Flyers squander two-goal lead in loss to Cutter Gauthier and the Anaheim Ducks
The Flyers' lead was built by power-play goals, but the Ducks tied it in the second before taking a two-goal lead of their own. Matvei Michkov added his second goal of the day to make it 5-4.
Compared to the first two meetings of the young rivalry between the Anaheim Ducks and the Flyers at Xfinity Mobile Arena, this one was a little less electric.
It still had its fireworks.
Cutter Gauthier, once a top Flyers prospect, was booed and jeered throughout, beginning when he finished his warmup. Nine goals were scored — the first four meetings had 22, 17 by the Flyers — and 42 penalty minutes were added, giving this rivalry almost 199.
Although the Flyers won each of those games after the trade that swapped Gauthier and defenseman Jamie Drysdale, and led 2-0 and 3-2 on Saturday, they couldn’t come away with a win. The Flyers lost, 5-4, snapping not just that streak but ending the overall winning streak — after starting the season winless in nine — at three games.
“We’re playing better,” coach Rick Tocchet said. “There’s lots to like about our game, but the ability to win this game, it stings because I thought this was a game we should have won.”
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Flyers’ power play is starting to get electrified
Hunter McDonald made an impact in his third game of the season and just the fourth of his short NHL career. The Western New York native entered the game with 10 hits in 11 minutes, 39 seconds of action, and before the Saturday matinee was 14 minutes old, he added two more — both on Sam Colangelo in 10 seconds.
His second hit, a crushing, clean blow in the offensive zone along the boards, drew a minor on Colangelo as he punched McDonald in the face when he got up. The Ducks forward kept going at McDonald, who kept his hands down until he shoved Colangelo to get away.
A.J. Greer then instigated a fight against McDonald, giving the Flyers a full two-minute two-man advantage. The Flyers scored twice to take a 2-0 lead.
“The same thing he did in Buffalo, right? Five minutes left, and they take a penalty because it’s a clean hit, and we win the game that way,” Tocchet said of McDonald, who answered the bell with Mattias Samuelsson after a clean hit on Ryan McLeod in the Flyers’ 3-1 win on Wednesday.
“It’s a guy that’s willing to go in there and hit hard. You want other teams to be undisciplined, too. That’s the good thing with Hunter. It’s happened a couple times for us.”
Eighteen seconds into the five-on-three, Matvei Michkov found the back of the net for his seventh goal of the season. Trevor Zegras skated the puck into the left circle — his new spot — and gave it back to Drysdale at the point with Porter Martone atop the crease and Tyson Foerster by the left post.
Drysdale quickly sent it down to Michkov at the bottom of the right circle. The Russian winger carried it up and around, curling between the circles as a double screen was set by Martone and Foerster. He fired the puck past Ducks goalie Lukáš Dostál for his fourth power-play goal in 13 games, matching last season’s total across 81 games.
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Sixty-three seconds later on the five-on-four, Martone, who turns 20 on Monday, extended the lead to 2-0.
Zegras put a shot on goal and chipped the long rebound back down the boards to Martone. He sent it back to Zegras and then over to Travis Sanheim as he skated into the left circle. The alternate captain, with his head up, sent a seam pass to Martone as he crashed back door.
“I think just moving the puck, keeping it simple, getting a lot of shot volume,” Martone, one of the goal scorers, said of what’s working now. “I knew it was going to come. We were getting chances; now they’re going in.”
The goal is Martone’s third of the season and second on the power play. He needs one more goal to match his total last season in nine games. Zegras now has 10 points on the season and seven in the past four games.
The Flyers have scored on a power play in four straight games. It is the first time since Oct. 25-Nov. 1 last season.
The only issue is, across seven opportunities — two under a minute without a goal, giving them 8:10 on the man advantage for the day — they could muster only two goals on six shots. Three more shot attempts were blocked.
Why did the Flyers lose?
The Flyers entered the second period up, 2-0, but found themselves evened up at three by the time the middle frame ended. Did the Flyers subconsciously think they had this one in the bag with a two-goal lead, which, ironically, is the worst lead in hockey?
“I think a little bit,” forward Noah Cates said. “... They got one goal. Still a 2-1 lead, we’re playing great, so kind of deflated us. So, for whatever reason, guys got to step up and say, ‘We’re playing fine. One goal, it’s whatever. We’re still in the lead. We’ve still got a hold of this game; if we play the right way, the game’s ours.’ So I think guys got to step up with the energy, the attitude, flush different things.”
The Flyers held the Ducks to six shots and 44.74% of the shot attempts in the first period. The script flipped, with Anaheim getting 61.54% of the shot attempts in the second period.
