The holiday break has come to an end as the Flyers will embark on their annual West Coast road trip. That starts with a matchup against the Anaheim Ducks in the first game of a back-to-back.
This will be the first time that Cutter Gauthier will face the team that drafted him. Though, there is expected to be more of a reaction when Gauthier comes to Philadelphia in mid-January. Still, he will want to prove to his former club that he made the right decision in asking for a trade.
Philadelphia Flyers
It doesn't matter who is on the other side of the ice for Philadelphia. They have plenty of things to worry about as they jump back into the season. Once a strength of this team, the Flyers penalty kill has struggled mightily. They are 20th in the league, having allowed 22 power-play goals this season. They have two shorthanded goals, a significant drop off from a season prior. They allowed three in their last game, a large reason for the loss. There was a stretch in early December where they allowed at least one power-play goal in five straight games.
The Flyers aren't getting any help from their goaltenders either. The netminders are not all to blame as the defensive has been prone to miscues and breakdowns in front of them. But combined between all three goaltenders, Philadelphia has the worst save percentage in the league at 3.66. Their .875 SV% is also at the bottom of the league. Amongst all goaltenders, the current tandem of Sam Ersson and Aleksei Kolosov rank 49th and 50th in the first stat and 55th and 52nd in the second. That's among the 60 qualified goaltenders to have played a certain amount of games.
This next stretch of games will be an important one for Philadelphia. Four points separate them from a playoff spot. The midway point of the season is only a few weeks away. A division spot is a far climb away at the moment. While this group may not have a ton of expectations on the outside, they'll need to start playing better than their last five-game stretch has shown. They allowed four or more goals in all five, winning just one of them. Twice their opponents put up seven goals.
Flyers Projected Roster
Scott Laughton - Sean Couturier - Travis Konecny
Owen Tippett - Morgan Frost - Matvei Michkov
Tyson Foerster - Noah Cates - Bobby Brink
Joel Farabee - Ryan Poehling - Garnet Hathaway
Cam York -- Travis Sanheim
Nick Seeler - Rasmus Ristolainen
Egor Zamula - Jamie Drysdale
Sam Ersson
Anaheim Ducks
The Ducks are in the midst of their own transition. They recently traded away a key piece in Cam Fowler to St. Louis and sent Urho Vaakanainen to the Rangers. They did bring in a veteran piece in Jacob Trouba, adding more physicality to their backend. They're in the bottom 10 in the standings and aren't likely to be a threat this season. But this is exactly the kind of team that you can't take lightly.
Troy Terry is nearly halfway to his point production from a season prior, leading the Ducks with 25 points. He and Frank Vatrano are tied for the team lead with nine goals apiece. Gauthier has struggled with Anaheim this season and has seen some benchings because of it. He has four goals in 33 games and only four points in his last 10 games. This should be the game he musters up more energy for, though.
As the Ducks move forward, Lukas Dostal is expected to be a big part of their future. He has taken the reigns as the starting goaltender and has performed admirably in his 20 games this season. He currently holds a 2.77 GAA and a .915 SV%.
Ducks Projected Roster
Frank Vatrano - Ryan Strome - Troy Terry
Alex Killorn - Leo Carlsson - Brett Leason
Cutter Gauthier - Mason McTavish - Robby Fabbri
Ross Johnston - Isac Lundestrom - Jansen Harkins
Jackson LaCombe - Radko Gudas
Olen Zellweger - Jacob Trouba
Brian Dumoulin - Drew Helleson
Lukas Dostal
When, Where, and How to Watch
Time: 4:00 PM
Where: Honda Center
Watch: NBCSP
Radio: 97.5 The Fanatic
Live Stream: FuboTv
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