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NHL

Cutter Gauthier Returns at Center as Ducks Host Bruins

Gauthier returns from an upper-body injury and moves into the middle against Boston. Mikael Granlund remains unavailable.

By TSP Staff
Cutter Gauthier wearing a Ducks practice jersey during a July 2024 scrimmage
Cutter Gauthier during a Ducks scrimmage in July 2024. Photo: Sewageboy / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0). · Credit: Sewageboy / Wikimedia Commons

Cutter Gauthier will return to the Anaheim Ducks lineup Friday against the Boston Bruins, moving to center for the first time in his NHL career after an upper-body injury kept him out Tuesday against Calgary.

Anaheim’s game preview confirmed his return. Gauthier said he played center before reaching the NHL and had discussed the role with the coaching staff. The projected lineup places him between Nikita Nesterenko and Beckett Sennecke.

Mikael Granlund remains unavailable with an upper-body injury. The center is day to day and is expected to travel with the Ducks when their four-game road trip begins Monday at the New York Rangers.

Anaheim enters at 4-2-0 after a 4-2 loss to Calgary. Boston is 5-2-0 and seeking a fourth consecutive victory.

Puck drop at Honda Center is 8 p.m. Mountain. Lukas Dostal will start for Anaheim. Michael DiPietro is scheduled to make his second start of the season for Boston.

Sources and notes

  1. Photograph: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ducks_scrimmage_2024_-_Gauthier,_Cutter.jpg | Licence: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/