Well, fool me once. Shame on me. After a four-goal outing and late-game heroics in a comeback win over the Boston Bruins a few days ago, the Anaheim Ducks upped the ante offensively with a seven-goal thrashing of the Philadelphia Flyers at Wells Fargo Center last night (Oct. 28). So much for me thinking they didn’t have the juice offensively.
Everybody got involved in the scoring. Frank Vatrano recorded another hat trick. Ryan Strome collected another three points in his own torrid start to the season. Trevor Zegras and Adam Henrique each got on the board for the first time. The young Ducks are rolling. Let’s look at some positive takeaways from their third win in a row.
Offense Stays Hot in Another Complete Team Effort
Whether it was carryover momentum from the Bruins game, Cronin’s tactics, early puck-handling miscues by the Flyers, or a mix of all, the Ducks immediately seized their opportunities to score. Less than a minute into the action, Strome and Mason McTavish capitalized on a Flyers turnover and scored on a bit of a broken play. Broken play or just how they drew it up; it doesn’t matter. What mattered was that the Ducks never looked back. What an early ride it’s been for McTavish, Strome, and Vatrano. The line was the MVP of the game once again, as they collected eight points between them.
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Key players got on the board for the Ducks in the win. Henrique, who hasn’t started the season the way anyone imagined, scored the fourth goal of the game to cap off an excellent shift during which he, Max Jones, and Jakob Silfverberg controlled the puck and caused turnovers. Henrique still knows how to score and where to go to get his chances. He was in the exact spot he needed to be to corral the rebound off Jones’ shot. A huge first goal for him. He also collected an assist.
Who also got their first tally of the young season? Zegras. Yup, that’s right. His first, and it came at the perfect time. The Flyers were pressing a little bit to end the second and begin the third, but Zegras got his opportunity to shine after Strome put a nice little pass right in his wheelhouse, and he didn’t miss. While it took seven-and-a-half games, Zegras’ goal put the Ducks up 5-2, and that’s the closest it would be for the remainder of the game.
So, the top line was involved, the team’s MVP line this season so far led the attack, and there was plenty more. Cam Fowler collected his second assist of the season on his connection with Vatrano in the first period. The play actually resembled his first assist in many ways. Carrying the puck into the attacking zone from left to right, driving the defense back, Fowler pulled up on the half-wall and found a cutting Vatrano who beat the Flyers goaltender. Great display of skating and patience by the leader of this defense. Additionally, Sam Carrick, who continues to play superbly, Brett Leason, and Ross Johnston also got on the stat sheet.
At Long Last, the Power Play Delivers
Going into the game, the Ducks scored once on the powerplay all season. They doubled that output against the Flyers, converting on both of their man-advantage opportunities. Their power play conversion percentage jumped to 11%. Though that still ranks among the league’s worst, converting both opportunities was an encouraging sign and reason for optimism. Both conversions came at key times in the game, too. Vatrano’s power-play tally late in the first came when the Flyers were peppering Lukas Dostal, and Zegras’, as I mentioned earlier, put the Ducks up three goals and effectively limited any chance at a Flyers comeback.
Both goals came in a remarkably similar spot in the slot. Obviously, that’s a high-danger scoring area, and the Ducks players got there tonight and took advantage of their chances to get shots off from that spot.
Player of the Game: Frank Vatrano
What more can be said about this guy’s red-hot start to the season? With the hat trick, he joined Auston Matthews as the only players to record multiple hat tricks on the season. His eight goals rank second in the NHL.
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His early-season success has brought some pretty fun facts out of the woodwork as it relates to the Ducks’ scoring. Here they are:
- He’s the 11th Duck, and first since Corey Perry in 2014-15, to record multiple hat tricks in a season.
- His eight goals are tied for the second-most goals in franchise history through the team’s first eight games. Vatrano is tied with Teemu Selanne and trails Perry, who had nine goals in eight games in 2014-15.
- He and Perry are the only two Ducks to record multiple hat tricks in the month of October.
Head coach Greg Cronin praised Vatrano’s game, especially the defensive side of it, stating, “[…] we’ve had him really invested on the defensive side of the puck. He kills penalties. He’s been responsible defensively.”
Ducks Eye Fourth Straight as They Head to Pittsburgh for Battle of the Birds
When I say it was a team effort on offense, it truly was. Ten forwards recorded a point. The only ones that didn’t, ironically, were Troy Terry and Leo Carlsson. By no stretch were they not involved, though. On the defensive end, while it was a quieter night for Pavel Mintyukov, Fowler and Jackson LaCombe had solid nights. In what is turning out to be a rather pleasant sight of late, the Ducks are getting offense from different sources and committing to a team defense.
Their chance to keep this strong 200-foot game going comes against the new-look Pittsburgh Penguins, who have started out the season inconsistently, at best. The matchup features one of the NHL’s youngest rosters, the Ducks, and one of the oldest, the Penguins. Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Kris Letang, and Erik Karlsson remain quite a formidable challenge, though, and the young Ducks will need to be up to that challenge to come away with their fourth straight victory. The puck drops Monday night. Look out for a gameday preview.
What’d you think of the Ducks’ win over the Flyers? Sound off in the comments below!