PHILADELPHIA –– For the first time in recent memory, it was in fact sunny in Philadelphia for the Ducks, who prevailed over the Flyers 5-4 on Saturday afternoon at Xfinity Mobile Arena.
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They were determined not only to snap a five-game skid, but to earn their first victory against Philly in the Cutter Gauthier era.
Since Gauthier joined the Ducks after spurning the Flyers, who drafted him fifth overall in 2022, the Ducks had lost all four meetings and the two in Philadelphia by a combined count of 11-2. On Saturday, they fired back with a win, which was also their first of the campaign when surrendering the first goal of a match.
“Finding a way to win was something that was the most special about the whole day,” Ducks coach Joel Quenneville said. “At the end of the afternoon, we’ll say that we needed that in a big way, and the guys were gonna do everything they could to find a win.”
Gauthier and the player for whom he was traded, Jamie Drysdale, were hardly the only crisscrossing figures in this rapidly intensifying interconference rivalry. Trevor Zegras moved east in a trade two summers ago and this past July the Flyers threw the Ducks’ salary-cap situation into utter upheaval with a bold $90 million offer sheet to Leo Carlsson.
Carlsson scored a goal and engineered another by Beckett Sennecke. Judd Caulfield also tallied and A.J. Greer finished an assist shy of a Gordie Howe hat trick. It was Tristan Luneau, however, leading the charge with a game-high and career-high three points on a goal and two assists. Lukáš Dostál made 28 saves in his first win since Oct. 9.
Zegras hooked up Matvei Michkov and Porter Martone with early power-play goals before Tyson Foerster converted shorthanded and Martone set up a second marker for Michkov. Joseph Woll stopped 26 shots.
The Flyers pushed hard late but Dostál had all the answers, including consecutive saves on golden opportunities for Travis Sanheim. The Ducks also killed a last-minute penalty that left them playing 4-on-6.
Early in the final frame, the Ducks took their first lead off goals by Luneau and Sennecke before Michkov drew the Flyers back within one.
Michkov’s second goal of the game came 1:07 after the Ducks situated themselves comfortably. Noah Cates found Martone down low for the initial attempt, which Michkov mopped up diligently.
Sennecke broke an 0-for-16 stretch with the extra man by tapping home a dish from Carlsson at 7:10.
Luneau cruised across three zones and, like Foerster had earlier in the game, proved a shot on goal is never a bad play. He scored off a low, sharp-angle snap shot two minutes into the stanza.
“I didn’t expect to take it wide like that, but I had some space on the flank, so I tried to put it short side and it went in,” Luneau said.
The Ducks inverted the result from the first period in the second, striking three times and ceding one goal to leave the score level at three a side after the Flyers bolted out to a 2-0 edge.
They nearly took a late lead on the power play, with Gauthier wide open at the backpost for a shot on net that was denied by Woll. His post-to-post push delighted the crowd, which seemed as determined as ever to hold a grudge against Gauthier.
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At 16:19, just 1:15 after the Flyers pulled in front anew, Caulfield banked a redirection goal in off Woll’s mask. Alex Killorn’s centering feed and Luneau’s long outlet aided his effort.
“A couple guys stepped up in the room and said the right things that brought the guys right back where we needed to be [after the first period],” Luneau said.
The Ducks, who entered the game having come up empty on 13 straight power plays, gave up their first shorthanded goal during their 0-for-15 funk. Sennecke’s inability to control the puck at the offensive blue line sent Foerster the other way for a low-percentage shot that made its way through the stick of an outstretched Carlsson and under Dostál’s pads.
The Ducks had knotted the score off Greer’s putback of a Tim Washe rebound, Greer’s second goal on the road trip and his second as a Duck.
Carlsson had gotten them on the board with an authoritative slot shot off a feed from Gauthier following a comedy of errors for Philly. Woll played a puck that had been iced to Nick Seeler, who turned it right over to Gauthier below the goal line.
Not only did the goal incense the crowd, both locker rooms identified it as a pivotal moment.
“Guys have got to step up and say, ‘We’re playing fine. It’s one goal, it’s whatever,’” Cates said. “We’re still in the lead. We’ve still got a hold on this game if we play the right way.”
A game that started, and continued, with vociferous chants of “(expletive) you, Cutter!” was predictably charged and physical.
Flyers defenseman Hunter McDonald’s check on Sam Colangelo just as the puck left drew retaliation from Colangelo and intervention from Greer, who fought McDonald.
Both Ducks players were penalized with minor infractions, giving the Flyers a full two minutes of two-man advantage.
Their two remaining lottery picks, Michkov and Martone, each cashed in to give them a 2-0 lead that they carried into the dressing room after 20 minutes.
Martone lit the lamp after he drew two defenders on the wall, moved the puck to Zegras and ultimately got it back off a seam pass from Sanheim for an easy redirection at 15:02.
Michkov opened the scoring 63 seconds earlier, weaving across the top of the left circle and ripping a shot from above the hashmarks.
After a 1-3-0 road trip, the Ducks will return home for a three-game homestand beginning Tuesday against the Vancouver Canucks.
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