Wounded Ducks limping home after bumpy trip
They finish 0-5 on the road after another slow start that Carlyle calls ‘mind-boggling.’
PHILADELPHIA — The final game of the Ducks’ fivegame trip to the East looked similar to the other four. Mostly bad.
Rookie goalie Carter Hart stopped 30 shots for his eighth straight victory, Sean Couturier had a goal and two assists and the Philadelphia Flyers scored four times in the first period to rout slumping Anaheim 6-2 on Saturday.
Adam Henrique and Nick Ritchie scored for the Ducks, who have lost seven in a row and 19 of their last 21. The Ducks were outscored 29-7 in the five road games and have been outscored during their skid 37-8.
“You don’t expect to have to live through this stuff for an extended period of time,” Ducks coach Randy Carlyle said.
The Ducks’ Kevin Boyle made 24 saves in his NHL debut in his relief of Chad Johnson, who was lifted after the first period for allowing four goals on 14 shots. J
ohnson was in net in place of All-Star John Gibson, who suffered an upperbody injury in the third period of the Ducks’ 4-0 loss at Ottawa on Thursday.
“It’s mind-boggling,” Carlyle said of Anaheim’s slow starts of late. “It seems that everything bad that can happen, happens. We had four glorious opportunities in the first period to give us some life. They get their four goals in an area that we have to defend. That’s one-on-one battles and defending with some stiffness and we didn’t do that.”
Ryan Getzlaf had two assists while playing in his 967th contest, which set a club record for most games with the Ducks.
For the Flyers, Michael Raffl, Oskar Lindblom, Phil Varone, Nolan Patrick and Travis Konecny also scored.
The 20-year-old Hart helped the Flyers to a fast start, denying Jakob Silfverberg on a breakaway with a glove save 1:15 into the contest.
“You see the play develop and you get ready,” a nonchalant Hart said. “You hopefully make the save or you don’t.”
Hart tied an NHL rookie record for most consecutive victories before turning 21, matching former Quebec netminder Jocelyn Thibault’s performance in March 1995.
“I don’t look at those things,” Hart said. “Sure it’s cool, but we just want to win hockey games.”