The day after suffering a 7-4 loss to the Washington Capitals, the Anaheim Ducks traveled to take on the Philadelphia Flyers in South Philly, a game that wasn’t short of storylines.
The Ducks entered play, hoping to snap a six-game winless streak and having only won two of their prior 12. It was to be Cutter Gauthier’s third game facing the team that drafted him and the second in the hostile environment that’s been created for him in Philadelphia since the trade in Jan. 2024 that sent him to Anaheim.
Ducks-Flyers More Than Just a Regular Season Matchup
Takeaways from the Ducks 7-4 Loss to the Capitals
This was to be Trevor Zegras’ and Ryan Poehling’s first game against their former clubs after they were traded for each other in June 2025.
The Ducks made a couple of transactions before puck drop, as they recalled goaltender Ville Husso from the San Diego Gulls of the AHL following an injury to backup Petr Mrazek, and placed forward Nikita Nesterenko on waivers.
The Ducks started this game with an 11/7 lineup, with Ryan Strome serving as the lone healthy scratch in this game. Here’s how they lined up to start:
Kreider-Carlsson-Terry
Gauthier-McTavish-Sennecke
Harkins-Granlund-Killorn
Johnston-Poehling
Zellweger-Trouba
LaCombe-Gudas
Mintyukov-Moore
Helleson
Lukas Dostal got the start in net for the Ducks. He had stopped all three shots he faced on Monday after entering in relief for the injured Mrazek. In this game, he stopped 34 of 38.
Dostal was opposed by fellow Czech Olympian Dan Vladar in Philadelphia’s net, who stopped 16 of 18 shots.
Game Notes
Anaheim started the game with 11 forwards, but that number fell to ten early in the second period when Ross Johnston received a five-minute interference penalty and a game misconduct for a collision that sent Flyers’ defenseman Jamie Drysdale out of the game with an injury.
Jansen Harkins only received 5:44 TOI, so the Ducks were effectively nine forwards deep (self-inflicted) for the majority of this game. Ian Moore’s night was also cut short after receiving a hit from Flyers’ forward Garnet Hathaway with 12:09 left in the third period.
Discipline: It seemed clear from the puck drop that Anaheim intended to set a physical tone in this game. What ensued was a parade to the penalty box, as they went down a man eight times in this game. Every opportunity to climb back into this game was thwarted by a trip to the box and postponed by at least two minutes. The most egregious offense was captain Radko Gudas' elbowing penalty with just over four minutes left in the game and down 4-2, which ended any hope of a comeback for his club.
Penalty Kill: Though they had to kill more than they would have liked, the Ducks' penalty kill went 7-8 in this game, one of the very few encouraging signs to emerge. Most of their pressure was focused high in the defensive zone, as Philadelphia elected not to work pucks low and to the front of the net, where the Ducks have struggled the most on the kill this season. Nevertheless, forwards and rotated high defensemen did well to close time and space for the Flyers on the perimeter and worked back through the middle to eliminate cross-ice seams.
Mikael Granlund (8:38), Pavel Mintyukov (8:28), Ryan Poehling (7:38), and Jacob Trouba (7:31) led the way for Anaheim in shorthanded TOI.
Lukas Dostal: One of Dostal’s biggest strengths is his puck-tracking ability, especially on east-west passes and through traffic. However, on Philadelphia’s first two goals, he was late to react and get to the short side post for one-timers from Zegras. Both instances came off the rush and from the middle of the slot to the bottom of the circle, so perhaps he was a bit further out from the goal line than he’d be otherwise.
He rarely allows a goal that trickles through his body, as he’s typically quick to collapse his arms to his torso, but that wasn’t the case on Philadelphia’s fourth goal, one that he was likely disappointed with, coming off Travis Sanheim’s stick at the point. All said, he saved .17 goals above expected, and he kept the Ducks in the game as they killed for 17:49 minutes in this game. If Dostal isn’t elite and the offense doesn’t outscore their problems, the Ducks will continue to struggle finding the win column.
Alex Killorn/Beckett Sennecke: Two more bright spots on what was, overall, a very dark night for the Ducks were Killorn and Sennecke, generating chances and providing the majority of the team’s offensive impact. Sennecke continues to flourish into a complete offensive weapon, as his willingness to get to the hard areas of the ice and his ability to manipulate defenders at full speed off the rush make him a threat to manufacture a chance whenever the puck is on his stick.
Killorn’s details aren’t as flashy as Sennecke’s raw skills. Still, his ability to protect pucks, evade probing sticks, and draw defensive attention creates ample amounts of open ice for his teammates, whom he’s able to find with clever slip passes. He can create his own shot or find soft ice off the puck, where he can present himself as a passing option. He racked up 5:59 TOI on the kill as well in this game, providing a complete 200-foot impact that will likely go unnoticed given the results of the evening.
The Ducks will continue their four-game road trip on Thursday with a trip to face the Stanley Cup-contending Carolina Hurricanes.
Just following puck drop, ESPN released an article reporting that a former Ducks employee filed a lawsuit against the Anaheim Ducks and the NHL, claiming to have faced “sexual harassment, bullying, and discrimination from 2022 to 2025.”
The Ducks, NHL, or OCSE (the Ducks’ ownership group) have yet to release a statement regarding the case.
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