Flyers Blowout and Shutout Ducks in Cutter Gauthier’s First Game in Philly

Great job everybody.

Following a four-game losing streak, the Flyers needed a jolt. The fans gave them exactly that. Cutter Gauthier and the Anaheim Ducks came to town and the Philly faithful knew what they needed to do. He heard boos every single time he touched the ice, and the Flyers seemed to know the gravity of this moment because they played with an energy and aggression that was reminiscent of the Flyers teams of the past. Of the energy from the crowd, head coach John Tortorella said postgame ”I hope we can play in front of a crowd like that [for] something meaningful.” If they can continue to play like this, the Flyers will be in some meaningful hockey games very soon.

Prior to the game, it was announced that Joel Farabee would be a healthy scratch. While this may be seen as negative for Farabee, Tortorella stressed that this is not a punishment, but a chance for the young forward to catch his breath in the hopes that he’ll find the spark he’s been able to provide for the Flyers so often in the past.

That was never going to be the main storyline of this game though. That was always going to be the return of Gauthier, and from the second the puck dropped you knew he would be in for a long game. This was compounded by the fact that the Flyers seemed to take the energy from the fans and allow it to carry them on the ice. They were hammering away at Ducks goalie John Gibson, putting up 14 shots in the first period alone.

Two of these shots resulted in goals for Philly. Morgan Frost put them on the board a little over five minutes into the game. The second goal would come on the Flyers’ second power play of the period, from none other than Jamie Drysdale, who was the player the Ducks traded to Philly for Gauthier. This was only Drysdale’s second goal of the season and couldn’t have come at a better time. This goal was immediately followed by “Jamie’s better” chants from Flyers fans that Gauthier will probably be hearing in their sleep.

The second period was a defensive battle that intensified a lot of the physicality present in the first. The period started with a power play for the Flyers, and the Ducks went on one about halfway through. Neither of these chances resulted in goals. The only goal of the period came from Owen Tippett, who snapped home the puck on a breakaway to give the Flyers a 3-0 lead. Travis Konecny scored the assist on the goal after feeding the puck across the ice to set up the wide-open Tippett. This was Konecny’s third point of the game after scoring on both of the previous goals.

The third period was pretty much just a party, and everyone was invited. Well, everyone except for Cutter Gauthier, who barely played all period and continued to be hounded with boos whenever he was. Ryan Poehling scored less than 30 seconds in. Matvei Michkov ended his goal drought to score his 30th point of the year. This goal also gave Konecny his career-high-tying fourth assist of the game. Garnet Hathaway was rewarded for being involved in seemingly every fight that broke out by giving the Flyers their 6th goal, marking the second time this season they’ve hit that mark

Samuel Ersson was excellent in this game, posting his second shutout by saving all 22 of Anaheim’s shots. With this being his second game back from injury the hope becomes that this is what we can expect from him moving forward, now that he has shaken off the rust.

”I’m not here to please everyone, I’m here to do what’s best for me”

Those were the exact words used by Cutter Gauthier in the locker room after the game. That just sums up his entire situation to a tee. He’s proven himself to be very self-focused and unwilling to do what’s best for the team at his own expense. That is not the type of player the Flyers want on this team, and now he has to deal with the wrath of Philly fans for the rest of his career. This is a fact that he needs to accept, and if he can’t adjust, it will be a nightmare for him every time he comes here. I really think this tweet sums it up best:

The Flyers’ next game will come at home against the Florida Panthers on Monday the 13th at 7:00 pm EST. The game can be watched on NBC Sports Philadelphia.

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