5 THINGS: Flyers @ Ducks

Wrapping up a three-game California road trip, John Tortorella's Philadelphia Flyers (13-17-7) will visit Dallas Eakins' Anaheim Ducks (10-23-4) on Monday night. Game time at the Honda Center is 10:00 p.m. ET.

GAME NOTES
The game will be televised on NBCSP+. The radio broadcast is on 93.3 WMMR with an online simulcast on Flyers Radio 24/7.
The Flyers are going for a three-game winning streak. If they succeed, it will be the first time since the first three games of the 2022-23 regular season (vs. NJ, vs. VAN, @TB) that the Flyers will have won three straight games.
On Dec. 31 in Los Angeles, the Flyers skated to a 4-2 win after trailing by scores of 1-0 and 2-1. Scott Laughton (PPG, 8th goal of the season), Owen Tippett (12th), Noah Cates (SHG, 4th) and Travis Konecny (ENG, 18th) scored for the Flyers. Samuel Ersson stopped 27 of 29 shots to earn the win in goal.
The Ducks, who are playing the sixth game of a 10-game homestand on either side of the league-wide holiday break (two games before the break, eight games post-Christmas) last played on Dec. 30. The visiting Nashville Predators skated to a 6-1 blowout victory. Anaheim's Sam Carrick (2nd goal of the season) briefly tied the game at 1-1 on a deflection early in the second period before the Predators started to pull away. John Gibson was strafed for 43 shots, stopping 37.
This is the first of two meetings between the inter-conference clubs, and the lone game in Anaheim. The Flyers and Ducks will rematch at the Wells Fargo Center on January 17.
Here are five things to watch in this game:
1. Avoid getting sloppy.
There have not been many games this season where the Flyers have entered as the favorite to win. This match, however, is one such game.
The Ducks enter this game with the second-worst record in the NHL (only Chicago with 20 points has fewer than Anaheim's 24 points), the league's worst team goals against average (4.11), and as the league's second lowest-scoring club (2.27 GPG). Anaheim is also the NHL's third-worst team in terms of puck-possession metrics and dead last in expected goal share (39.94 percent).

