Analysis: Flyers lose to Ducks 6-2

Ducks Goals

• Ondrej Kase (2), assists: Derek Grant
• Brandon Montour (3), assists: Kalle Kossila, Francois Beauchemin
• Nick Ritchie (1) (PP), assists: Hampus Lindholm, Kevin Bieksa
• Rickard Rakell (3), assists: Ryan Getzlaf, Corey Perry
• Ryan Getzlaf (1), assist: Corey Perry
• Ondrej Kase (3), unassisted

Flyers Goals

• Sean Couturier (5), assists: Claude Giroux, Jake Voracek
• Sean Couturier (6), assists: Travis Sanheim, Jake Voracek

Tuesday night’s game was the first game of the season where the Philadelphia Flyers got completely and totally overworked and outplayed by their opponent. The other games that the Flyers have played and lost this season, they have been close losses.

This game, however, was something that most Flyers fans and I would prefer to forget about. It won’t be remembered like the Predators game in Nashville, but it will be remembered.

Here are five takeaways from the Ducks’ blowout win over the Flyers.

5 Takeaways from Flyers vs. Ducks

• Sean Couturier is on pace to score over 20 goals this season. He tallied his fifth and sixth goals on Tuesday night. He was also the only player, who was able to provide some offense for the Flyers and made a great move on Ducks goaltender John Gibson for his first goal. As long as Couturier stays on the first line, he’ll easily get over 20 goals and maybe even 25 goals this season. Anything over 20 would be a career high. It is a stellar start to the season for the Flyers top line center.

• A scary, scary sight for Flyers fans happened in the second period as Nolan Patrick was taken into the boards and came out woozy. He slammed face first into the boards after a hit, was removed from the ice and did not return to the game. From what I saw, it’s probably a concussion. I can only assume he’s going to be out Thursday vs. the Ottawa Senators and might be out Saturday vs. the Toronto Maple Leafs as well.

• Goaltender Brian Elliott is not having a good season so far and Tuesday night was the biggest moment that proved it. Elliott let in six goals, many of them that were just bad looks and not being able to keep his eye on the puck. Elliott does not look like a number one goaltender at all, which is incredibly bad news for the Flyers. It’s almost definite that Michal Neuvirth will get the start Thursday night against Ottawa because he is the hotter hand out of the two goaltenders. The Flyers need Elliott to be better because Neuvirth is also not reliable as the Flyers’ top goaltender, but mostly due to the fact that he gets injured a lot.

• There was one goal Tuesday that the Flyers scored that had a few milestones on it for all three players that were involved. On the Flyers’ second goal of the game in the third period, Sean Couturier scored his sixth goal of the season, but also earned his 200th career point in the NHL. The primary assist came from Travis Sanheim who earned his first career point and the secondary assist came from Jake Voracek, who earned his 500th career point. A pretty cool thing to have happen in a lousy game.

• The biggest takeaway from this game was just how poorly the Flyers defense played. While many Flyers fans may not acknowledge this or even believe it, the Flyers missed the presence of the alternative road captain Andrew MacDonald. MacDonald is out 4-6 weeks with a lower body injury, after he was injured making a block on a shot Saturday afternoon vs. the Oilers. Before the game, the Flyers defensive pairings had a shake up where the Flyers’ best pairing of Shayne Gostisbehere and Robert Hagg were split apart. Hagg played with Ivan Provorov while Ghost played with Radko Gudas. Brandon Manning and Sanheim made up the third defensive pairing. The Flyers defense was just not there, especially in the second period where the Ducks went up 4-1 after starting the period with the game tied at 1. Some of the defensive pairings were switched around again in the middle of the game, but the Flyers just could not get their defense to stop anything going Elliott’s way.

Star of the Game

Sean Couturier:  Two goals and earning his 200th career point.

Flub of the Game

The turnover by Travis Konecny to led to a scoring opportunity for the Ducks. It was just a bad, bad play.

Flyers have a two-game road trip in Canada starting with the Senators on Thursday. I expect Neuvirth to start and for the lines to get flipped once again.