Across the first two periods, the Ducks put 21 shots on goal, beating Flyers goalie Joseph Woll three times with two goals on four shots from high-danger areas and a third from midrange, per Natural Stat Trick. In the second period, they scored three times on 15 shots, with Tocchet saying he thought his squad “got loose.”
The first goal cut into the Flyers’ lead after a miscue between Nick Seeler and Woll behind the net. Gauthier picked up the loose puck and fed Leo Carlsson — of offer-sheet fame — as he crashed down the middle of the ice. There were boos when the primary assist was announced.
Less than five minutes later, Tim Washe put a shot on, and Greer got the rebound. His shot hit the right post before going off the skate of Woll. It looked like Sanheim cleared the puck before it crossed the line, but video review determined it crossed the goal line completely.
Judd Caufield tied it, 3-3, just over a minute after the Flyers retook the lead when he jammed at an Alex Killorn centering pass. It caused the puck to pop up and over Woll.
Things seemed to settle after that as Woll robbed Gauthier twice with 12 seconds left in the middle frame. The 2022 Flyers draft pick got the puck back door, and Woll made a sliding left pad save before flashing the leather on his rebound attempt.
But two minutes into the third period, Tristan Luneau gave the Ducks their first lead of the day with a bad-angle shot that squeezed through Woll. Beckett Sennecke made it 5-3 on an Anaheim power play, tipping in a Carlsson pass from atop the crease.
“I thought we played well enough to win the game, and I don’t think I played well enough to win the game,” Woll said. “And sometimes it goes like that. So, yeah, that’s disappointing.”
The hometown team did push in the third, scoring once on 11 shots.
Michkov cut into the Ducks’ two-goal lead with his second goal of the game, jamming home a loose puck that hit Martone in front on a Cates shot. He now has eight goals on the season, tied for fifth in the NHL, and 10 points in 13 games. His second multigoal performance in three games extends his point streak to five games (six goals, two assists).
“It’s been awesome,” said Cates of the Russian winger’s game. “Just shooting the puck with confidence. His playmaking ability is off the charts. So just when he’s going, and he’s feeling it, he’s making those plays, but he’s also playing smart.
“Skating well, being above, and doing those little things too. So he’s really helping us get out of that tough stretch to start the year, and he’s been a key contributor for us, and we need to keep going.”
The Flyers also had a 40-second six-on-four to end the game after Drysdale was hooked on a waived-off icing.
“We lose today. This is no good,” Michkov said. “We have today a lot of moments, a lot of chances. I think we need to score more goals and hard plays [in the] D zone.”
Finding Tyson Foerster
In his first 11 games, Foerster registered one goal on 25 shots — and three shots came Wednesday against the Sabres after he missed a game because of a right-hand injury from blocking a shot.
The Flyers need to get Foerster, a winger who entered the season with 61 goals in 195 games, going. Maybe an unexpected shorthanded tally can do just that.
“Yeah, any ugly [goal]. When you’re a goal scorer, any type of something, that’s good for you, it really helps, for sure,” Tocchet said.
With the game tied, 2-2, and captain Sean Couturier in the box for roughing, Sennecke couldn’t handle the Seeler clearing attempt at the right point. Foerster picked up the puck, crossed with Cates, and headed down the right boards as they created a two-on-one.
Carlsson was the lone Duck back and went spread eagle to take away the pass, forcing Foeterster wide. But the Flyers forward was patient, got his stick around Carlsson and sent it through Dostál’s wickets to give the Flyers a 3-2 lead and the first Flyers’ shorthanded goal of the season.
“Yeah, obviously such an important piece for this team, not just offensively but defensively,” said Cates, who was crashing the net on the play.
“But when he’s on pucks and forechecking and doing the things that he’s doing, causing turnovers and shooting the puck, he’s dangerous and one of, I think, the best two-way forwards in the league.”
Breakaways
Defenseman Simon Benoit was a healthy scratch after playing against Buffalo. Defenseman David Jiříček and forward Michael Bunting were healthy scratches for the second straight game. … Defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen returned after missing 10 games with a hand injury from blocking a shot in the second game of the season. In a corresponding move, forward Garrett Wilson was sent down to Lehigh Valley of the American Hockey League after clearing waivers.
Up next
The Flyers return to action on Tuesday at home against former Flyers Emil Andrae and Cam Talbot and the Columbus Blue Jackets (7 p.m., NBCSP). They head to Washington on Wednesday for the first of four meetings against the Capitals in Alex Ovechkin’s final NHL season (7:30 p.m., TNT, TruTV, HBO Max, NBCSP+).
