When the Flyers lost on Monday afternoon, there was nowhere to hide the talent gap between them and the Boston Bruins. But when facing a team like the Anaheim Ducks, who are at the other side of the standings picture, the Flyers recent level of play shines through.
Kevin Hayes scored a hat trick as the Flyers bounced back with a 5-2 win over the Ducks on Tuesday night at Wells Fargo Center.
The Flyers got several early chances with a pair of power plays in the first 11 minutes of the game. They had 43 seconds of 5-on-3 time, but nearly gave away the first goal on a shorthanded breakaway as the Ducks got a player back.
Max Comtois missed on the breakaway chance. At the other end of the ice, Kevin Hayes fired a shot from the right circle that beat Anthony Stolarz to make it 1-0 at 13:32.
The Flyers out-shot the Ducks, 17-4, and had several scoring chances that were near-misses or stopped by Stolarz to keep the margin at one through 20 minutes.
At 7:39 of the second, the Ducks got the game tied. On a transition rush, the Ducks had numbers and used the open space to set up a goal. Adam Henrique got the payoff on a pass from John Klingberg for his 15th goal of the season.
The Flyers re-took the lead at 12:43 with a shorthanded goal. Rasmus Ristolainen joined the rush and took the feed from Scott Laughton before going to the backhand for his first goal of the season.
In the final minute of the period, Morgan Frost added to the lead with a highlight-reel goal, going between the legs right along the goal and lifting the puck top shelf for his ninth goal of the season with 37.5 seconds left to make it 3-1.
Through two periods, shots were 30-13 Flyers.
Just 2:30 into the third, Hayes put the game away with his second goal of the night, finishing off a nice passing play between Laughton and Wade Allison to make it 4-1.
The Ducks got back to within two with 1:09 to play on a deflection goal by Frank Vatrano, but Hayes finished off the hat trick with an empty-netter just 25 seconds later.
Samuel Ersson finished the game with 25 saves on 27 shots in the win, his fifth straight in games started. Stolarz finished with 34 saves on 38 shots in the loss.
In addition to Hayes hat trick, Laughton, Ristolainen, Allison and Travis Konecny each had two-point games.
The Flyers get back in action on Thursday night as they take on the Chicago Blackhawks at 7 p.m.
Box Score
| 1 | 2 | 3 | T | |
| Ducks | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| Flyers | 1 | 2 | 2 | 5 |
Scoring Summary
1st Period
- PHI Kevin Hayes (11) PP (Tony DeAngelo, Travis Konecny) 13:32
2nd Period
- ANA Adam Henrique (15) (John Klingberg, Trevor Zegras) 7:39
- PHI Rasmus Ristolainen (1) SH (Scott Laughton, Konecny) 12:43
- PHI Morgan Frost (9) (James van Riemsdyk, Ristolainen) 19:21
3rd Period
- PHI Hayes (12) (Laughton, Wade Allison) 2:30
- ANA Frank Vatrano (7) PP (Kevin Shattenkirk, Ryan Strome) 18:51
- PHI Hayes (13) EN (Allison, Cam York) 19:16
Game Statistics
| Ducks | Flyers | |
| Shots | 27 | 39 |
| Power Play | 1/3 | 1/5 |
| Hits | 17 | 25 |
| Faceoff % | 53.8% | 46.2% |
| Giveaways | 8 | 10 |
| Takeaways | 3 | 12 |
| Blocked Shots | 12 | 10 |
| Penalty Minutes | 15 | 11 |
