Approval of a cheap version of HIV-prevention shot lenacapavir raises hopes in low-income countries

• November 2, 2026

By LAURA UNGAR, AP Medical Writer

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved a generic version of the world’s only twice-a-year shot to prevent HIV — a big step toward making the drug available inexpensively and more quickly in 120 low- and middle-income countries.

The announcement was made on Monday morning by the manufacturer and organizations that helped to speed up development of the medication, called lenacapavir.

The drug is expected to cost $40 a year per person in the countries where it will be available, the same price as daily preventive pills available now. But the shots are much more convenient than the pills because they’re needed much less frequently and they nearly eliminated new infections in two groundbreaking studies of people at high risk.

People don’t always take their daily dose of medication, “and if you do not take it, you cannot get protected against HIV,” said Carmen Pérez Casas, HIV lead for the grant-making organization Unitaid, a global health agency. “With lenacapavir, we are much more hopeful.”

Ultimately, advocates said, the medication should help drive down cases of HIV and AIDS — and deaths. According to the World Health Organization, 41 million people worldwide were living with HIV and 570,000 died from HIV-related causes last year.

With an affordable, high-quality generic medication now available, “we could help to scale this to the 20 million people around the world who need PrEP,” prescription medicine taken by people at risk of HIV before being exposed to the virus, said Carolyn Amole, who leads the HIV program for the Clinton Health Access Initiative, a global health organization.

“And if we scale to those levels,” she added, “we can actually begin to bring an end to the HIV epidemic.”

Generic lenacapavir can’t be sold in the U.S. because a brand-name version, Yeztugo, made by Gilead Sciences and approved last year, is still protected by a patent. The U.S. list price for that version, meaning the cost before insurance, is $28,218 a year. Gilead officials say that’s similar to some other types of PrEP, which stands for pre-exposure prophylaxis.

The new generic was approved by the FDA under a longstanding practice designed to ensure the quality of HIV-related drugs provided to other countries by the U.S. government. Approval of a drug by the U.S. FDA can speed regulatory approval in many other countries. The approval is considered “tentative,” the FDA’s standard designation for generics while the originator remains under patent.

Until now, Gilead has been the sole supplier of lenacapavir, and demand has outstripped supply in low- and middle-income countries. Last year, Gilead established royalty-free licensing agreements with six generic manufacturers to enable production. Those voluntary licenses cover a specific set of countries in sub-Saharan Africa, Asia and Latin America.

“We share the sense of urgency around expanding access to lenacapavir for HIV prevention,” a Gilead spokesperson said in a statement. “We believe we have enabled the fastest and most sustainable path to expanding access for communities most affected by HIV.”

The generic was developed by India-based Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories under an agreement brokered by Unitaid, the Clinton Health Access Initiative and Wits RHI, a health research institute in Africa. The partners sought to accelerate development and make the drug available at an affordable price.

Common side effects with lenacapavir include injection site reactions, headache and nausea. People also must be tested for HIV prior to starting the drug and with each injection; drug-resistant HIV has been identified when used by people with an undiagnosed HIV infection.

“For any kind of PrEP … you need to have HIV testing in advance,” said Saiqa Mullick, director of implementation science with Wits RHI. “For many of the low- and middle-income countries, that is a rapid test.”

Generic lenacapavir should start to become available in some places within weeks, those helping with the effort said, although it could take a bit longer in countries that require the drug to go through their own approval processes before people can start taking it. Generic versions made by the other manufacturers have yet to be approved by FDA.

“The work is not done. Now, we need the funding to actually buy it for everyone who needs it and then we need to do the hard work of getting it to the millions of people who need it and want it,” Amole said. “But this is a great milestone.”

Casa said she’s optimistic that scientific advances — along with political will and funding — can help the world curb HIV.

“Now,” she said, “we have the tools.”

Gerald Imray in Cape Town, South Africa, contributed to this story.

The Associated Press’ health and science coverage receives financial support from the AP Fund for Journalism and private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.

