Flyers pick up OT win over Ducks, match point total from last season originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia
The Flyers had to work overtime again Wednesday night.
After the final result, they probably didn’t mind. They beat the Ducks, 3-2, at Honda Center as Noah Cates scored the winner in OT.
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It was the Flyers’ third straight overtime game and their 24th of the season.
Rick Tocchet’s club has gone 7-2-1 over its last 10 games and 8-3-3 over its last 14.
With 15 games left, the Flyers (32-23-12) have already matched their point total of 76 from last season, when they went 33-39-10.
The Flyers swept the Ducks (37-27-4) in their two-game regular-season series. In January, they beat Anaheim, 5-2, at a lively Xfinity Mobile Arena.
• Dan Vladar was excellent with 34 saves on 36 shots.
The 28-year-old surrendered two or fewer goals for the 27th time in 41 starts this season.
With 1:54 minutes left in regulation, the Ducks tied it at 2-2 when they emptied their net for the extra attacker. Leo Carlsson scored off a rebound after Vladar made a pair of saves.
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Cutter Gauthier trimmed the Flyers’ lead to 2-1 with 38 seconds remaining in the second period. The former Flyers prospect made a great move in close just as some 4-on-4 action turned into an Anaheim power play.
But Vladar finished with his season high in saves. The Flyers needed all of them, especially when the Ducks — a very good team at coming from behind — made their push.
Anaheim netminder Lukas Dostal stopped 24 of the Flyers’ 27 shots.
Luke Glendening opened the scoring in the first period. It was 36-year-old’s first goal with the Flyers.
Owen Tippett then cushioned the Flyers’ lead in the second period with his fourth goal over the last six games.
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• Gauthier is having a big-time season. With 35 goals, he’s on pace to score over 40.
You can see why he was drafted fifth overall in 2022.
But he hasn’t beaten the Flyers since he turned them down and forced a trade in January 2024. The Flyers have gone 4-0-0 against Gauthier and the Ducks, while outscoring them 17-5.
• The Flyers have continued to hang around in the playoff race.
They moved to within six points of both the Eastern Conference’s first and second wild-card spots.
“When you look at the season, I think if you can take out that kind of middle stretch where you lose a bunch of games, those are hard to get out of,” Travis Sanheim said last Saturday. “Besides that, I’ve liked a lot of our play, we’ve played well against some good teams, have shown that we have a good hockey team and can play against anyone and win, really, any game.”
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• Trevor Zegras was back at Honda Center for the first time since being traded by Anaheim last summer.
He went scoreless in his return, but he was a plus-1 and played 18:27 minutes.
• The Flyers are right back at it Thursday when they visit the Kings (10:30 p.m. ET/NBCSP).
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