Flyers blast Ducks in Gauthier's first game in Philadelphia

PHILADELPHIA – For the second time in the first two games of a six-game road trip, it was off-ice events that led into another six-goal blowout loss for the Anaheim Ducks on Saturday.

The Philadelphia Flyers dominated the opening period for a 2-0 lead and the wheels fell off for the Ducks in the third period a 6-0 loss in former Flyers draft pick Cutter Gauthier’s first career game at Wells Fargo Center.

Travis Konecny assisted on the Flyers’ first three goals by Morgan Frost, former Duck Jamie Drysdale and Owen Tippett. Ryan Poehling, Matvei Michkov and Garnett Hathaway scored in the third period.

Anaheim was shutout for the first time this season, and all but one Duck was on the ice for a goal at some point in the game. John Gibson made 24 saves.

After a strong run of form winning four of five against some of the league’s best brought Anaheim within shouting distance of a playoff spot, the Ducks have lost three in a row, including dropping two eggs in the first two games of a crucial road trip.

The Ducks were down 3-0 before registering a shot on goal in a 6-2 loss at St. Louis (20-19-4, 44 points) where both teams celebrated former Duck Cam Fowler’s 1,000th NHL game on Thursday before heading to Philadelphia (18-20-5, 41 points) for this 6-0 loss in Gauthier’s first road game against the team that drafted him.

Anaheim (17-20-5, 39 points) continues a season-long six-game trip tomorrow in Carolina (26-15-2, 54 points).

Ducks forward Cutter Gauthier played his first game in Philadelphia since asking for a trade before ever playing a game for the Flyers. The former No. 5 overall pick was traded for Ducks defenseman Jamie Drysdale last January.

“I’m anticipating probably a lot of boos, for sure,” Gauthier told The Athletic on Friday. “They’re probably not the happiest fans with me.”

In the aftermath of the trade, there was they said-he said situation between the Flyers’ and Gauthier’s explanation of the events that led to the trade. In response, Philadelphia fans had provided unending scrutiny online, including death threats.

“It’s unfortunate, because I’m not going to go out there and bad-mouth the Flyers organization,” Gauthier said, “because obviously they’re a historic organization and a great organization, and I was fortunate enough to be drafted by them.”

“I just wish they knew the truth, I would say that, but other than that, I’m not here to please everyone.”

Gauthier received plenty of attention from the Philly faithful at the start of the game, with sing-song chants of his name and “We want Cutter” when he wasn’t in the starting line-up. Flyers fans went with “Jamie’s better” when Drysdale first hit the ice and otherwise heckled Gauthier each time he touched the puck.

The energy kept flowing through the Wells Fargo Center crowd early, as the Ducks suffered another abysmal road start.

Just under seven minutes in, Brett Leason gave up the puck under pressure on a clearing attempt at the wall, and after the puck rimmed around the Ducks zone once more, Jacob Trouba and Brian Dumoulin lost coverage in front, as Frost coasted in for the deflection off a Travis Konecny shot, 1-0.

With just under two minutes left in the opening period, Drysdale again earned the favor of the home crowd on the power play. As the Flyers hit the blueline with speed, none of the Ducks penalty killers picked up the streaking Drysdale, who took a pass and finished five hole to double the lead, 2-0.

Anaheim and Philadelphia seemed more interested in hitting each other than hitting the net in the second period, but the Flyers caught the Ducks late in the middle sector.

A wide shot from Sam Colangelo off the rush rimmed around the Flyers zone and past the pinching Pavel Mintyukov to spark a two-on-one the other direction. Dumoulin raced into the zone off the line change, but Konecny fed a pass through the falling Ducks defenseman. Tippett finished the one-timer for the 3-0 lead.

Just 24 seconds into the third period, Poehling received a pass in stride up the left-wing boards and zoomed around Radko Gudas to put the Flyers up large, 4-0.

Frustrations boiled over at several points throughout the game with the Ducks earning seven roughing minors and the Flyers being charged with six roughing minors. Gudas earned a 10-minute misconduct with his last roughing call.

Philadelphia scored its fifth goal on the ensuing power play out of the fracas Gudas got charged for, and just 79 seconds later, Hathaway beat a flat-footed Trouba to a rebound out of a cycle chance for the six-pack, 6-0.

Game Notes

• Anaheim’s leading scorer Troy Terry missed his third straight game due to the birth of his second child. Terry holds a six-game point streak with eight points in those games and four goals in four games.

• Ducks defenseman Olen Zellweger sat out his third consecutive game. It was Zellweger’s sixth healthy scratch in the last eight games. Pavel Mintyukov has played in Zellweger’s stead.