​ Orange County Register 

Trump is giving his closing midterm pitch at problem-plagued Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool

• November 2, 2026

By WILL WEISSERT

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump is making his closing pitch of the midterm elections at the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, pushing his slow, expensive and problem-plagued efforts to repair it back into the spotlight on the eve of Election Day.

In comments to reporters as he deplaned from Air Force One for a Sunday rally in Iowa, Trump said his speaking at the site would “show how beautiful it is.”

“We might hold it tomorrow or something,” the president added, without giving specifics. Hours later, the White House formally announced he’d be giving a speech there Monday afternoon.

Rather than using Monday to travel to key states and try to energize his “Make America Great Again” supporters as his Republican Party tries to maintain control of Congress, Trump opted for an event at a Washington renovation project that has been embarrassing and contentious.

The unusual move marks a departure from Trump’s month-long race to stage more than 25 rallies in largely conservative areas, hoping the GOP can overcome his own low approval ratings and polls predicting that the Iran war, high energy prices and cost of living increases could spell a strong election night for Democrats.

Trump wrote on his social media site that his Sunday evening rally in Kansas — which followed his Iowa visit — was “my last stop.”

The president spent a lot of time at those rallies talking about his second-term focus on molding the White House and the surrounding nation’s capital in his own image. He crammed the Oval Office with gold flourishes, demolishing the East Wing to construct a sprawling ballroom, converting the Rose Garden into a patio space reminiscent of his Mar-a-Lago estate and erecting a sprawling South Lawn helipad.

Trump also closed the Kennedy Center after failed attempts to add his name to the building, has planned a towering arch just outside the city and is pushing to revamp a century-old public golf course.

He has bristled at criticisms from former President Barack Obama and other Democrats that he’s spent too much time focused on construction projects — insisting that renovations relax him and that he does them quickly and without requiring too much planning time.

Trump said the Reflecting Pool fix would be fast and inexpensive

His Reflecting Pool saga began in April when Trump said he wanted to change its color and would use contractors he knew to fix the monument in mere days and for about $1.5 million before Independence Day.

The repairs wrapped up nearly three months behind schedule and the budget ballooned to more than 10 times Trump’s early estimate — and that’s assuming no more additional work will need to be done in the future.

Trump had initially declared the work was complete in June. But after unveiling the overhaul, the pool was soon choked with algae blooms, and its “American-flag blue” liner began peeling off in sections. The pool was quickly drained anew for repairs in mid-July.

Trump has repeatedly blamed vandals, but the office of U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia — former Fox News host and longtime Trump ally Jeanine Pirro — said the problems were caused by shoddy workmanship.

In his comments Sunday, Trump continued to insist that the Reflecting Pool “was vandalized badly.” He said that security cameras have since been added to stop that.

Still, a particularly ignominious moment came when the Justice Department charged former Olympian David Hearn with intentionally damaging the Reflecting Pool — then abruptly dropped the case this summer — determining he was not responsible.

A judge later permanently dismissed it.

That prompted Trump to fume that Pirro “choked,” and that he was “disappointed with Jeanine Pirro, really disappointed. She folded like an umbrella” — though he stopped short of firing her.

​ Orange County Register 

Where has Southern California’s homebuying crash hit hardest?

• November 2, 2026

Southern California’s homebuying crash continues, but the depth of that collapse varies by county.

Homebuying data provider Attom has revised its sales data reaching back to 2005, using new methods to identify, from public records, a true home sale. These totals include closed transactions for houses and condos, both existing and newly built.

My trusty spreadsheet analyzed the new numbers through July 2026. Sales are still scraping the bottom, and the few buyers who close a deal are paying near record-high prices.

And the cost that really matters — the monthly house payment — has soared. That’s based on a calculation including mortgage rates, home insurance, property taxes for a buyer putting 10% down, plus the extra cost of a lower down payment.

Remember, these estimated house payments dwarf local rents, even if ownership has its perks.

Now, real estate is local. So where did all these house-hunting impediments hit hardest?

Here’s how each county stacks up, ranked by how far the past year’s sales are from the 21-year average pace.

