Kicking off their five-game post-holiday break road trip, the Philadelphia Flyers started off on the right foot with a crucial 3-1 victory over the Anaheim Ducks.
Noah Cates scored again to extend his personal-best goal streak to five games, while Morgan Frost and Joel Farabee chipped in as well. But perhaps most importantly, Sam Ersson shook off Monday’s disastrous start in Pittsburgh with a much-needed 32-save dazzler on Saturday in Anaheim.
“Dilly [goaltending coach Kim Dillabaugh] and I talked on the plane about who’s going to go, and I want him to get right back in,” said head coach John Tortorella on Friday at practice. The move paid off and Ersson now moves to 4-1-0 all-time against Anaheim and 3-0-0 at Honda Center.
FIRST PERIOD
The Flyers and Ducks exchanged minimal chances early in the first period, with the best chance being a Cates shot that ricocheted off the post and off Lukáš Dostál that stayed out.
Both teams each only recorded three shots on goal when the game’s first penalty was called with 12:30 remaining. Noted pariah Cutter Gauthier was sent to the box for hooking fellow rookie Matvei Michkov, putting the Flyers on the power play for the first time since last Saturday against Columbus.
The Flyers didn’t generate much and the Ducks did a good job of killing the penalty. Shortly after, Anaheim received their own power play when Michkov was found guilty for high-sticking. The Ducks had a few solid looks towards the net but the Flyers held them at bay.
Philadelphia seemed to get their legs back after the penalty kill and created some quality chances that had the Ducks scrambling, but Dostál stood tall in his cage. Tyson Foerster had a grade-A chance after dancing his way around the Ducks netminder, but he just missed the net on the shot attempt.
The period wound down and Anaheim maintained a 10-7 shots on goal advantage as the two sides were scoreless after twenty minutes.
SECOND PERIOD
Garnet Hathaway tripped Gauthier just 1:45 into the period, but then Troy Terry tripped Cates only five seconds into the Ducks’ power play, setting up 1:55 of 4-on-4 hockey that went scoreless.
Cates proceeded to stay white-hot shortly after and racked up a goal for a fifth consecutive game to give the Flyers the icebreaker just 4:03 into the middle stanza.
Bobby Brink, in his 100th NHL game, spotted Cates and he blasted the puck home with a sprawling Dostál out of position.
“I think our line is predictable and everyone plays within the structure,” said Brink postgame. “That’s led to success for us I think offensively and defensively.
“We go out there and we don’t take a shift for granted. Playing with those two guys [Cates and Foerster] is easy. They’re all over the puck, they protect it so well below the dots. I feel like it’s easy for me to play with these guys so the credit goes to them.”
Brink then drew a penalty on Ducks captain and former Flyer Radko Gudas for holding.
The Flyers looked better this time around but couldn’t capitalize on the opportunity. But despite not scoring with the extra man, Philadelphia did a better job of generating offense at 5-on-5 and even more significantly, Ersson was coming up with big saves at opportune moments – something he’s been lacking the last few games.
As the period wore on, the Ducks regained control and they found a way to beat Ersson upstairs on a Terry shot that was fired through Travis Sanheim’s legs and over the blocker of the goaltender.
The Flyers proceeded to cough the puck up almost immediately after the next faceoff and Foerster had to take a penalty to negate a second Ducks goal. The penalty kill went to work and Ersson, who lost his goal stick on a save, was stupendous as the Flyers were able to keep the game tied.
Second intermission came, and it was a 1-1 game and 22-19 were the shots in favor of Anaheim. “Win a period, win a game” would be the motto heading into the final frame for the Flyers.
THIRD PERIOD
The Ducks came out of the gate firing and kept the Flyers pinned in their own zone. Luckily, Ersson was locked in and shut down some quality shots from the home team.
The Flyers were able to then go down the ice and Frost banked home a shot through Dostál to restore the lead at 2-1 just before the six-minute mark.
Philadelphia almost made it a two-goal game after a pass attempt from Owen Tippett took a strange hop off Gudas, then off the glove of Drew Helleson and off Dostál in the crease before being cleared away. Sean Couturier was high-sticked just a few moments later to set up another Flyers power play.
The Flyers, with just eight seconds remaining in the power play, took an ill-advised too many men minor, setting up a short 4-on-4 before a 1:52-long power play for the Ducks inside four and a half minutes to go.
Dostál would head to the bench with 3:32 remaining to set up a 6-on-4 for Anaheim, but the Flyers were able to stave off the Ducks’ advances. Farabee, who was serving the too many men minor, came out of the box and disrupted Olen Zellweger at the point. Farabee took the puck and raced down the ice to seal the deal with the empty-net marker with 2:20 left in the period.
3 STARS OF THE GAME: 1) Noah Cates – PHI, 2) Radko Gudas – ANA, 3) Sam Ersson – PHI
OBSERVATIONS
– Sam Ersson couldn’t have drawn up a better game today. It’s been abundantly clear that Ersson has struggled lately, including Monday’s game that saw him pulled in a 7-3 loss. Head coach John Tortorella said he wanted to go right back to Ersson and try and get him back into a rhythm, and it paid off big time. The West Coast historically has been good to Ersson, so we’ll see if he can stay consistent this week.
– Matvei Michkov was benched for the entire third period by Tortorella. “It’s just been a struggle,” said Tortorella postgame when asked about Michkov by The Philadelphia Inquirer’s Jackie Spiegel. “His energy, just everything in his game right now. For me, and I just got through talking to him, I think the schedule has kind of caught up to him. It’s going to happen. We’re asking so much out of a 19, well 20-year-old now, just turned 20. An NHL schedule, all the stuff, you could see his game drop before the break and just his skating and energy, it’s not there. So we’re going to try and help him. If I have to take him out or miss some time with periods, he’s going to. In the big picture, we just want to try to help him get his energy back.” Michkov has seemed to be off his game for a little while now, so I can’t say I disagree with Tortorella’s decision.
– It was mentioned on the broadcast, but Flyers fans were loud at Honda Center and made sure that Cutter Gauthier felt their presence whenever he touched the puck. I can’t even imagine how much worse the reception will be when the Ducks visit Wells Fargo Center in 14 days, but to be booed loudly like that in your own building is pretty funny to see.
UP NEXT
The Flyers are right back at it on Sunday night when they take on the Los Angeles Kings (9:00pm; NBCSP) at Crypto.com Arena.
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