After kicking off their California slate of the schedule on the right foot with consecutive wins over San Jose and Los Angeles, the Philadelphia Flyers rolled into Anaheim looking to finish off the sweep agaisnt the three Golden State clubs in their respective buildings, something never done before in franchise history.
After a glorious 28-save effort from Samuel Ersson and goals from Joel Farabee, Morgan Frost, Travis Konecny, Scott Laughton, the Flyers would do just that and not only complete the road trip sweep, but they’ve also now won three straight games, something they haven’t done since their first three games of the season back in October.
FIRST PERIOD
The Flyers began the game with plenty of energy and just seemed destined to complete the California sweep tonight.
They pressured the Ducks early and often and drew the game’s first penalty as a result after Sam Carrick tripped up Travis Konecny just about three and a half minutes into the game. Philadelphia moved the puck around well and fired three shots on John Gibson, but they couldn’t find the net past him and the Ducks killed off the penalty.
The Flyers kept their foot on the gas however and were able to net the game’s first goal courtesy of Joel Farabee. After Noah Cates’ shot attempt reached the goal mouth, Farabee corralled the puck and found a way to send the backhand through a stunned Gibson to give the Flyers a 1-0 lead on his seventh goal of the season.
The Flyers weren’t done just yet either, as less than three minutes later Morgan Frost went coast-to-coast and snapped a bullet by Gibson from well out to double the Philadelphia lead.
Shortly after Frost’s third goal in his last six games and eight on the season, Tony DeAngelo was whistled for slashing against Cam Fowler, sending Anaheim to their first power play of the night.
The Ducks held the puck inside the Philadelphia zone for the majority of the power play but only forced one shot on goal against Samuel Ersson, who made easy work of an Adam Henrique wristshot. That would be Anaheim’s only shot on goal with the man advantage before DeAngelo exited the penalty box.
Just 67 seconds after they killed off the penalty, the Flyers ended up with their second power play after Troy Terry hooked Cam York. They were able to blast three more power play shots on John Gibson, but again they were stopped by the Anaheim netminder and the Flyers would fall to 0-2 with a man up on the night to that point.
As was the theme in the opening frame, Philadelphia sent the Ducks back on a power play shortly afterwards as Patrick Brown was called for holding against Troy Terry with just 1:31 to play. The Ducks could not generate much offense before time expired and they carried 29 seconds of power play time into the first intermission, while the Flyers maintained a 2-0 lead and a 17-7 shots on goal advantage.
SECOND PERIOD
The Flyers successfully killed off Brown’s penalty and used the momentum – and the lack of Ducks talent – to their advantage and Travis Konecny extended his goal-scoring streak to four games just three minutes into the middle stanza.
A deceptive Kevin Hayes let Nathan Beaulieu bite on the play and slide out of sight, fooled Gibson in a virtual 1-on-1 situation, and dished a sweet feed to Konecny past a laid out Mason McTavish for a slam-dunk goal to make it 3-0 in favor of Philadelphia.
Just 55 seconds after Konecny’s team-leading 19th tally, former Duck Nicolas Deslauriers somehow received the lone penalty – roughing – in a large scrum that was stirred up by Anaheim’s Sam Carrick. The Ducks had plenty of quality chances and fired three shots on net, plus a Ryan Strome shot that found iron, but they couldn’t cut into the Flyers’ lead and the game remained 3-0.
Despite not scoring, the Ducks were firing the puck more often and applying strong pressure, but Samuel Ersson stayed strong in goal and kept Anaheim at bay with every passing shot. The Ducks, who were being outshot by 10 after 20 minutes, were cutting into that deficit shift by shift as time went by and despite another power play at 11:19 after Cam York tripped Trevor Zegras that was not capitalized on, they played better for a solid portion of the period and as the buzzer sounded on period two, the shots were 24-21 in favor of the Flyers overall, with Anaheim outshooting Philadelphia 14-7 in the period.
Despite the strong Anaheim push, the Flyers led where it mattered most, on the scoreboard by a 3-0 count, and they looked to seal the deal and complete the never-before-completed California sweep.
THIRD PERIOD
The Flyers would fight back after Anaheim’s second period surge and took back control of the game. They were hard on pucks, they kept the pressure up on the Ducks’ defense and John Gibson, and their hard work was rewarded with a goal courtesy of Scott Laughton.
Laughton and Kevin Hayes played a little give-and-go on the zone entry and Laughton took the puck and wrapped it home against a bewildered Gibson to pot his third goal in four games and ninth on the year to give the Flyers a commanding 4-0 lead with 11:34 to play.
Philadelphia’s good fortunes took a brief hiatus for two minutes after James van Riemsdyk high-sticked Adam Henrique with 6:45 remaining, sending Anaheim on their fifth power play of the evening. Even though they were shorthanded, the Flyers didn’t have to do too much to disrupt the Ducks’ puck movement, or lack thereof. Messy puck possession, uncrisp passes, and a general lack of sense or awareness cost the Ducks a chance at a goal as they looked like the San Diego Gulls with a man up.
In saying that, the Ducks finally got on the board and snapped Samuel Ersson’s shutout bid with just 39.6 seconds left in the period.
Despite the late Ducks goal, the Philadelphia Flyers played a very strong all-around game and defeated the Anaheim Ducks 4-1 behind goals from four different players and Samuel Ersson’s 28 saves to win their third straight game and complete the first California road sweep in franchise history.
3 STARS OF THE GAME: 1) Samuel Ersson – PHI, 2) Travis Konecny – PHI, 3) Trevor Zegras – ANA
UP NEXT…
The Flyers return home on Thursday night to host the Arizona Coyotes at Wells Fargo Center looking for their fourth straight victory and will try to secure consecutive home victories for the first time since October 13th and 15th, 2022 against New Jersey and Vancouver.
