The Philadelphia Flyers look to remain undefeated at home when they battle the Anaheim Ducks on Saturday afternoon.
The Flyers posted a 6-2 win over the Minnesota Wild on Thursday and improved to 3-0-0 at home.
Bobby Brink scored the first two goals of his career and Travis Sanheim collected one goal and two assists.
Sean Couturier and Travis Konecny each had one goal and one assist while Owen Tippett contributed one goal for the Flyers. Cam Atkinson registered three assists.
The Wild cut the deficit to 3-2 early in the third period before the Flyers ended the game with three straight goals. This new-look group of Flyers appears to be vastly improved from last season.
Brink’s offense has been a pleasant surprise. He played 10 games for the Flyers in 2021-22 and then had hip surgery. Brink finished last season with Lehigh Valley of the American Hockey League.
“I’ve faced some adversity and I think that adversity just kind of makes it even more special,” Brink said. “It’s a pretty special moment. I’ve been thinking about it forever. A lot of years of hockey and a lot of stuff leading up to this moment, a lot of sacrifices from my parents and family and grandparents and aunts and uncles.”
The Flyers went 2-for-3 on the power play after starting the season 1-for-20.
Following a frustrating 3-2 road loss against the defending Stanley Cup champion Vegas Golden Knights, it was difficult to gauge how the Flyers would respond.
“We actually touched on that before the game,” Konecny said. “Even though we’re at home, coming back from a road trip like that and trying to settle in with the time changes and everything can be difficult.”
The Ducks will arrive in Philadelphia following a stirring 4-3 overtime victory on the road against the Boston Bruins.
Mason McTavish scored 2:08 into overtime as he connected after a pass from rookie Leo Carlsson, the No. 2 overall pick of the 2023 NHL Draft. The Ducks trailed 3-1 but scored consecutive goals in the final 1:55 of regulation thanks to Carlsson and Troy Terry.
It was the first time in franchise history that the Ducks won after trailing by multiple goals in the final two minutes.
“It was a great win,” McTavish said. “You don’t see two (goals with the extra attacker) often in an NHL game. It’s nice to tie it up, and we took advantage of it in overtime.”
According to NHL.com, Carlsson (18 years, 304 days) became the third-youngest player in Anaheim history to register a multi-point game behind Oleg Tverdovsky (18 years, 250 days; three assists on Jan. 23, 1995) and McTavish (18 years, 256 days; one goal and one assist on Oct. 13, 2021).
The Ducks fell to the visiting Bruins 3-1 on Oct. 22.
This time, they found a way to hand the Bruins their first loss of the season. And it will give Anaheim an extra boost of confidence as the road trip continues in Philadelphia.
“We thought we played them tough in Anaheim and wanted to come out and play that same game and same style,” Anaheim forward Trevor Zegras said. “Obviously, it’s a great win.”
Goaltender John Gibson was solid with a 27-save performance for the Ducks against the electric Bruins offense.
–Field Level Media