ANAHEIM \u2014 The storylines were many but the goals were few in Wednesday night\u2019s matchup between the Ducks and the Philadelphia Flyers at Honda Center, where the hosts stumbled, losing 3-2 in overtime.<\/p>\n
One-time Flyers top prospect Cutter Gauthier scored the Ducks\u2019 first goal and catalyzed Leo Carlsson\u2019s theft of a point by sending the game to OT. Luk\u00e1\u0161 Dost\u00e1l made 25 saves, while $7 million man Mason McTavish was a healthy scratch for a second straight game.<\/p>\n
The Ducks lost for just the seventh time in 23 games and remained in first place in the Pacific Division since Edmonton and Vegas were both idle.<\/p>\n
Luke Glendening and Owen Tippett each had a goal in regulation for Philly. Noah Cates notched the overtime winner. Dan Vladar stopped 34 shots. Former Ducks lottery picks Trevor Zegras and Jamie Drysdale were held off the score sheet, though Zegras was a factor in Philly\u2019s second goal and received a large ovation during a highlight-laden video tribute.<\/p>\n
The Flyers improved to 7-2-1 in recent days, their best 10-game stretch of the season. They also completed a season-series sweep of the Ducks after winning 5-2 on Jan. 6 at XFinity Mobile Arena.<\/p>\n
The Flyers dashed the Ducks\u2019 comeback hopes in truly unspectacular fashion after Cates picked Beckett Sennecke\u2019s pocket. Matvei Michkov, perhaps the Flyers\u2019 most dangerous three-on-three player, blew a layup, Cates\u2019 play from below the goal line went off the skate of Ducks defenseman Jackson LaCombe and into the net. The goal was reviewed by the league office in Toronto for an offside entry, but it was upheld.<\/p>\n
Jansen Harkins fought Nick Seeler early in the third period in a bout between players wearing No. 24, with that and Carlsson\u2019s equalizer with 1:54 to play bookending the period.<\/p>\n
Gauthier sent a shot flying toward the net front, where the puck was swiped at by Troy Terry, over to Carlsson for a dunk at the back post. It was Carlsson\u2019s 24th goal of the campaign.<\/p>\n
Two of the NHL\u2019s worst power plays \u2013 the Ducks ranked 26th of 32 teams coming into the game and the Flyers sat dead last \u2013 couldn\u2019t convert on seven combined opportunities through 39:21. The Ducks then scored what was technically a man-advantage marker with 38 seconds left in the second period. One second after Jeffrey Viel\u2019s minor penalty expired to conclude a four-on-four situation, Gauthier scored a de facto 4-v-4 goal.<\/p>\n
Pavel Mintyukov pinched deep to support the forecheck, winning the puck back and finding an open Gauthier, who cut across the crease for a backhand that he lifted high from close range. It was his 35th goal of the season and one that was to the chagrin of the visiting contingent on hand. Gauthier was drafted fifth overall by the Flyers in 2022 but refused to sign his entry-level contract, effectively forcing them to trade him for Drysdale and a second-round pick.<\/p>\n
That only spliced the Ducks\u2019 deficit in half, however, as Tippett had made it 2-0 at the 7:53 mark of the period. It was a defensive play by the offensively savvy Zegras that facilitated the goal. He leaned on Tim Washe, forcing a one-handed, backhand clearing attempt that came to Travis Sanheim at the blue line. He jammed the puck into the slot, where it was rolling on its side for a sweep-in tally from Tippett.<\/p>\n
To get the puck rolling, Glendening started a ferocious forecheck with a hit on Olen Zellweger and finished it with a redirection from just in front of the blue paint as Zellweger, newcomer John Carlson and the rest of the Ducks were frazzled by the Flyers\u2019 fourth line and its aggression. The Flyers led 1-0 just 2:51 into the game. That was the extent of the first-period scoring, though Tippett hit the crossbar with a four-on-four shot that had gotten by Dost\u00e1l late in the frame.<\/p>\n
More to come on this story.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ANAHEIM \u2014 The storylines were many but the goals were few in Wednesday night\u2019s matchup between the Ducks…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":226506,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[163,824,165,164,404,127],"class_list":["post-226505","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-anaheim","tag-anaheim","tag-anaheim-ducks","tag-anaheim-headlines","tag-anaheim-news","tag-nhl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/226505","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=226505"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/226505\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/226506"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=226505"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=226505"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=226505"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}