Biggest drop: San Bernardino County

The region’s sales laggard is also home to the cheapest housing market, showing that buyers with smaller budgets are most stressed about buying.

The county’s July sales pace was 38% below normal and just 3% above the lows reached at the Great Recession bottom.

July’s median price was $533,500, the county’s 10th highest. That’s just 3% off the peak.

However, price gains over the past three years have slowed to 3% a year, after running 9% a year for the decade before.

Monthly costs? $4,505 – up 97% in five years. Plus a $53,000 down payment.

Compare that to typical rents of $2,468 – 45% less.

No. 2 Riverside County

The second-largest dip is also the second-cheapest.

Riverside’s sales pace was 36% below normal through July and just 1% above the crash low.

July’s median price hit $605,000, the county’s seventh-highest. That’s 2% shy of the peak.

But price growth over the past three years has slowed to just 1% a year, after running 9% over the previous 10 years.

Monthly costs? $5,109 – up 93% in five years. Plus a $61,000 down payment.

Compare that to typical rents of $2,573 – 50% less.

No. 3 San Diego County

Sales were 32% below normal and 8% below the crash low.

July’s $920,000 median price – the county’s second-highest – was 1% below peak.

Nevertheless, gains in the past three years cooled to 3% a year, down from 7% in the previous 10 years.

Monthly costs? $7,769 – up 110% in five years. Plus a $92,000 down payment.

Compare that to typical rents of $2,957 – 62% less.

No. 4 Los Angeles County

Sales were 31% below normal and 4% below the crash low.

July’s median price was $899,000, the county’s 11th highest. That’s 4% under the peak.

Yet price gains over the past three years have slowed to 2% a year, down from 7% over the decade before.

Monthly costs? $7,592 – up 93% in five years. Plus a $90,000 down payment.

Compare that to typical rents of $2,798 – 63% less.

No. 5 Ventura County

Sales were 31% below normal and 3% below the crash bottom.

July’s median price was $848,500, the county’s 22nd highest. That’s 6% off the peak.

Nonetheless, price gains over the past three years were only 1% a year, down from 6% over the previous 10 years.

Monthly costs? $7,166 – up 92% in five years. Plus an $85,000 down payment.

Compare that to typical rents of $2,958 – 59% less.

No. 6 Orange County

Curiously, the region’s priciest market has the smallest sales gap between 2026 and history. This reflects a broad economic truth: these are better times for folks with better incomes.

Still, July’s sales pace for Orange County was 30% below normal and was only 7% above the crash bottom.

July’s median price was $1.2 million, the county’s fifth-highest. That’s 2% under the peak.

Price gains over the past three years slowed to 5% a year, down from 7% over the previous 10 years.

Monthly costs? $10,303 – up 125% in five years. Plus a $122,000 down payment.

Compare that with typical rents of $3,221 – 69% less.

Jonathan Lansner is the business columnist for the Southern California News Group. He can be reached at jlansner@scng.com

• • Try Jonathan Lansner’s Substack collection of economic trends. CLICK HERE!

​ Orange County Register 

What are your biggest talk radio pet peeves?

• November 2, 2026

Lately I’ve been focusing on some of the positives of radio, including some of the shows that help make our days go by easier. In spite of budget cuts at pretty much every station and company, we still have some great morning and afternoon shows. In fact, what we have actually lost on many stations is nights and overnights, when syndicated fare or repeats of earlier shows are gaining traction. Some of that is due to fewer radio listeners during those hours, though it could be a chicken-and-egg situation.

We also have some excellent talk programming, with KFI (640 AM) still dominating the field. One of my favorite newer programs is Monks and Merrill, airing weekdays from noon to 3 p.m. One of the things I like about it is a more balanced approach to issues, and not just the typical one-sided politics.

Hidden among the positives, however, are some things that really bug me … pet peeves that detract from the very shows I like. Let’s get right to them.

My biggest pet peeve? Interrupting audio clips played during a program while talking about an issue on a talk show, especially when the host has nothing important to say. This used to be a sign of bad programming — you are supposed to let a clip play through and then talk about it at the end. Somehow it became common to interrupt, and as a listener it is absolutely annoying, especially when the host keeps repeating the same second or two of audio, only to try to say something funny that isn’t.

