Postgame 5: Flyers Double Up Ducks, 6-3

The Philadelphia Flyers defeated the Anaheim Ducks, 6-3, at the Honda Center on Friday night. Eleven different Flyers players recorded at least one point. Three separate Flyers had two-point games, and one had three points.

Travis Sanheim, who logged 25:14 of ice time and was plus-four on the night, scored a gorgeous goal in the third period and also chipped in first period and third period assists. Cam Atkinson collected a goal and a helper. Joel Farabee had two assists. In the third period, Owen Tippett notched even strength and empty net tallies.  

In a losing cause, Leo Carlsson tallied his first NHL hat trick (two power play goals and one at 5-on-5) for Anaheim. The Flyers and Ducks split their two-game season series with the road team winning in each other's home arena.

Philadelphia took a 2-0 lead to the first intermission. The teams traded off one goal apiece in a second period that ended up largely controlled by Anaheim. In the third period, the Ducks scored twice but the Flyers added three more goals.

The Flyers opened the scoring at 4:57 of the first period. Egor Zamula put a puck to the net. The shot was blocked, but Atkinson got a touch and the puck ended up on Sean Couturier's stick. Near the left post, Couturier (3rd goal of the season) stashed it into the net. The assists went to Atkinson and Zamula.

Philly made it 2-0 at 12:31. From above the left circle, Travis Sanheim wristed a shot at the net. The puck deflected off Atkinson (7th) and went into the net. The assists went to Sanheim and Tyson Foerster. Although he didn't get a point on the play, a good pinch by Cam York helped start the sequence.

The Flyers scored a goal off the rush to make it 3-0 at 2:33.  After Anaheim failed to get the puck in deep, the Flyers found room to counterattack. Joel Farabee found room over the middle. Farabee dished to Louie Belpedio (2nd), who finished it off upstairs from the right slot.

At 4:14 of the second period, after Foerster put the puck toward the net, it went off Sean Walker's skate and into the net. On review, the goal was quickly disallowed due to a kicking motion by Walker.

The Ducks cut the gap to 3-1 at 13:15 of the second period. On a minute-long power play, Leo Carlsson scored (PPG, 4th) on a shot to the blocker side from above the dot in the right circle. The assists went to Alex Killorn and Mason McTavish.

A spectacular goal by Sanheim (2nd goal of the season) created a 4-1 Flyers lead at 7:38 of the third period. Sanheim cut across the left circle, took the puck to the net and deposited a backhander into the cage. The assists went to Farabee and York. Owen Tippett helped create some space for Sanheim.

The Ducks made it 4-2 at 10:34 on a sequence that saw Carlsson make strong plays at both ends of the ice. In the defensive zone, he knocked the puck away from Morgan Frost. In transition, Pavel Mintukov made a great outlet pass to Alex Killorn to create a 2-on-1. After receiving a saucer pass, Carlsson buried his second goal of the game (5th of the season). 

The Flyers got the goal right back at 13:07 on an outstanding individual effort by Tippett (3rd goal of the season). After Frost broke up a play in the neutral zone, TIppett claimed the puck near the left boards, moved around Frank Vatrano and toward the net. A wrister later shot low to the glove side, and the Flyers had a 5-2 lead. Frost earned the lone assist.

With 1:28 on the clock and the Ducks on a 6-on-4 power play with their goalie pulled for an extra attacker, Anaheim made it 5-3 on a tic-tac-toe finished off by Carlsson (PPG, third goal of the game, 6th of the season).

At 18:59, after Scott Laughton won a defensive zone faceoff, Tippett banked the puck to himself and moved north to score an empty net goal (second goal of the game, 4th of the season). The goal was initially credited as unassisted but changed after the game to add assists to Sanheim and Laughton.

Samuel Ersson played an outstanding game in goal. He earned his second win of the season with 35 saves on 38 shots. Lukas Dostal took the loss, stopping 30 of 35 shots.

The Flyers went 0-for-3 on the power play. The Ducks went 2-for-6.

Originally slated to start in goal, Carter Hart was unavailable to play in the game due to illness.  Left winger Nicolas Deslauriers dressed in his 600th career NHL game. For Anaheim, Trevor Zegras was unavailable due to a lower-body injury. Alex Killorn dressed for the Ducks.

