Both the Philadelphia Flyers and Anaheim Ducks have had several days to reflect on their most recent loss.
After the holiday break, both teams are set to face off on Saturday in Anaheim.
Philadelphia has struggled recently, losing four of their last five games, including a tough 7-3 defeat to the Pittsburgh Penguins in the first game of a six-game road trip. The Flyers allowed four goals in the first period and couldn’t recover against Sidney Crosby and the Penguins.
“We’ve had some slow starts,” Flyers winger Noah Cates said. “But when we do (the right things), we’re really hard to play against.”
During their current 1-4-0 stretch, coach John Tortorella’s team has given up 28 goals.
“It was a little bit of everything,” Tortorella said. “We get back, we try to get better.”
One player who needs to improve is rookie Matvei Michkov, who hasn’t scored in eight straight games and has not recorded a point in the last six. He also has a minus-11 rating in his last five games.
“‘Mich’ has leveled off,” Tortorella said. “It’s been a bit of a struggle for him. He was a very important part of giving us life on the power play. He continues to work at it.”
Michkov and the Flyers will look for a more consistent performance against a Ducks team that has also faced its share of challenges this season.
Anaheim has lost two of its last three games. In the one win during that stretch, the Ducks had to come from behind, rallying from a 4-2 deficit in the third period to beat the Utah Hockey Club 5-4 in a shootout.
However, the momentum from that victory didn’t carry over into Monday’s 3-1 loss to the Vegas Golden Knights, marking the Ducks’ seventh loss in 10 games (3-6-1).
“I love the effort. I thought we competed hard,” Anaheim coach Greg Cronin said.
The Ducks have struggled offensively, ranking last in the league with just 82 goals this season. Only two other teams have scored fewer than 90 goals as of Friday, the Nashville Predators (84) and Detroit Red Wings (88).
While the Flyers have scored a decent 108 goals, they have allowed 130, which ranks as the third-highest total in the NHL as of Friday.
The Ducks, on the other hand, have given up 103 goals, putting them in the middle of the pack. The strength of their defense has been goaltenders John Gibson and Lukas Dostal, though Gibson had to leave Monday’s game early after taking a high stick near his eye.
Despite this, the Ducks fought hard before Dostal gave up two goals in the final 11 minutes.
“The effort was there. We were battling until the end,” veteran defenseman Radko Gudas said. “The boys left everything out there. We gave it our all. Unfortunately, we had some costly mistakes, and they made us pay. They’re an experienced team, and they made us pay for those mistakes we made in the third.”
This will be the first meeting between the Flyers and Ducks this season. The teams will face each other again in Philadelphia on January 11.