The whole clip may be 30 seconds long, but it takes 20 minutes to get through the multiple repeats of only part of the segment, intertwined with quips that only the host thinks are clever.

I wonder sometimes if talk program directors actually listen to their own stations, because it hurts the flow, is tremendously annoying, and adds nothing to the discussion. Suffice to say, you would never have heard that when Michael Jackson was one of the leading hosts on KABC (790 AM). Even Rush Limbaugh refrained from doing so. It seems almost every show does this now, and it needs to stop.

My next? Repeated hours of programs. I need to be careful here because I honestly don’t know the dynamics involved. Does the host want to do this? Does the company want to cut costs? So I want to be clear that this is not an indictment of the hosts who do that. But it still is annoying as a listener.

As an example, sometimes I will take someone to the airport in the early morning. I tune in to The Woody Show on Alt 98.7 FM and hear the first hour of the show at 5 a.m. I get back in the car later to drive to work … and hear the Exact. Same. Hour. Not repeated bits, the entire hour. As it turns out, the show is live from 5 to 8 a.m., then from 8 to 10 a.m. they repeat two of the hours that aired that day previously.

The other night I was listening to Tim Conway Jr. on KFI during the 9 to 10 p.m. hour, where he mentioned he was “live on KFI.” Except that he wasn’t — I heard the same hour while driving earlier. It seems the first three hours are indeed live from 6 to 9 p.m., but an hour gets repeated at 10 p.m.

Keeping in mind the reality of radio today, from financials to syndication to listening habits, it may be a new normal. However, I recall back in the 1980s when Rick Dees supposedly recorded his first hour of the morning show on KIIS (102.7 FM) and Robert W. Morgan made fun of him for doing so on Magic 106 (now KPWR, 105.9 FM). I also seem to remember a team like Kevin and Bean on KROQ (106.7 FM) sending someone to Dees’ house to prove what time he left in the morning.

At the time, long before my column, I never did confirm the accusations! But it did make for some good light-hearted fun.

I do not know how common it is, but somehow it just doesn’t sit well with me. On the other hand, I probably listen to the radio more than the typical person, who may not have ever noticed.

I also want to make clear — it does not take away from what I believe are some great shows!

No News is Good News?

As printed in the November 2015 edition of Reader’s Digest in a segment called “The Slowest News Day:”

“Listeners who tuned in to the BBC on April 18, 1930, heard a once-in-a-lifetime bulletin: ‘There is no news today,’ the host announced. Piano music followed.”

I could use a day like that!

Richard Wagoner is a San Pedro freelance columnist covering radio in Southern California. Email rwagoner@socalradiowaves.com.

​ Orange County Register 

Iran has a 2-day plan to reopen Strait, resume nuclear talks with US, and other Mideast news

• November 2, 2026

By The Associated Press

Iran said Monday it had a two-day plan to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and resume nuclear talks with the United States, shortening a process originally expected to take seven days.

The U.N. migration agency said more than 300,000 people in Yemen had fled renewed fighting. China, meanwhile, is sending a special envoy to Iran, Saudi Arabia and Oman.

Here is the latest news from the Middle East on Monday. Read our full coverage here.

Iran’s 2-day plan to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, resume nuclear talks

Iran said it had a two-day plan to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and resume nuclear talks with the U.S. if Washington meets its demands.

The announcement came as the region braces for possible renewed fighting, even as Iran’s top diplomat said Sunday that he hoped the U.S. would choose “diplomacy over other paths.”

Iran previously said the plan could be implemented within a week if the U.S. met seven conditions, including lifting its blockade of Iranian ports. Iran now says ships passing through the reopened strait would have to follow a route agreed upon by Iran and Oman and travel under Iranian supervision. Separately, Iranian officials have said the U.S. must lift sanctions on Iranian oil sales and agree to a ceasefire that would include Lebanon.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei said the plan remained the basis for negotiations with Washington through mediators, despite the shorter implementation timeline. “This once again demonstrates Iran’s good-faith approach,” he added.

