Anaheim Ducks fly to victory over the Philadelphia Flyers
When the Anaheim Ducks take flight together, the goals often come with them. Upon landing in Philadelphia to take on the Philadelphia Flyers the Ducks immediately went to work, resulting in a hard-fought
3-2 win over the Flyers.
Defenceman Lubomir Visnovsky got the Ducks off to a flying start just 35 seconds into the first period with his first goal of the season. Corey Perry and Ducks captain Ryan Getzlaf provided the assists.
Scott Hartnell of the Flyers tied the game at one goal apiece with a wrist shot that beat Anaheim’s Curtis McElhinney at 4:16. The Ducks made it a 2-1 game when Jason Blake fired a wrist shot past Sergei Bobrovski at 10:52. Teemu Selanne and Andreas Lilja
assisted on the goal, which was Blake’s first of the season.
There was only one goal scored in the second period, and it came courtesy of the Flyers' Claude Giroux. The backhander was Giroux’s third of the 2010-11 campaign, with the assists coming from Matt Carle
and Braydon Coburn. No further goals were scored until late in the final frame, when Getzlaf scored the game-winning goal at 18:14. Getzlaf’s line-mate Perry earned his second assist of the game, while Matt Beleskey also assisted.
If there was one person on Anaheim’s side that was happy to get the win, it was head coach Randy Carlyle, who praised his team’s efforts.
“When you score with 1:45 left, it doesn’t matter how it goes in, it went in,” Carlyle said. “I don’t care if it was an end-to-end rush, if it was a fluke from centre; whatever it is, we are desperate
for wins here.
Carlyle also added that it was the Ducks’ hard work and persistence that helped them beat an equally hard-working Flyers squad.
“We played a pretty good game in Columbus and came away with nothing,” said Carlyle. “We battled hard playing against an energized Philadelphia team, a real good hockey club. The shot count was not what
we would like to do, but again we found a way to get the job done and that’s the most important thing.”
Flyers head coach Peter Laviolette stated that one of the Flyers’ biggest problems in this game was the lack of success from the power play.
“We’ve got to find a rhythm out there,” Laviolette said. "We've got the right guys. I'm confident of that; those are the players that belong there. I believe the units are good; I like the role of what
we've got out there.
“It’s not as smooth as we need it to be right now. We’re not getting the results we’re looking for – shots seem to be getting blocked or we miss the net. A power-play goal makes a difference (against Anaheim).”
Both Anaheim and Philadelphia will return to the ice on Saturday, 23 October. The Ducks will play the Detroit Red Wings, while the Flyers will take on the Toronto Maple Leafs.
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