Flyers score 6, Ersson makes 22 saves in shutout win against Ducks

PHILADELPHIA -- Samuel Ersson made 22 saves for the Philadelphia Flyers in a 6-0 win against the Anaheim Ducks at Wells Fargo Center on Saturday.

Morgan Frost, Jamie Drysdale, Ryan Poehling and Garnet Hathaway each had a goal and an assist for Philadelphia (18-20-5), which had lost its previous four games (0-3-1). Travis Konecny had four assists, and Owen Tippett and Matvei Michkov also scored.

The victory came two nights after a 4-1 loss to the Dallas Stars that the Flyers felt was one of their worst of the season.

"I just thought we played a hard game," coach John Tortorella said. "As I said after the last game, we haven't played many bad games. I just wanted us to answer the right way. We got off to a start, score the first goal. We talked about checking better; we checked better. And I thought played a good hockey game."

The Flyers also drew emotion from the fans' reaction to the presence of Ducks forward Cutter Gauthier, who Philadelphia had selected with the No. 5 pick of the 2022 NHL Draft and then traded to Anaheim on Jan. 8, 2024, for Drysdale, after Gauthier had told Flyers management he would not sign with them.

"Helped the crowd was really into it tonight," Konecny said. "It was awesome, great atmosphere. We just played hard. We've been playing hard and not getting results. So, it was good to get one tonight."

John Gibson made 24 saves for Anaheim (17-20-5), which has lost four of its past five (1-3-1), including a 6-2 loss to the St. Louis Blues on Thursday.

"That's probably the loudest we've had a team game so far throughout this season," Gauthier said. "They were super loud but I don't think that crept into anyone's habits or what they do on the ice. We had some poor habits coming into tonight's game with the St. Louis game. So the quicker we can get back to that, to our game plan, the better it will be for us."

Frost gave the Flyers a 1-0 lead at 6:48 of the first period when he skated through the slot and one-timed Konecny's pass past Gibson.

Drysdale made it 2-0 with a power-play goal at 18:11. The defenseman took a pass from Konecny and slipped a shot from the top of the crease under Gibson's pads for his first goal in 27 games, dating to Oct. 17.

"It felt really good," Drysdale said. "It's obviously been a while, a struggle. Felt real good to get that one but more importantly get the win."

Konecny said it was good to hear the fans chanting Drysdale's name throughout the game, in part because of injury adversity he's faced, including a month-long absence because of an upper-body injury sustained Nov. 9. Drysdale also played all of last season with a sports hernia he had surgically repaired in April.

"It was great," Konecny said. "And he's an awesome kid, so it's a lot of fun seeing someone go through something like that and the crowd behind him. He's earned that. He works at his game a lot. He deserved to have a game like tonight."

Tippett one-timed a centering pass into the slot from Konecny to make it 3-0 at 16:12 of the second period.

Poehling made it 4-0 just 24 seconds into the third period when he took a pass from Hathaway, skated around Ducks defenseman Radko Gudas as he drove to the net and scored.

Michkov scored a power-play goal on the rebound of a Konecny shot at 7:36 to make it 5-0.

It was Michkov's first point in five games and his second goal in the past 16.

Tortorella said getting offensive-minded players like Drysdale and Michkov scoring again should help their overall play.

"You just hope it helps them confidence-wise, both of them quite honestly, because they're both struggling offensively, and I think sometimes it affects the other parts of their game," Tortorella said. "So, hope it helps them and we'll see as we keep on pushing forward."

Hathaway scored on his own rebound at 8:55 to make it 6-0.

"They came out in the third period and they said, 'This is our game, we're going to take it,'" Ducks coach Greg Cronin said. "And we didn't have a response."

NOTES: Frost has scored four goals during a six-game point streak against the Ducks, all four being game-winning goals. ... The Flyers scored two power-play goals in a game for the first time since Oct. 23. ... Konecny had his second four-assist game of the season (also Oct. 26). The only Flyers with more in a season are Bobby Clarke (1974-75) and Eric Lindros (1996-97) each with three. ... Gauthier tied for the Ducks lead with three shots on goal in 13:19 of ice time. ... Ducks defenseman Jackson LaCombe had his four-game points streak (two goals, two assists) ended.