Baghaei gave no indication that Tehran had changed its demands or that Washington had accepted its proposal.

President Donald Trump has alternated between pursuing diplomacy and threatening heavy bombing of Iran in his public comments.

More than 300,000 Yemenis have fled fighting, UN says

The U.N. migration agency said the people are struggling to find shelter and life essentials, as aid groups face limited access to those in need.

They have fled as renewed fighting between Iran-backed Houthi rebels and the Saudi-backed government forces broke a four-year truce, exacerbating an already dire humanitarian situation in one of the Middle East’s poorest countries.

Taiz province, in southwestern Yemen, continues to take in displaced families, but many are fleeing south to Aden, which has now received more than 56,000 people, according to the latest figures by the International Organization for Migration.

“After years of conflict, families in Yemen are being forced to flee yet again, often with little more than the clothes on their backs,” Abdusattor Esoev, head of the IOM’s mission in Yemen, said Sunday.

“They urgently need shelter, food, clean water and health care. Without more funding, thousands of families could be left without the help they urgently need,” he added.

China to send special envoy to Iran and the Gulf

China said Monday it plans to send a special envoy to Iran, Oman and Saudi Arabia in early to mid-November. Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning told reporters the envoy would focus on easing tensions and promoting regional stability.

The Gulf region “should not become an arena for great-power rivalry and geopolitical conflict,” Chinese President Xi Jinping told Oman’s Sultan Haitham bin Tariq Al Said on Monday, according to a readout of their meeting.

The move comes as China seeks to expand its influence in the rapidly changing region, which it depends on for a large share of its oil.

Strikes on Gaza kill 2

Two Israeli airstrikes killed two men in southern Gaza early Monday, according to Nasser Hospital, where their bodies were taken. One strike killed a man in his home; the other killed a man in a tent.

The Israeli military did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Major fighting between Israel and Hamas largely halted under the October 2025 ceasefire. Israel continues to launch near-daily strikes on Gaza that it says target fighters, though the strikes regularly kill or injure women and children. Israel says Hamas uses civilians as human shields.

About 1,580 Palestinians have been killed since the ceasefire began, bringing the overall death toll to more than 74,500, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. The ministry, part of the Hamas-run government, does not distinguish between civilians and combatants.

This report will be updated throughout the day as new developments emerge.

​ Orange County Register 

Endorsement: Re-elect Ray Schnell to the Tustin City Council

• November 2, 2026

The race to represent Tustin’s District 3 on the City Council is one of our easier calls this election season.

First elected four years ago, Councilman Ray Schnell has been a voice for common sense in City Hall.

A 20-year long Tustin resident, Schnell has brought to the office a wealth of business and civic engagement experience. His top priorities are what you’d hope a council member would say: public safety, economic vitality, fiscal responsibility and a commitment to transparent government.

California Policy Center’s Local Fiscal Health Dashboard has graded Tustin an “A” for its fiscal well-being, with top marks for its strong reserves, low debt burden and low pension costs.

“The city should live within its means, cut waste, keep fees and taxes low, and grow the tax base through responsible development—not new tax burdens on residents and local businesses,” he told us. “Prudent reserves and infrastructure investment (roads, parks, traffic) belong in the same package. That is how you fund police, fire, parks, schools, and other essential city services without saddling the next generation with debt.”

Indeed, he rightly points to the city’s growing revenues (up 29% since the 2021-22 fiscal year) and paydowns of the city’s pension debt as demonstrative of the city’s ability to serve the public and pay down debts.

His approach to housing policy is appropriately focused on facilitating supply. “We should look to increase attainable supply by lowering the cost of development, such as streamlined permitting, fewer unnecessary fees and regulations, in-fill, and appropriate density where it fits, and mitigation of traffic, school, and infrastructure impacts,” he told us. “I oppose additional local rent control, broad point-of-sale mandates, routine interior rental inspections, and rigid inclusionary formulas that shift costs onto market-rate buyers and suppress production.”

