POSTGAME 5: Flyers Down Ducks, 5-2

The Philadelphia Flyers defeated the Anaheim Ducks,5-2, at the Wells Fargo Center on Tuesday evening. The Flyers methodically built a three-goal lead by early in the third period. Kevin Hayes led the attack with a hat trick.

A Hayes power play goal (11th goal of the season) at 13:32 of the first period gave the Flyers a 1-0 lead. Despite a heavy territorial and scoring chance edge to the Flyers, the Hayes tally was the lone goal of the opening stanza.
Adam Henrique (15th) tied the game at 1-1 at the 7:39 of the second period. Rasmus Ristolainen restored a 2-1 lead for the Flyers with a shorthanded goal on a backhander at 12:43. Morgan Frost (9th) built a 3-1 lead with a highlight reel between-the-legs marker at 19:21.
At 2:30 of the third period, Hayes scored his second goal of the game (12th of the season) to open a 4-1 lead. With 1:09 left in the game, a point shot by Kevin Shattenkrik with traffic in front found made it past Ersson for a a power play goal (1st) at 18:51. Hayed completed a hat trick with his third of the game (13th)
Samuel Ersson earned his second win of the season against Anaheim. He stopped 24 of 26 shots. Former Flyers/Phantoms goalie Anthony Stolarz battled hard in a losing cause. He stopped 34 of 38 shots.
The Flyers went 1-for-5 on the power play. The Ducks were 1-for-3.
FLYERS STARTING LINEUP
86 Joel Farabee - 49 Noah Cates - 11 Travis Konecny
25 James van Riemsdyk - 48 Morgan Frost - 74 Owen Tippett
13 Kevin Hayes - 21 Scott Laughton - 57 Wade Allison
44 Nicolas Deslauriers - 38 Patrick Brown - 17 Zack MacEwen
9 Ivan Provorov - 45 Cam York
6 Travis Sanheim - 77 Tony DeAngelo
24 Nick Seeler - 55 Rasmus Ristolainen
33 Samuel Ersson
79 Carter Hart
TURNING POINT
The Flyers were unable to build on a 1-0 lead despite dominating the play for the first 25 minutes and were stung by Henrique's goal off a 3-on-2 that knotted the score at 1-1. Ristolainen's nifty shorthanded goal -- just his third point of the season -- restored control for the Flyers.
MELTZER'S TAKE
1) The Ducks had four of the game's first five shots on goal through six minutes. There were no high-grade scoring chances for either side.At at 6:59, after taking the puck to the net earlier in the shift but being able to get a shot on net, Farabee put a left circle shot on Stolarz. The ex-Flyers goalie snapped it up.
Tippett took the puck away from a Duck and started a transition rush. In the Anaheim zone, he was grabbed by Jakob Silfverberg, who received a holding minor at 7:31. The Laughton unit didn't get much going but the Hayes unit did. Stolarz came up with a low side-angle shot from Frost and later made a save on van Riemsdyk near the right post on a shot between his legs.
Frost nearly scored on a tight-angle wrister from just above the goal line. Anaheim took a too many men on the ice penalty at 11:04. The Flyers subsequently got a 43-second 5-on-3 as Frost sliced between two defenders on an entry and was tripped by Frank Vatrano at 12:21.
The Flyers were unable to score on the two-man advantage. At 13:10, after exiting the penalty box, Comtois had a breakaway opportunity on Ersson. At 13:32, the Flyers took a 1-0 lead. From deep over the middle, Konecny passed to DeAngelo on the left side. DeAngelo then put a cross-ice pass across to Hayes, who fired a shot past Stolarz. DeAngelo and Konecny earned the assists.
At 15:33, there was a massive scramble around the Anaheim net after a low shot from Konecny produced a rebound in front. After a clean breakout, JVR snapped off a shot from the right circle at 16:09. At the end of the next shift, Hayes threaded a pass to Seeler, who tipped the puck on net from in close.
