The Philadelphia Flyers hit the road to take on the Anaheim Ducks to kick off their west coast road trip.
After suffering a 6-1 loss to the New York Islanders, the Philadelphia Flyers headed to Anaheim to face the Ducks in hopes of snapping their three game losing streak. The Ducks were on a losing streak of their own, being winless in their last five games.
Nicolas Aube-Kubel, who was called up on Sunday, made his NHL debut in this game. Tyrell Goulbourne, who was also called up with Aube-Kubel, was a healthy scratch along with Andrew MacDonald and Calvin Pickard.
Brian Elliott started in-net, opposing longtime veteran Ryan Miller. Miller had a 1-1-0 record coming in, with a 2.17 Goals-Against Average and a .938 save percentage for Anaheim this season.
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Marcus Pettersson took a early hooking penalty, and gave the Flyers the game’s first power-play to start the game. The Flyers showcased a new look power-play unit after Head coach Dave Hakstol made some changes during practice on Monday. This proved to be effective, as Sean Couturier scored the game’s first goal and gave the Flyers a 1-0 lead. Couturier redirected a Claude Giroux pass right by Miller for his fourth of the season. Dale Weise took a penalty soon after, and the Flyers found themselves shorthanded.
Philadelphia would kill the penalty with some aggressive defensive work from Couturier and Scott Laughton. The Flyers definitely brought more physicality in this period than in their last few games, finishing the period with nine hits and providing plenty of post-whistle scuffles. They also had the shots-on-goal advantage, leading ten to seven.
The second period started with the teams trading scoring chances, and Anaheim finding the back of the net on a goal from Pontus Aberg to tie the game at one. Joseph Blandisi took a interference penalty after a late hit on Jakub Voracek, and the Flyers went on their second power-play opportunity of the game.
The Ducks had three shorthanded chances during the man advantage, as the Flyers new look second unit was a disaster during this opportunity. Philadelphia would regain the lead later on thanks to Ivan Provorov deflecting a Giroux shot in the back of the net for his first goal of the season. Jori Lehtera took a slashing penalty with just 1.7 seconds left in the second, and the Flyers would find themselves shorthanded to start the third.
The Flyers penalty kill survived the man advantage as they killed off Lehtera’s penalty to begin the third. Blandisi took his second penalty of the game, and put the Flyers on their third power-play opportunity. They had their chances, but couldn’t give themselves a two goal lead as Anaheim killed it off.
Later on in the period, Jakob Silfverberg took a high sticking penalty and again gave the Flyers a chance to take a two goal advantage. Hakstol put the previous top power-play unit back in tact for this opportunity, but it didn’t change a thing as the Ducks killed the high sticking minor. Jordan Weal took a penalty soon after, and the Flyers had a big penalty to kill late in the period. This proved to be costly, as Cam Fowler tied the game for Anaheim with 2:12 remaining. Nolan Patrick responded quickly, and gave the Flyers a 3-2 lead just seconds after, winning the game for Philadelphia.
This win broke a three game losing streak for the Flyers, and is a good start to the four game west coast road trip. Next game is Thursday against the Los Angeles Kings for another installment of #FlyersAfterDark!