However, none of this means a thing if the Flyers do not pay attention to detail, with and without the puck. They still have to earn it, just as they did in earning an upset win in Los Angeles on Saturday.
The Flyers themselves are still seventh from the bottom of the league in points. fifth from the bottom offensively (2.65 GPG), tied for 20th in team GAA (3.32), 27th in 5-on-5 shot attempt differential, and fifth from the bottom in expected goal share (44.16 percent).
The Ducks are statistically the NHL's worst team at 5-on-5. They are minus-46 as a team in 5-on-5 goal differential (54 GF, 100 GA). The Flyers are minus-12 (62 GF, 74 GA).
2. Flyers on a shorthanded goal tear.
In terms of special teams play, the Ducks rank 29th on the power play (16.0 percent) while the Flyers rank 31st (15.6 percent). Anaheim's penalty kill ranks 30th at 70.1 percent. The Flyers rank 23rd at 74.6 percent.
However, as of late, the Flyers have been on a shorthanded scoring binge with five SHG in the last five games. Laughton and Konecny, in particular, have emerged as a dangerous PK duo in generating shorthanded counterattacks.
For the season, Philly is tied for the NHL lead with seven shorthanded goals: three for Laughton, two for Konecny, one apiece for Cates and Travis Sanheim. To date this season, the Ducks have given up four opposing shorthanded goals.
3. Recent offensive uptick.
Konecny brings a five-game point streak into Anaheim. In that span, he's racked up six goals and three assists for nine points. Over the last 10 games, he's recorded at least one point in nine (8g, 4a, 12 points).
Tippett, who has scored in back-to-back games and has posted four goals and six points in the last five games. In the last 10 games, Tippett has posted nine points (5g, 4a) and generally played well in all three zones, especially in the LA game.
Tippett's five-on-five linemates have also seen their production surge of late. James van Riemsdyk has posted 10 points (3g, 7a) in the last 10 games, while Morgan Frost has eight points (4g, 4a) in that span and took a four-game point streak into the holiday break.
Laughton, like JVR, has nine points (5g, 4a) in the last 10 games. Defenseman Tony DeAngelo, in his last six games, has eight points (3g, 5a), while Cam York has six points (1g, 5a) in 10 games since his recall from the Phantoms.
Overall, in the last 10 games, the Flyers have 11 players who've scored at least one goal and six with three or more tallies.
Over his last nine games, however, Kevin Hayes has just two points (0g, 2a). Joel Farabee has three (1g. 2a). Cates has five points (1g. 4a) and ended a 20-game goal drought in scoring the game-winner in Los Angeles.
4. Flyers line play and starting goalie.
The Flyers will hold an optional morning skate at 11:30 a.m. PT (2:30 p.m. ET) at Honda Center. Tortorella will speak to the media half an hour before the participating players skate.
With the Flyers coming off of a strong performance throughout the lineup in LA, chances seem strong they will stay with the same starting lineup combinations at 5-on-5. Barring injury to a position player, the main question is whether Carter Hart will be activated from Injured Reserve and start in goal or if Ersson will make his fourth straight start and be backed up by Felix Sandstrom in the road trip finale.
Projected lineup (subject to change)
86 Joel Farabee - 49 Noah Cates - 11 Travis Konecny
25 James van Riemsdyk - 48 Morgan Frost - 74 Owen Tippett
13 Kevin Hayes - 21 Scott Laughton - 57 Wade Allison
44 Nicolas Deslauriers - 38 Patrick Brown - 17 Zack MacEwen
9 Ivan Provorov - 45 Cam York
6 Travis Sanheim - 77 Tony DeAngelo
24 Nick Seeler - 55 Rasmus Ristolainen
79 Carter Hart (if activated from IR)
33 Samuel Ersson
Available to play: 32 Felix Sandström, 61 Justin Braun, 62 Olle Lycksell.
5. Behind Enemy Lines: Anaheim Ducks
The Ducks have gone 1-3-1 over their last five games and 3-6-1 in the last 10. The Flyers have only scored first in 11 games to date (3-6-2 record), Anaheim has done it just 13 times (5-8-0). When yielding the first goal, Philly is 10-11-5. The Ducks are 5-15-4 when trailing first.
Anaheim does have some young and highly skilled talent atop their lineup. Troy Terry leads the team with 31 points (12g, 19a) in 36 games. He's followed by the flashy Trevor Zegras (10g, 17a, 27 points), and rookie Mason McTavish (6g, 14a).
Veteran forward Adam Henrique is fourth on the team with 19 points (11g, 8a). Veteran Ryan Strome has posted 18 points (8g, 10a). On the blueline, veteran Cam Fowler leads Ducks defensemen with 17 points (4g, 13a). Former Dallas defenseman John Klingberg has 11 points (4g, 7a, three goals in his last 10 games) and 33-year-old Kevin Shattenkirk has nine points (0g, 9a).
In goal, three-time NHL All-Star Game selection Gibson has appeared in 24 games (6-15-3, 3.97 GAA, .898 save percentage, two assists). Former Flyers netminder Anthony Stolarz has played in 13 games (2-5-0, 4.02 GAA, .886 save percentage). Stolarz is currently day-to-day after being activated from IR (lower body injury). If he's not ready to be cleared, the Ducks will dress Lukas Dostal.
Injury updates: Jamie Drysdale: (IR, shoulder), Isac Lundeström (IR, finger), former Flyers forward Derek Grant (out, lower body), Max Jones (IR).
Potential lineup (subject to change)
14 Adam Henrique - 11 Trevor Zegras - 19 Troy Terry
44 Maxime Comtois - 16 Ryan Strome - 33 Jakob Silfverberg
77 Frank Vatrano - 37 Mason McTavish - 20 Brett Leason
54 Justin Kirkland - 39 Sam Carrick - 20 Jayson Megna
4 Cam Fowler - 29 Dmitry Kulikov
13 Simon Benoit - 3 John Klingberg
45 Colton White - 22 Kevin Shattenkirk
36 John Gibson
41 Anthony Stolarz