyAJohnson_) December 6, 2025