Scoring goals is Frank Vatrano’s business, and business is good.
Vatrano led the charge for the Anaheim Ducks and scored his second hat trick of the season in their 7-4 win over the Philadelphia Flyers Saturday afternoon at Wells Fargo Arena.
He is the 11th Duck to record multiple hat tricks in a season and the first since Corey Perry recorded three in 2014-15. Vatrano and Perry are also the only two Ducks to record multiple hat tricks in the month of October.
Vatrano’s eight goals are tied for the second-most in franchise history through the team’s first eight games of the season, tied with Teeme Selanne (eight goals in 1996-97) and trailing only Perry (nine goals in 2014-15).
He now ranks second among all National Hockey League skaters in goals. Only he and Toronto’s Auston Matthews have recorded multiple hat tricks on the season.
Anaheim has now won three straight games, all on the road. The Ducks’ record now stands at an even 4-4-0 with a 3-2-0 record away from Honda Center.
Ryan Strome, Adam Henrique, Trevor Zegras and Brett Leason also scored for the Ducks alongside Vatrano. Lukas Dostal improved to 3-1-0, stopping 27-of-31 shots.
Jakob Silfverberg moved to eighth on the franchise’s all-time assist leaderboard after he notched his 186th assist in a Ducks sweater.
Travis Konecny scored twice for the Flyers. Cam Atkinson and Joel Farabee also netted a goal. Samuel Ersson stopped 17-of-24 shots.
Mason McTavish recorded two assists on the day, giving him 3-5=8 points to open the campaign. He now has points in four consecutive games, the longest point streak in his career.
Strome also picked up two assists, his second multi-point effort of the season (1-2=3).
Strome and McTavish wasted no time getting the Ducks on the board, as McTavish recovered a misplayed puck in the Philadelphia zone to put the pressure on in the opening minute. Strome then jumped all over a rebound 58 seconds into the game to put Anaheim on top.
Frank Vatrano continued his hot start, scoring his sixth goal, and second power-play goal, of the season. His PPG stopped a 0-for-12 skid on the man advantage for the Ducks that stretched across their past three games.
Things got chippy later in the period, as Ross Johnston and former Duck Nic Deslauriers dropped gloves. From there, a few scuffles occurred, including after the final horn when Scott Laughton and Pavel Mintyukov exchanged cross checks.
Vatrano got his second goal of the game at 6:58 in the second after he jammed a puck past Ersson that was confirmed after a replay review.
Adam Henrique stretched the lead to 4-0 with his first goal of the season halfway through the second.
The Flyers made it competitive soon after, as Atkinson and Konecny scored 46 seconds apart to make it a 4-2 game.
Anaheim’s power play struck again in the third to move the lead back to three, with Zegras stepping up and putting one past Ersson for his first goal of the season.
Leason scored moments later to make it a four-goal game once again.
Konecny got his second goal on the power play midway through the third, the only crack Anaheim’s special teams units showed all game.
Vatrano completed the hat trick with a short-handed tally at 11:12 in the third period, his fifth career hat trick. He ended the day with a goal at even strength, a power-play goal, and a shorthanded goal.
Joel Farabee got a consolation goal for Philadelphia in the dying minutes.
The Ducks will look to make it a perfect 4-0-0 road trip on Monday, Oct. 30, as they face the Pittsburgh Penguins at PPG Paints Arena (4 p.m. PT).
