Wrap: Flyers Lose to Penguins, 4-1
The Philadelphia Flyers lost to the archrival Pittsburgh Penguins, 4-1, at the Wells Fargo Center on Monday evening. A non-factor in a home-and-home set with the Flyers in early December, Evgeni Malkin was dominant in this game including setting up the game's first goal in the opening minute and putting the match out of reach in third period.
Just 44 seconds into the game, the Penguins took a 1-0 lead on a Rickard Rakell backdoor power play goal (5th) off a cross-seam pass from Malkin. Pittsburgh's fourth line scored against the Flyers' fourth line at 7:36 of the first period and Erik Karlsson (7th) collected the goal.
The Flyers drew back within 2-1 with a power play goal at 14:55 of the first period. Owen Tippett (13th) wired home a shot from the right side, assisted by Egor Zamula and Joel Farabee. It would be the lone Philadelphia goal of the night.
Pittsburgh grabbed a 3-1 lead at 8:07 of the second period. Chad Ruhwedel (1st) scored through layered traffic. The assists went to Bryan Rust and Ryan Graves.
In the third period, Drew O'Connor won a battle on the wall in the Philly zone. He passed over to Malkin(15th), who scored on the blocker side to forge a 4-1 lead at 4:29 of the third period.
Carter Hart stopped 36 of 40 shots in a losing cause. His Flyers teammates didn't give much help as they yielded 22 high-danger scoring chances. Alex Nedeljkovic earned the win. The Pittsburgh netminder stopped 36 of 37 shots.
The Flyers went 1-for-2 on the power play. The Penguins were 1-for-6. The sheer number of penalties that Philly took made it a disjointed game at times. Pittsburgh also did a better job than the Flyers at keeping play to the outside.
For more on Monday's game, including period-by-period synopses, analysis, stats and highlights, see the Postgame 5 on PhiladelphiaFlyers.com:
Click here.
***********
Flyers Trade Gauthier's rights to Anaheim for Drydale and a Pick
The Flyers made a major trade on Monday, trading the NHL rights of 2022 first-round pick Cutter Gauthier (the fifth overall pick that year) to the Anaheim Ducks for 21-year-old defenseman Jamie Drysdale (the sixth overall pick of the 2020 Draft).
Per Flyers general manager Danny Briere, Gauthier -- who was initially excited by the prospect of becoming a Flyer -- soured on the idea of joining the Flyers. He did not attend the Flyers' Development Camp last summer, saying he was exhausted from a long season of playing NCAA, World Juniors and at the IIFH World Championships.
According to Briere, it became increasingly apparent that Gauthier had changed his mind (the general manager did not know why) about coming to the Flyers. The organization gave him space, hoping he'd change his mind. However, the Gauthier camp cut off all communication with the Flyers. A final effort to speak to him at the World Juniors in Sweden this year was unsuccessful.
The organization, very quietly, began to discuss trade possibilities with an undisclosed number of teams. Gauthier, a sophomore at Boston College this season, won the Top Forward award in the tournament (2g, 7a, 11 points in seven games) for Team USA. Briere reckoned that it was the right time try to get the highest possible return on the 19-year-old, given that he had no intention of signing with Philadelphia.
The offer they liked best was the one from Anaheim: Drysdale and a 2025 second-round pick. Injured (torn labrum) most of last season and at the start of 2023-24. Drysdale is now healthy. He's widely considered to have PP1 upside, strong hockey sense, fleet feet and strong character.
Now a season advisor for the Flyers, Bob Murray was the general manager in Anaheim who drafted Drysdale. Briere said that he spoke very highly of the player both in terms of his potential ceiling in the NHL and his character. The Flyers then checked all his medicals to be sure there were no ongoing red flags -- he's returned to playing -- and also reviewed extensive video and in-person scouting reports.
Drysdale will report to the Flyers on Tuesday and be on the ice when the team practices at noon in Voorhees. John Tortorella said that Travis Sanheim would see some time on left defense paired with the right-handed Drysdale but it remains to be seen in the bigger picture how the pairing will be adjusted. The young defenseman will immediately be installed on the power play (whether its PP1 or PP2 to start has yet to be decided).
Tortorella said, from the video he's watched, his first conversation with Drysdale will be about using his excellent mobility and creativity to join the play up ice a little more. He wants Drysdale to focus on offense and "we'll teach him defense". The Flyers head coach noted that Anaheim's systems are rather different from the Flyers and an adjustment period is fully expected.
The Flyers, Tortorella said, do not want to throw too much at Drysdale too quickly. He's still trying to wrap his head around being traded for the first time. However, the player has expressed excitement to come to the Flyers.
Tortorella was asked about Gauthier, but said that he "doesn't know Gauthier from a hole in the wall". He also said if a player doesn't want to come to Philly then "we don't want you."
Prior to Tortorella's postgame press conference, which ended up being dominated by questions about the trade, Flyers defenseman Travis Sanheim said he'd just found out about the trade a few minutes earlier. He doesn't know Gauthier personally but said that the prospect's decision and public reasoning (of being too exhausted to attend) were noticed by Flyers players. Sanheim said -- not in so many words but by strong implication -- that the other Flyers players hadn't taken kindly to Gauthier not coming to Development Camp because it's an expectation on prospects that they attend if at all possible.
Sanheim added that he'd already been told Drysdale expressed excitement about getting started right away in Philadelphia, and team is happy to "have guys who want to be here."
To date this season, the 5-foot-11, 183-pound Drysdale played in 10 games for the Ducks since being cleared to play. He posted five points (1g, 4a) offensively and he is back to feeling normal physically. Last season, Drysdale was limited to eight games. This is likely why he went from untouchable under almost any circumstances to being available in return for the offensively gifted, hard-shooting Gauthier.
Final note: Briere twice referred to Gauthier as a left winger -- keep in mind that the Flyers drafted him with the intention of developing him as a center, and he moved from the wing to the middle as a freshman at BC last year and then for Team USA this year (after playing LW at the WJC and Worlds last year).
Philadelphia Flyers Blogger •NHL.com • 
Join the Discussion:
»