ANAHEIM, Calif. – The offense had seemingly dried up for the Anaheim Ducks.

Where they led the NHL in goals per game a week ago, the Ducks had just one goal in their last 134 minutes of ice time and one goal on their last 58 shots on goal heading into a final-minute face-off down to the visiting Utah Mammoth.

However, it just takes one shot to score.

Troy Terry tied the game on a netmouth scramble with 4.1 seconds remaining, and Olen Zellweger dunked a Beckett Sennecke feed in overtime to beat the Mammoth, 3-2, and snap a three-game losing skid on Monday at Honda Center.

Jackson LaCombe scored the opening goal in the first period, and Lukáš Dostál stopped 16 of 18 shots in the extra-time affair.

“You can feel the desperation in these games now,” Terry said. “A week ago, we’re on a streak, and then all of a sudden we’re going into tonight, and it feels like, don’t want to say it’s a must win in November, but it felt that way. We needed to get back on the right side of things. You can just feel the intensity out there.”

The Western Conference is incredibly tight to open the season, with just three points separating the Pacific Division-leading Ducks (12-6-1, 25 points) and five teams tied at 22 points, including the two wild card teams and another three teams just outside the playoff divide. Utah (10-7-2, 22 points) is the first team out based on games played.

“Probably as tight as I’ve seen it, because everybody’s in it,” Ducks coach Joel Quenneville said. “I mean, it’s unbelievable…. I think you’re gonna see a lot of games, right down the wire, like we saw tonight. Now, I think it makes for a very competitive season, and these are the kind of games we should start enjoying, ’cause it’s gonna be a part of the fabric when we look over the course and the rest of the season.”

Anaheim continues a six-game homestand on Wednesday with the first of back-to-back games, as the Ducks host the Boston Bruins. Anaheim won a wild, wooly thriller in Boston last month, 7-5.

Sennecke Shifts Story

It was the deft plays of a 19-year-old that shifted the fortunes of the Ducks on Monday.

If the NHL awarded tertiary assists, Beckett Sennecke would’ve earned one on Terry’s game-tying goal. As Utah aimed to kill the clock along the wall, it was Sennecke that dug the puck out with a swift backhand pass to Cutter Gauthier’s tape.

Gauthier then sent the puck to the crease for a Chris Kreider deflection, which went off the post. Terry swiped in the loose puck behind the Utah goaltender for the third-latest tying goal in Ducks franchise history with less than five seconds remaining. Only Scott Neidermayer’s tying goal with less than one second in 2008 and Roman Oksiuta’s tying goal with less than two seconds in 1996 were later.

Sennecke would officially get on the scoresheet with one of the most alert and deceptive moves on his 19-game NHL career.

In overtime on the rush, Alex Killorn found a trailing Sennecke, who was wide open in the slot. Karel Vejmelka came way out of his crease to challenge what would be an obvious shot at the winning goal from the young winger, but Sennecke went for the path less travelled.

“That was a great patience on that play,” Quenneville said. “Great play recognition, and pretty tight quarters. He had the goalie coming out, two guys coming at him. Down the barrel, you kind of wish your whole hockey career getting that opportunity in overtime. All of a sudden, he sees the play, that you’re sitting there, you’re just looking at the goalie, and you’re thinking, you gotta shoot this thing, and then he had the presence of mind of making a beautiful pass.”

The pass found the tape of Olen Zellweger, who simply had to dunk the puck into the empty net for the game-winner.

“It was great to break the streak there we had with a win,” Zellweger said, “and just battling back to overtime, trying to get every game into something, a situation where we were winning or getting an overtime for a chance to win. Not the prettiest win, but it’s good to get out of that losing streak.”

LaCombe Lifts Off

Last season, Ducks defenseman Jackson LaCombe became a dynamic force in transition to elevate himself out of Anaheim’s defensive logjam and into a mainstay on the blue line. LaCombe’s 14 goals were the most by a Ducks defenseman since 2010-11 and were part of what earned him an eight-year, team-record dollar extension ($72 million) that kicks in next season.

However, it took 19 games for the 24-year-old to find the back of the net this season, but he did it in trademark LaCombe fashion.

Drew Helleson stopped a point shot on the door step and sent the third line out and skating. Alex Killorn found LaCombe trailing on the rush, and the defenseman executed a give-and-go with Ryan Strome to get the Ducks on the board first 16 minutes into the game.

LaCombe has been a minutes-eater with his 25:04 leading the Ducks and putting himself seventh in the league in time-on-ice per game. LaCombe leads Anaheim by over two minutes more than veteran Jacob Trouba.

The Minnesota native is third among American NHL defensemen in ice time, and after participating in Team USA’s Olympic orientation camp before the season and helping lead the United States to its first World Championships gold in 93 years over the summer, LaCombe has a pathway onto the 2026 Olympic team.

If this goal (third point in six games) sparks a hot streak for LaCombe, it would come at an opportune time with full Olympic rosters due at the end of December.

Mason McTavish Mystery

Over the last three games, almost no Duck has struggled as much as Mason McTavish.

The last three games have produced three of his four lowest ice times of the season, including a nearly 18-minute benching in Detroit on Thursday, and on Monday, he was demoted to fourth-line center in the third period, swapping places with Jansen Harkins.

“I just thought Harkey was giving us energy with some pace and Mac-T’s, the last couple of games been, you know, been okay,” Quenneville said. “We’re looking for a little more there, but at the same time, I think we’re usually trying to mix things up, and the line was getting a tougher matchup earlier on in the game, and we mixed that up, that was part of it.”

It’s a sight anyone wants to see just 19 games into a six-year contract that tabbed McTavish as Anaheim’s No. 2 center of the future.

The 22-year-old lived up to that billing to open the season driving the “Kid Line” with Cutter Gauthier and Beckett Sennecke to be one of the best in the NHL analytically. However, even as Gauthier lit up the NHL goal charts and Sennecke climbed the rookie rankings, McTavish has flatlined.

Just one point in his last six games and three in his last nine games. McTavish had also been plagued by penalties and turnovers in this latest stretch, and those seem to have been what grabbed Quenneville’s attention.

“I think that line, you know, a lot of the time they’re playing their top line, and they ended up in their end, in a couple long shifts,” Quenneville said, “and, I think that line would be way more effective than the other end, and doing what they like to do is make plays, and create offense. They didn’t get much of a chance of that. Split up the matchup a little bit as we went along, but I think that that line, not just Mac T, one of those nights where the puck, they didn’t have as much as we would like.”

Injury Updates

Ducks captain Radko Gudas returned on Monday after an 11-game absence due to a lower-body injury. He drew in for Pavel Mintyukov and was paired with Ian Moore. Gudas played 12:52 with two blocks and four hits.

“Guds gives you a presence physically, and  brings some leadership to our team,” Quenneville said. “First game, I thought he played hard, and it was a hard game. He was banging and bumping and doing everything he could out there, so it was good to see him back.”

Ducks center Mikael Granlund missed his second straight game after reaggravting a lower-body injury that kept him out for eight games in his initial stint. Granlund played and scored against Detroit on Thursday, but the Finn was ruled out in Minnesota on Saturday. He is considered day-to-day.

Anaheim center Ryan Poehling missed his third straight game with an upper-body injury. He is also considered day-to-day.