Ducks' Mason McTavish celebrates wins, large and small, in resurgent hot streak

ANAHEIM, Calif.–When a “Woo!” rings out at an Anaheim Ducks practice, it can easily be boiled down to two culprits: Trevor Zegras or Mason McTavish.

If the battle cry is accompanied by an overhand fist pump, then call off the search party. It’s McTavish, who will happily add a “celly”–or his Michael Jordan-esque tongue wag–to any goal he scores, whether it’s in a game, practice or otherwise.

And why not? He just turned 22 years old and is the hot hand–seven goals in his last seven games–for an Anaheim team that has won five of its last six games.

“I play hockey because it's fun,” McTavish said. “I love scoring goals, and I love winning. It’s kind of what I've always done.

“I get it, it’s the NHL and it's a little funny sometimes, but we got a lot of young guys in here too. So I think the biggest thing is just having fun in here. Especially when we're not scoring as many goals as other teams, it's important to, you know not celebrate in practice, but just kind of keep the morale high and just enjoy being out there with the guys.”

Things are certainly more fun right now for McTavish and the Ducks.

After returning from a six-game road trip where Anaheim was shut out for the first three times this season with McTavish netting just one goal in his previous 11 games, McTavish sniped a goal off the rush against Florida in the first game of a three-game homestand on Jan. 21 to ignite a hot streak.

The Swiss-born Canadian scored five goals on the three-game homestand to be named the NHL’s Second Star of the Week and extended the streak with tallies in four consecutive games.

“It's funny when a guy who scores–like Mac’s a scorer, he's got an elite shot,” Ducks coach Greg Cronin said after McTavish’s second consecutive two-goal effort against Nashville on Jan. 25, “when they start scoring, their whole game picks up, right? They have more pace to their game. There's more confidence around the puck. I thought he was terrific. I thought all lines were good.”

With his goal in Seattle on Jan. 28, McTavish became just the second player in Anaheim Ducks history to score 50 career goals at age 21 or younger. The other guy has his No. 9 hanging from the rafters of Honda Center: Hall-of-Famer Paul Kariya.

Seemingly the only thing McTavish couldn’t do at the peak of this scorching stretch was net his first career hat trick, with empty-net opportunities going by the wayside in two-goal efforts against Pittsburgh on Jan. 23 and Nashville on Jan. 25. Zegras, McTavish’s closest friend on the roster, had taken to playfully calling him “iron sights” with his shots off posts and crossbars.

“We're gonna get him the third one, that's coming,” Zegras said. “I feel it.”

In those four consecutive scoring games alone, McTavish had doubled his goal total for the season. It was a meteoric turnaround from a slow start for the third-year forward.

Over his first two full seasons, McTavish had improved year-over-year.

The 2021 No. 3 overall pick racked up 17 goals and 43 points over 80 games in 2022-23 (0.54 points-per-game) and pushed that to 19 goals and 42 points over just 60 games in 2023-24 (0.66 points-per-game).

Coming home from that six-game road trip, McTavish had scored just six goals and 19 points in 40 games (0.48 points-per-game.)

Now just past his 22nd birthday last Thursday, McTavish’s point-per-game pace is still slightly below last year’s, but at 13 goals and 27 points in 47 games (0.57 points-per-game), he’s climbing back to where he should be.

“It's nice to see some going for sure,” McTavish said on Tuesday. “First, you know, 10-15 games of the year, I don't think I was very good from my standard. I feel like the last 30 games or whatever it's been have been a lot better for me, just creating more.

“In the next middle part of the season, like from game 20 to 35, kind of felt like I was getting a lot of chances and stuff. I just kind of wasn't scoring, but when you're getting the chances, it's a lot easier to sleep at night. It's when you're when you're not getting the chances and it's still a little worrying. Just working hard and trying to get through the slumps. Everybody kind of goes through them. It’s nice to see some go in for me recently.”

At 6-foot-1, 219 pounds, McTavish had been pushed into more checking and grinding roles on the third line this season, with Cronin even remarking him as a “third-line guy with offensive ability” before the scoring streak.

The comment went viral online, but logistically, McTavish was the Ducks’ third or even fourth center at times this season with Leo Carlsson, Ryan Strome and Zegras slotted in ahead of him on the depth chart.

However, with his stick filling up the net, spot stints on Carlsson’s wing and increased power-play efficiency as a one-timer trigger, McTavish has shown the pedigree of a top draft pick and former World Juniors MVP.

“Mac-T can play first-line left wing, second-line center, third-line right wing,” Cronin said after McTavish’s latest goal on Sunday. “It doesn't matter. He's like a utility knife. One of the core foundations of his game is he's good along the walls. He can protect pucks, he goes to the front of the net, scored the goal because he went to the net front and tipped it.”

McTavish’s worth to the Ducks will be reassessed in the summer when he hits his restricted free agent status, but with the full force of his game currently unlocked, it only stands to go up as Anaheim continues to compete and flirt with the edge of the playoff race.