Both the Philadelphia Flyers and Anaheim Ducks have had several days to think about their most recent loss.
Following the holiday break, the Flyers and Ducks are back in action Saturday in Anaheim.
Philadelphia has lost four of its last five games, including a disappointing 7-3 defeat to the rival Pittsburgh Penguins in Monday’s opener of a six-game road trip. The Flyers allowed four first-period goals and never recovered against Sidney Crosby and company.
“We’ve had some slow starts,” Flyers winger Noah Cates said, “but when we do (the right things), we’re really hard to play against.”
In all, coach John Tortorella’s team has yielded 28 goals during their current 1-4-0 stretch.
“It was a little bit of everything,” Tortorella said. “We get back, we try to get better.”
One specific player who needs to improve is talented rookie Matvei Michkov, who has not scored in eight straight games and has not even registered a point in any of the last six contests. He owns a minus-11 rating over his last five contests.
“‘Mich’ has leveled off,” Tortorella said. “It’s been a bit of a struggle for him. He was a very important part of giving us life on the power play. He continues to work at it.”
Michkov and the Flyers hope to author a more consistent performance against a Ducks team that has gone through its own ups and downs this season.
Most recently, Anaheim has been scuffling with losses in two of its last three games. Even in the one victory during that stretch, the Ducks had to rally from a 4-2 deficit in the third period to nip the Utah Hockey Club, 5-4 in a shootout.
However, the momentum from that win did not carry over into Monday’s 3-1 loss to the Vegas Golden Knights — the team’s seventh setback in 10 games (3-6-1).
“I love the effort. I thought we competed hard,” Anaheim coach Greg Cronin said.
The Ducks have scored a league-low 82 goals on the season. In fact, only two other teams are even in the 80s entering Friday’s action, the Nashville Predators (84) and the Detroit Red Wings (88).
While the Flyers have scored a respectable 108 goals on the season, they have yielded 130. That ranks as the third-highest total in the NHL entering Friday.
The Ducks, meanwhile, have given up 103 goals, which puts them in the middle of the pack. The backbone of their defense has been goaltenders John Gibson and Lukas Dostal, although the former left Monday’s contest early after taking a high stick around his eye.
Still, the team fought valiantly before Dostal allowed a pair of goals in the final 11 minutes.
“The effort was there. We were battling until the end,” veteran defenseman Radko Gudas said. “The boys left everything out there. We gave it our all. Unfortunately, we had some costly mistakes, and they made us pay. They’re an experienced team, and they made us pay for those mistakes we made in the third.”
This is the first meeting between the Flyers and Ducks this season. The teams will reunite in Philadelphia on Jan. 11.
–Field Level Media