FLYERS STARTING LINEUP

89 Cam Atkinson - 14 Sean Couturier - 71 Tyson Foerster

74 Owen Tippett - 48 Morgan Frost - 11 Travis Konecny
86 Joel Farabee -  27 Noah Cates - 10 Bobby Brink

44 Nick Deslauriers - 21 Scott Laughton - 19 Garnet Hathaway

8 Cam York - 6 Travis Sanheim

24 Nick Seeler - 26 Sean Walker

5 Egor Zamula - 37 Louie Belpedio

33 Samuel Ersson

[40 Cal Petersen]

TURNING POINT

The Flyers 3-1 lead in the second period seemed to be in jeopardy over the latter half of the period. Back-to-back penalty kills by Philly ended up looming large. Statistically, because of Carlsson's 6-on-4 power play goal in the third period, the final PK numbers for Philly didn't look like it was a good night in that area for the Flyers. In reality, the PK got the Flyers through a vulnerable juncture of the game. 

POSTGAME 5

1. The early momentum in the first period belonged to Anaheim. The Ducks generated two shots on goal in the opening shift and then another by McTavish on the second shift. Through three minutes, shots were 3-0 Anaheim.

At 4:10, McTavish got open in the slot to receive a centering pass and force Ersson to make a big save. On the next shift, the Flyers scored the game's opening goal.

The Flyers went to the game's first power play at 7:11. Ilya Lyubushkin hauled down Hathaway as he broke into the attack zone off a lead pass from Zamula. Midway through the 5-on-4, the Flyers generated a scramble near the net. Late in the power play, Brink fired off a shot that produced a rebound chance for Farabee. The Flyers totaled four shots on goal during this power play.

With 2:05 left on the first period clock, Ersson made a strong save on a good scoring chance for Jakob Silfverberg. Shortly thereafter, 18:02, Couturier was penalized for tripping McTavish. Atkinson had a shorthanded breakaway attempt off a beautiful lead pass by Sanheim but was unable to elevate the puck over Dostal.

2.  After the Ducks generated the game's first four shots on goal, the Flyers had 10 of the next 14. Although the Flyers did not score on their power play, it created some momentum.  Philly controlled the middle stages of the opening period until the Ducks came again in the latter minutes.

First period shots on goal were 17-15 Flyers. Shot attempts were 27-26 Flyers. Scoring chances were 14-10 Flyers with a 7-4 high danger edge to the Flyers. Faceoffs were 11-10 Flyers, led by Frost going 5-for-6.

3.  Shots were 4-4 through the first eight minutes of the second period but the lone goal belonged to the Flyers.  At the nine-minute, after Ersson made a good save on Troy Terry, Laughton created an offensive zone faceoff at the other end.

The Flyers went to their second power play at 10:33 of the middle stanza. Former Flyers defenseman Radko Gudas was called for an offensive zone cross check on Seeler. The power play lasted exactly one minute before Atkinson took a hooking penalty. With 20 seconds left on Anaheim's abbreviated power play, the Ducks scored to cut the gap to 3-1.

Frost was called for a retaliatory cross-check on Max Jones along the defensive zone sideboards at 13:48.  After a failed clearing chance, a Cam Fowler shot got on net. The penalty was killed.

At 16:46, York was called for slashing Terry's glove as he skated through the right circle. The Flyers staged a strong kill. 

4.  The Flyers abortive power play midway through the second period, followed by Anaheim scoring on their minute-long power play, was a negative momentum shifter. The Ducks controlled the rest of the period, and the Flyers didn't help matters by Frost taking a bad penalty. There were some nervous moments on the ensuing kill. The subsequent kill on the York penalty was more authoritative. Second period shots were 16-7 Ducks (31-24 Ducks through 40 minutes).

5. The Flyers started the third period with a strong shift by the Couturier line. Tippett had a good scoring chance on the second shift off a feed from Konecny. At 1:40, Zamula sent the puck over the glass from the defensive zone for a delay of game penalty.

On the ensuing kill, York broke up a play near the net. Sanheim came up with a clearing play. Shortly thereafter, Walker got tangled with the referee behind the net and the official accidentally kicked the puck into the slot. Ersson made a 10-bell save on Carlsson.

At 6:54, Farabee received a high stick to the face from goalie Dostal. It was accidental but a clear penalty.  Farabee fired a shot on net from the right flank.  Dostal prevented a rebound.  The rest of the power play, with PP1 on the ice, didn't generate much. Walker broke up a developing odd-man rush.

Anaheim went back to the power play yet again at 16:37 on a hooking penalty called against Laughton on Lacombe. The Ducks pulled Dostal for a 6-on-4.  Ersson made a stop in close on McTavish on a broken play. Ersson then made a stop on Killorn. However, with 1:28 left, Carlsson finished off his hat trick. The Ducks pulled Dostal again before Tippett closed out the scoring with an empty net goal.

Third period shots on goal were 12-8 in the Flyers favor. Final faceoffs were 32-31 Ducks but Frost led Philly with a 12-for-16 night on draws.