Those are all perfectly sensible approaches. While Schnell is also critical of state housing mandates, he argues “that the productive response is not resistance for its own sake and not blanket density everywhere. It is systematically lowering local process and fee barriers so responsible projects get built, while still requiring mitigation and resident input.” (Huntington Beach are you listening?)

On these issues and more, Schnell offers practical, reasonable ideas.

His challenger, Thomas James Reed, brings an academic pedigree. He teaches at California State University, Long Beach. He declined to answer questions from the editorial board, and both his campaign site and answers to a newsroom survey barely illuminate his grasp of municipal issues, which Hallmark card answers to questions like, “One of the greatest needs facing Tustin, and communities across our country, is ensuring people remain at the center of government.”

It’s an east call. Re-elect Ray Schnell.

​ Orange County Register 

Endorsement: Mike Levin for the 49th congressional district

• November 2, 2026

The race to represent the 49th congressional isn’t particularly competitive by any metric, but having met with both candidates we feel obligated to offer an endorsement in this race.

While always appreciating his intelligence and forthrightness, this editorial board has never before endorsed Mike Levin in his bids for Congress since his election in 2018. We indeed remain as diametrically opposed to many of Rep. Levin’s economic and regulatory policy views as ever. But at a time when the Trump administration is indulging in increasingly bizarre and authoritarian actions, we think it is important to check the executive branch.

Levin, to his credit, has essentially been on the money about everything going on in the Trump administration. He has been a consistent critic of the president’s abuses of tariff powers and war powers, he has consistently called out the corrupt acts of the president and those around him, and he has remained an advocate for a humane and just immigration policy at time when such a concept seems fainter than ever.

“Californians are facing the biggest tax hike in decades—but it’s not coming from Congress. It’s coming from President Donald Trump, who is unilaterally jacking up tariffs that punish working families, squeeze small businesses, and destabilize the global economy for political gain,” he wrote in these pages just months into the Trump administration. About that, he was right.

Levin has likewise never shied away from calling out the corruption of members of the Trump administration. “The American people, regardless of party, deserve better,” he wrote in these pages condemning the excesses of then-Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem. “They want leaders who show restraint, humility, and respect for the money they earn and send to Washington. They expect stewardship, not self-indulgence. That is not a Democratic value or a Republican value. It is an American value.” About that, again, he was right.

It’s impossible to argue with Levin’s daily reminders on X that “Trump and Republican leadership are spending billions of your tax dollars on military operations against Iran that Congress never authorized, expanding Stephen Miller’s mass deportation agenda, and funding the president’s own vanity projects, while doing nothing to lower your grocery bill or make your life more affordable.”

America’s system of government works best when there’s tension among the three branches of government. Unfortunately, for these past two years Congress has totally abdicated its responsibility to the American people and has acted either as a rubber stamp on the president’s agenda or as a helpless bystander merely observing the executive branch do what it does. That is not how our system of government is supposed to work.

For these next two years, Rep. Levin will not be able to ram through policy ideas of his we disagree with. But he will be a smart and vocal critic of the administration better empowered to help check the abuses of the executive branch.

We cannot say the same of Levin’s Republican challenger Armen Kurdian. While we certainly respect Kurdian’s service to this nation as a retired Navy captain, this editorial board was left without any confidence that he would serve as a check to the executive branch.

With family roots in Iran, his mother was born there, we certainly understand his vigorous opposition to the tyrannical regime there. But his enthusiastic support for Trump’s war with Iran is not an enthusiasm we share. Disruptions to global energy markets, the deaths of many innocent people, and the trampling of the constitutional order represented by Trump’s unilateral war on Iran are not something we or most people in the district support.

We do not agree with Rep. Levin on everything. But he has always been a reasonable and thoughtful representative. For these next two years, we hope he contributes to not only pushing back on the excesses of the Trump administration but longer-lasting reforms to curtail presidential abuses in the future.

Mike Levin has our endorsement.

