Kevin Hayes registered his first career hat trick to lift the host Philadelphia Flyers past the Anaheim Ducks 5-2 on Tuesday.
Hayes, who logged his 10th career multigoal game, scored his third goal of the night into an empty net with 43.9 seconds remaining.
Rasmus Ristolainen had a goal and an assist and Morgan Frost contributed a goal for the Flyers, who have won eight of their past 10 games. Travis Konecny, Scott Laughton and Wade Allison had two assists apiece.
Flyers goaltender Samuel Ersson made 25 saves and improved to 5-0-0 in his brief career.
Adam Henrique and Frank Vatrano each scored a goal for the struggling Ducks, who have dropped five in a row (0-4-1).
Ducks goaltender Anthony Stolarz stopped 34 shots.
The Flyers were aggressive for most of the first period and earned three power plays. Even though they were unable to capitalize on a two-man advantage for 43 seconds, Hayes connected on the third power play for a 1-0 lead at 13:32.
The game soon became chippy with a fight between Philadelphia’s Zack MacEwen and Anaheim’s Max Comtois. Each player went off for a five-minute fighting major.
The Ducks had numerous scoring chances despite getting outshot 17-4 in the first period.
Anaheim had a couple of solid scoring chances in the first six minutes of the second period on shots by Troy Terry and Jayson Megna.
Those chances eventually led to a goal as the Ducks equalized the score at 7:39 when Henrique connected.
The Flyers went ahead 2-1 at 12:43 of the middle period when Ristolainen scored short-handed on the backhand. It was the Flyers’ league-leading ninth short-handed goal of the season.
Philadelphia took a 3-1 advantage with 38.5 seconds left in the second period when Frost put the puck between his legs and then flipped it over Stolarz.
Hayes’ second goal, a nasty wrist shot at 2:30 of the third, gave the Flyers a 4-1 lead.
The Ducks received a power play and, just as it expired, Mason McTavish ripped a shot off the post at 13:47.
Later, however, Vatrano redirected a shot on another power play at 18:51 to close Anaheim within 4-2, allowing for brief hope before Hayes’ third goal.
–Field Level Media
