PHILADELPHIA — Trevor Zegras made the most of his first game against the team that traded him away in the summer.
Zegras scored twice for the Philadelphia Flyers to lead them to a 5-2 victory over the Ducks on Tuesday night.
“It was a tough ending for me [with the Ducks],” Zegras told reporters. “I’ve been looking forward to this game for a long time.”
Cutter Gauthier scored his 20th goal of the season for the Ducks in his second game in Philadelphia against the franchise he forced to trade him – and turned him into one of Philly’s biggest sports villains.
On a night when the Flyers honored late founder Ed Snider, the arena was packed with fans just happy to root again for a team in playoff contention.
Flyers fans mostly showed up to boo – and profanely chant – at Gauthier. They roared in the second period when Garnet Hathaway cleanly crushed Gauthier into the boards.
The Flyers were forced to trade Gauthier, the fifth overall pick in the 2022 NHL Draft, a year ago because he wouldn’t sign, train or even communicate with the Flyers. Gauthier has never made his exact excuse for wanting out publicly clear – just one more reason for Flyers fans to jeer him like a pro wrestling bad guy.
The Ducks opened the scoring 4:15 into the game when Gauthier’s shot beat Flyers goaltender Dan Vladar, who was battling a screen from Chris Kreider in front of the net.
“There was nobody really covering me, so I let it rip,” Gauthier told NHL.com. “Kreids had a great screen, so thankfully it went in.”
The two teams made another big trade with each over the summer when the Flyers acquired Zegras after the Ducks concluded he no longer fit their roster as they attempt to end their seven-year playoff drought.
Zegras answered Guthier’s goal with his pair over the next 10:08 – both on one-timers from a sharp angle to Lukas Dostal’s left. The first was set up by Christian Dvorak, who signed a five-year contract extension on Monday, and the second came off a nice feed from Cam York on a power play. York faked a shot in front and instead gave Zegras the puck with a no-look pass at the right face-off dot, where Zegras scored with a sharp-angled wrist shot.
“I missed last year’s game (in Philadelphia), but I heard all about it and I was fired up to play in this one,” Zegras told NHL.com. “The boos were great but the cheers were even better.”
Zegras, who was selected No. 9 overall in the 2019 draft and spent his first five NHL seasons with the Ducks, will be a restricted free agent this summer, and the Flyers (22-12-7) expect him to be a key part in their ascent in the Eastern Conference standings.
Philadelphia dominated the second period, outshooting the Ducks 18-5. The Flyers made it 3-1 early in the middle frame when York’s shot from the blue line slipped through traffic.
There was a scary moment early in the second when the Ducks’ Ross Johnston leveled Jamie Drysdale – whom the Flyers acquired for Gauthier – and the defenseman was face down on the ice for several minutes. The stretcher came out but Drysdale was eventually helped up and walked with assistance to the locker room.
Johnston was hit with 5 minutes for interference and given a game misconduct.
Philadelphia couldn’t cash in on the 5-minute power play, but they had enough time to tack on another goal late in the period. With 5:20 remaining, Noah Cates won a faceoff to Travis Sanheim, whose blast from the high slot made it 4-1.
Cates finished with two assists for the Flyers, while Troy Terry and Jackson LaCombe set up both goals for the Ducks (21-19-3), including Alex Killorn’s power-play goal with 18:35 remaining in the third. Dostal finished with 34 saves.
The Ducks killed a 45-second, 5-on-3 power play later in the third before Grebenkin scored into an empty net with 1:14 left to close the scoring.
The Ducks committed 11 total penalties, killing eight of the nine power plays for Philadelphia.
“We have to be disciplined, for sure,” LaCombe told NHL.com. “We can’t win hockey games taking (11) penalties, whatever it was. … First and foremost, our compete just has to be better. That’s just a key that we have to figure out and come together and do. … There’s always areas you can clean up, but I think for us that’s kind of our biggest thing.”
NOTES
Ville Husso backed up Dostal after he was recalled from the San Diego Gulls of the AHL earlier Tuesday. Petr Mrazek was injured in a 7-4 loss to the Washington Capitals on Monday. … Flyers coach Rick Tocchet did not have an update on Drysdale after the game.
UP NEXT
The Ducks play at Carolina on Thursday at 4 p.m. PT.