Drysdale, Flyers deliver rout of Ducks in Gauthier’s visit originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia
A raucous crowd welcomed Cutter Gauthier to Philadelphia and the Flyers absolutely fed off it, rolling the Ducks, 6-0, Saturday night at the Wells Fargo Center.
Morgan Frost, Jamie Drysdale, Owen Tippett, Ryan Poehling, Matvei Michkov and Garnet Hathaway all scored goals.
Gauthier, the 2022 fifth overall pick who ended up spurning the Flyers, had to endure boos and chants from the moment he hit the ice for warmups. It was his first game in Philadelphia since being traded a year ago after declining to sign with the Flyers.
The Flyers (18-20-5) badly needed a win and got one to snap a four-game skid (0-3-1). Just two days ago, they were the ones receiving boos at the Wells Fargo Center from an ugly 4-1 loss to the Stars.
“Especially how flat we were last game, I think the crowd gave us a huge boost just to start the night tonight,” Frost said. “We wanted to bounce back for them. It was fun out there.”
The Flyers swept the two-game regular-season series from the Ducks (17-20-5). They beat Anaheim, 3-1, two weeks ago at Honda Center.
“All I told our team is let’s worry about ourselves and play a hockey game,” head coach John Tortorella said. “The bulls–t’s for you guys (the media), all the drama and all that, that’s for you guys, whatever you need to do with it. All I was concerned about, and I expressed it to the guys — let’s play the game the proper way, especially how badly we played the prior game.”
• Drysdale electrified the crowd when he extended the Flyers’ lead to 2-0 with a power play marker in the first period.
The 22-year-old defenseman was the player the Flyers acquired in the Gauthier trade. A loud chant of “Jamie’s better” broke out after the goal.
“It was pretty special, you hear the crowd going like that,” Drysdale said. “It brings so much energy to myself and the whole team. Unbelievable fans and they were rocking tonight.”
Things turned chippy toward the end of the first period and continued in the second and third. Travis Konecny had some words with Gauthier after a whistle in the middle stanza. Later in the period, he assisted Tippett’s goal, which padded the Flyers’ lead to 3-0.
Poehling’s goal came just 24 seconds into the final stanza and the rout was on for the Flyers. After Michkov joined the act, more Gauthier chants ensued. Hathaway then scored under a minute and a half later.
Konecny finished with four assists and five other Flyers had multi-point games.
“The crowd was really into it tonight, it was awesome, a great atmosphere,” Konecny said. “We just played hard, we’ve been playing hard and not getting results. It was good to get one tonight.”
• Samuel Ersson recorded his seventh career shutout with 22 saves.
The 25-year-old provided a stabilizing performance in net, where the Flyers have had all kinds of difficulty.
“I think my game is in a good place,” Ersson said. “I obviously struggled a little bit there before Christmas, but after that, I think it has been good.”
Anaheim netminder John Gibson stopped 24 of the Flyers’ 30 shots.
• Joel Farabee was healthy scratched, which brought an end to his ironman streak at 216 games. Olle Lycksell drew into the lineup and played on Sean Couturier’s line along with Michkov.
• The Flyers are back in action Monday when they host the defending champion Panthers (7 p.m. ET/NBCSP).
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