Behind the play, at 18:10, MacEwen dropped the gloves with Comtois and they fought near center ice. On the period's final shift, the 25-48-74 line had a near tic-tac-toe sequence off the rush, but JVR tucked the puck wide of the open left side of the net.
2. After a methodical start to the game, the Flyers started to take over. Although they dodged a bullet on the shorthanded breakaway, the opening stanza was otherwise dominated by the Flyers. Shots on goal were 17-4 Flyers. Shots attempts were a whopping 31-11 Philadelphia. Scoring chances were 12-2 Flyers with an 8-1 high-danger edge to the Flyers. Anaheim was lucky to be down only 1-0 at intermission. The Flyers won 11 of 20 faceoffs in the period.
3) MacTavish high sticked Farabee at the 24-second mark of the second period. The Laughton unit coughed up an early shorthanded chance (but DeAngelo, who made the initial miscue, got back to erase it). The unit then spent the rest of the power play applying massive pressure in the Anaheim zone. Stolarz had to make five saves by the time it expired.
At 739 of the second period, on just their eighth shot on goal of the game, Anaheim tied the score at 1-1. It started in the Anaheim zone as Dmitry Kulikov knocked Tippett to the ice near the net, Patrick Brown chased Kulikov into the corner to respond The Ducks then broke out 3-on-2. From the slot, Henrique received a pass from John Klingberg and scored. Trevor Zegras earned the secondary assist.
TK had a prime chance off the rush at 10:21. Stolarz made the save.Shots in second period through 11:30 were 9-4 Flyers.
Ristolainen landed a huge hit on Max Jones in the netural zone. Moments later, in the defensive zone, Brown took a tripping penalty at 11:42.
On the ensuing kill, Ristolainen jumped into a counterattack and took a pass from Laughton. One-on-one with Stolarz, Ristolainen shifted to his backhand and elevated a shot into the net for the Flyers' NHL-leading ninth shorthanded goal of the season. The assists went to Laughton and Konecny at 12:43.
In the final minute of the period, the Frost line pressured in deep. Ristolainen and JVR won puck battled to keep the play going. Ristolainen put the puck back down low to JVR. From there, Frost got the puck, and stepped out just in front of the goal line. Pulling the puck behind his back and between his legs, Frost elevated the puck under the crossbar to make it 3-1 at 19:21. The assists went to van Riemsdyk and Ristolainen.
4) The Ducks had a bit more attack in the second period, but it was another frame that was primarily controlled by the Flyers. Philly had the better of the play both early and late in the stanza, with Anaheim's best minutes coming mid-period. Shots on goal were 13-9 Flyers (shot attempts were 21-18 Flyers). Scoring chances were 12-9 Flyers (6-3 high-danger edge to the Flyers). Faceoffs were 6-6 (17-15 Flyers through two periods).
5) Anaheim brought some early jump to start the third period, generating the first three shots in 2:06 and the first scoring chance. At 2:30, the Flyers responded. Allison claimed an Anaheim turnover on the right side boards. That started a tic-tac-toe sequence with Laughton and Hayes for a slam dunk and a 4-1 lead.
Shots were 6-1 Ducks through 5:30. Tippett nearly scored off a JVR feed at eight minutes. On the next shift, Hayes hit the post.
Anaheim applied mid-period pressure including a pair of scoring chances on the same shift that ended with Sanheim taking a slashing penalty at 11:48. Shots were 8-5 Ducks as the power play began. Laughton blocked a shot but Konecny was unable to clear. Hart made a blocker save on Kevin Shatterkirk on a shot from the point, knocking the puck to the corner . McTavish hit the post late in the man advantage.
Ersson made a clean glove save on a Vatrano slapper from high in the zone. With 2:46 left in regulation, Deslauriers took a holding penalty. Vatrano deflected home a Shattenkirk shot at 18:51. Strome got the secondary assist. Hayes scored an empty net from center ice at 19:16. Assists went to Allison and York.
With 18.7 second left in the game, Jones took an elbowing penalty. No further plays of note ensued. Third period shots were 14-9 Ducks.