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Some takeaways from Flyers 6-0 romp over Anaheim

The Flyers showed up for a rousing, crowd-loving 6-0 romp over the Anaheim Ducks Saturday night in Philadelphia.

As bad as they were against Dallas the Flyers blew by the Anaheim Ducks Saturday night 6-0 at Wells Fargo Center in front of a vocal crowd who collectively shared their thoughts towards a certain Anaheim player.

The basics

First period: 6:48- Morgan Frost (Travis Konecny, Owen Tippett), 18:11- Jamie Drysdale (Travis Konency, Morgan Frost) (PPG)

Second period: 16:12- Owen Tippett (Travis Konency)

Third period: 0:24- Ryan Poehling (Garnet Hathaway, Travis Sanheim), 7:36- Matvei Michkov (Travis Konecny, Jamie Drysdale) (PPG), 8:55- Garnet Hathaway (Ryan Poehling, Scott Laughton)

SOG: 30 (PHI) – 22 (ANA)

Some takeaways

William, it was really nothing

The Anaheim Duck forward didn’t predict anything in this game, which given his previous track record for the money not being where his mouth is is probably wise. As chants of “We want Cutter!” started less than a minute into the proceedings, the forward got on the ice and was mercilessly booed from the first shift onward whenever he took to the ice. The Flyers hemmed William and the other Ducks about five minutes in while the fans started an expletive-tinged chant. It also seemed to spark Philadelphia as they had eight of the first nine shots of the game.

The man William was traded for? Well Jamie Drysdale took a gorgeous pass from Konecny on the rush on the power play, beating John Gibson clean for a 2-0 lead. The goal was notable for being the first for Drysdale in a while (Oct. 17 in Seattle), being a power play goal, and also a power play goal that didn’t involve the slingshot pass to start things off but rather four skaters abreast.

In the first William had one hit in six shifts and aside from the booing was only noticed when Garnet Hathaway tossed a few rabbit punches at him during a scrum late in the first. He ended the night with no goals and three shots. A shame.

Lycksell back

By the time you read this, coach John Tortorella might have gotten Olle Lycksell’s first name correctly pronounced. Lycksell’s return marked the end of Joel Farabee’s consecutive game streak (216) and saw him on a line with Sean Couturier and Matvei Michkov. Meanwhile Morgan Frost found himself on a line centering Owen Tippett and Travis Konecny and struck gold. An Anaheim turnover saw Konecny throw a shot towards the net that bounced off of Frost and past Ducks keeper John Gibson.

Sam-tastic

When your goaltending, that has been awful most of the year, gets a shutout and it’s one of the lesser big highlights, you know the Flyers had a night for themselves. Ersson wasn’t tested often until late in the third but kept a clean sheet for what has to be a confidence boost for him and Philadelphia.

Impressive start

The Flyers played a clunker versus Dallas but were full marks for their start. Philadelphia pounced on the Ducks for the opening 10 minutes and aside from a few chances that Ersson seemed to make more adventurous than they should’ve been, dominated. The lone miscue might have been a faux pas Jamie Drysdale made, skating the puck out but getting too much on the clear for a rather needless icing. Fortunately the Flyers cleared the zone and made he needed personnel changes.

Just as strong was the puck support and the forecheck, looking as if at times they had six skaters on the ice. The one time the Ducks had six skaters on the ice they got a bench minor, but the Flyers couldn’t score a man up. The entire “on the rush” idea was exemplifed on a fine play to put an exclamation point on the game early in the third period when Ryan Poehling took a pass from Hathaway on the fly and beat Gibson to make it 4-0.

Drysdale dazzles

Besides the goal which had to be incredibly sweet, Drysdale looked like a whirling rover for portions of the second period, getting up in the play creating chances but also able to get back in time to avoid some odd man rushes. He also ended up with a second point, getting an assist in the third.

Rasmus Pronger? Well no, but….

You can’t really find much fault in Rasmus Ristolainen’s play this year, and he proved that yet again Saturday night. Ristolainen got the biggest cheer for finishing a check on a Ducks forward but made some fine defensive plays from winning battles behind the net to stealing the puck away at other times. He won’t be mistaken for Chris Pronger anytime soon, but he’s been a shadow of his former ineffective self when he first came to the Flyers a few seasons back.

He’s making a case as much to be traded for a rather decent high round (first round?) pick as he is possibly winning the Barry Ashbee Award if he manages to stick around the entire season. Smart plays, some puck-carrying shifts and the physicality makes him one of the bigger surprises this season. The nifty cross ice pass four-on-four to Tyson Foerster nearly led to the Flyers’ fourth goal of the night.

Konencny a knock out

Travis Konecny had three points on the Flyers first three goals and then added a fourth primary assist later. Perhaps it’s because he’s been just so damn good this year a four-point night is starting to get a bit ho-hum with the leading point getter on Philadelphia. He also managed to get in William’s ear from time to time during the game as Tortorella didn’t need to act as a morale booster or cheerleader given the contest’s subtext. But his pass to Tippett for the one-time was another reason why that extension that has yet to start might end up being decent value.

The Gudas, the bad and the ugly

Radko Gudas didn’t take kindly to Michkov’s interaction with William late in the second and got in his face in the third. The Ducks seemed took umbridge at the constant hitting and chirping on their teammate, leading to a rather chippy final frame. That chippiness cost Anaheim again in the third when, on another power play, Konecny got his fourth point of the night after his shot bounced off the backboard to Michkov who ended a goal-scoring drought.

As if it wasn’t bad enough, the Flyers kept coming as Garnet Hathaway did a goal and roll to make it a half dozen.

The Anaheim coach then called a time out, chewing out his team as they didn’t show up on a date that was circled on the calendar.

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