​ Orange County Register 

Cutter Gauthier’s hat trick fuels Ducks’ comeback win over Senators

• November 2, 2026

ANAHEIM — It looked as though a new month would bring more of the same defensive doldrums for the Ducks, but this time they were on the right side of a rally.

They toppled the Ottawa Senators, 6-3, after trailing 3-0 at Honda Center on Sunday evening.

They’d blown leads in their previous two home games, both losses, but circled the wagons smashingly on Sunday.

This was just their second win in the past nine games, and the boo birds were out after they stumbled out of the starting blocks. Yet they managed to tilt the ice in their favor, closing the game with a level of confidence not seen since their Oct. 9 victory in Winnipeg, all behind four power-play goals.

Cutter Gauthier turned in his second career hat trick and now has five goals in his past two games after not scoring between Oct. 4 and Oct. 30. Rookie Judd Caulfield doubled his career goal total with two tallies and added an assist. Roger McQueen found the back of the net and Tristan Luneau had two assists. Leo Carlsson racked up three assists. His 17 helpers are the third most in the NHL, and his four-game multi-point streak puts him in the company of Teemu Selänne, Paul Kariya and Ryan Getzlaf. Laurent Brossoit made 20 saves, resiliently earning a win in his Ducks debut after signing over the summer and being recalled from the minors on Saturday.

Claude Giroux scored a goal and assisted on one by Michael Amadio after Phillip Tomasino opened the scoring. Jonas Johansson struggled after the first period, halting 27 pucks in total.

McQueen’s second career goal and first ever on the power play cushioned the Ducks’ lead when his shot from the left faceoff dot beat Johansson between the wickets.

Gauthier broke the tie and then extended the Ducks’ first lead of the evening with man-advantage markers separated by 36 seconds, at 1:50 and 2:26.

Both goals came from down low on the right side. Mikael Granlund found Carlsson with one seam pass before Carlsson hit Gauthier with another, with his one-timer completing his second career triple on Día de los Muertos night.

Gauthier had beaten a napping Johansson, who lost sight of the puck altogether before Gauthier’s strike parallel to the goal line.

The stage was set for the final frame by 40 minutes that were a tale of two periods, as the Ducks trailed 3-0 after one but pulled even through two.

They did an about-face, dominating the second period until they hit a spate of penalty trouble. Even then, Brossoit made a sterling stop on Jake Sanderson during a two-man disadvantage, and the Ducks killed consecutive penalties before converting on the power play right before intermission to knot the score.

Their power play seemed disjointed and ineffectual, but with three seconds remaining in Tim Stützle’s minor, Luneau changed his shooting angle to open a lane that allowed him to put the puck right on Caulfield’s stick for a tip-in equalizer.

They had roared back with goals from Gauthier and Caulfield less than two minutes apart, at the 1:35 and 3:33 marks.

A strong effort below the goal line from Carlsson and a pass high to Noah Warren generated a rebound, which Caulfield poked at persistently to breathe life into the Ducks.

Gauthier celebrated after Shane Pinto flubbed a pass deep in his own end. Gauthier pounced before waiting out Johansson to lift a shot past him.

The Ducks plunged into a hole off the hop, surrendering two goals in 62 seconds between 6:00 and 7:02. It took just four shots on net for the Sens to mount a 2-0 lead before slathering on a third marker at 17:37.

The former King Amadio made it 3-zip after Alex Killorn coughed up the puck to Giroux, who zipped a pass by Helleson and to Amadio for another breakaway goal.

Miscues were a persistent theme on all three goals.

The F3 vanished from the Ducks’ neutral-zone coverage, leaving two defensemen against three forwards. A precise, diagonal outlet pass from Sanderson liberated Giroux for a calm, collected breakaway finish.

Sam Colangelo tried unsuccessfully to pick off a cross-ice pass, leaving Thomas Chabot with space to skate toward the left dot. He ripped a snap shot that nicked Tomasino’s hand before beating Brossoit to the far side under the crossbar.

The Ducks will seek to carry momentum into a three-games-in-four-nights road swing through Western Canada that’ll begin Tuesday.

​ Orange County Register