RAV4 Things: Flyers @ Ducks

Embarking on a grueling California road trip, Rick Tocchet’s Philadelphia Flyers (31-23-12) visit Joel Quenneville’s Anaheim Ducks (37-27-3) on Wednesday evening. The match marks the start of a stretch of three games in less than four nights for the Flyers.

Game time at Honda Center is 10 p.m. EDT. The game will be broadcasted on NBCSP.

This is the second and final meeting of the season series between the teams. Back on January 6, the Flyers hit the mathematical midpoint of the 2025-26 season — game 41, with a 22-12-7 record — as they skated to a feisty and emotional 5-2 home win over the Ducks. Seeing a winless streak grow to seven games (0-6-1), Anaheim fell to 21-19-3 for the season at that point.

Since that time, the Ducks have gone 16-8-0. The Flyers have posted a 9-11-5 mark. However, coming into the current road trip, Philly is 6-3-1 since the Olympic break. The Ducks have gone 7-5-0 since the Olympics.

Here are the RAV4 Things to watch in the Wednesday After Dark match in Anaheim.

1. Zegras return to Anaheim

When the Ducks visited Philadelphia in January, the game marked Trevor Zegras’ first game against his original team since being traded to the Flyers last summer. Zegras marked the occasion by blasting home a pair of goals from nearly the same spot in the right circle. After the first tally, Zegras pantomimed the very brief phone call he received from Ducks management to inform him of the trade on June 23, 2025.

This season, Zegras is second on the Flyers team with 22 goals and 54 points in 66 games played. The totals include eight power play goals and three game winning goals including a power play tally in the Jan. 6 game. Wednesday’s match in Anaheim marks Zegras’ first road game in Anaheim.

2. Emotions and discipline

The Flyers had the home crowd rocking in decisive wins over the Ducks last season and earlier this year. The Ducks grew frustrated and the last game in particular turned quite chippy. There are numerous ex-Flyers and ex-Ducks on either side of the match, not to mention the presence of former Flyers first-round pick Cutter Gauthier (34 goals, 59 points) on Anaheim’s roster.

During the January 6 game, Flyers defenseman Jamie Drysdale (another former Anaheim player) was injured on a suspect hit by Anaheim’s Ross Johnston. Moments earlier, the Flyers’ Garnet Hathaway dished out a thundering body check. In response, far away from the puck, Johnston blindsided an unsuspecting Drysdale. Johnston received a match penalty. Drysdale missed the next three games. 

Early in the same game, now-former Flyer Bobby Brink was injured on a Jansen Harkins hit away from the puck, prompting teammate Noah Cates (for the first time in his career) to drop the gloves with Harkins in Brink’s defense. In the third period, former Flyers defenseman Radko Gudas fought Hathaway and later elbowed Cates. The final stanza also saw veteran defenseman Jacob Trouba elbow Flyers rookie forward Denver Barkey.

Gudas is not available for Wednesday’s game in Anaheim. He’s currently under a five-game suspension by the NHL for a knee-to-knee hit that put Toronto Maple Leafs star Auston Matthews out for the season. Nevertheless, there are still scores to settle from what happened the last time the teams played.  

Do the Flyers dress rugged veteran forward Garrett Wilson? The Flyers recently converted Wilson’s AHL deal to an NHL contract for the rest of the season. Wilson stepped into the roster spot vacated by Nicolas Deslauriers after the Flyers moved “D’Lo” to the Carolina Hurricanes at the trade deadline. Meanwhile, Johnston (three goals, 14 points, 107 penalty minutes) has dressed in 62 of the 67 games Anaheim has played to date this season.

In the bigger picture, the Flyers need to balance discipline and emotion in this game. Anaheim scores a lot of goals but they give up even more despite sitting in first place in the Pacific Division. It’s rare for a team with a negative goal disparity to be in first place this late in a season. To date, Anaheim has scored 215 goals (3.21 goals per game, 14th in the NHL) but yielded 233 (3.48 team goals against average, 29th in the NHL).

As the numbers suggest, the Ducks are a team that will turn pucks over and run around out of position. That’s especially true when they lose their cool. The Flyers don’t want to let themselves get pushed around by this opponent but they also can’t afford their own penalty box parade and coverage lapses.

3.  York and Drysdale

Flyers defenseman Cam York (24 points) and defense partner Drysdale (seven goals, 27 points) are both players to watch in this game; not just because York is an Anaheim native and Drysdale is a former Ducks first-round pick traded to Philly in the Gauthier deal. The pairing is also crucial to the Flyers for their feet, defensive sticks and ability to trigger transition plays or join the attack.

Since the start of February, Drysdale has chipped in four goals and six points. York recently reached the 20 assist mark for the second time in this still-young career. The Flyers have three defenseman with 20-plus assists (Travis Sanheim, Drysdale and York) for the first time since 2011-12 (Kimmo Timonen, Matt Carle and Braydon Coburn).

4. Czech Olympic goalies

Flyers goaltender Dan Vladar (21-11-7, 2.46 GAA, .905 save percentage) and Ducks counterpart Lukas Dostal (27-15-2, 3.06 GAA, .891 SV%) were teammates on the 2026 Czech Olympic team in Milan. Vladar started one game and backed up Dostal in the others, with Utah’s Karel Vejmelka serving as the team’s third goalie.

Wednesday’s game offers the possibility of a Czech vs. Czech matchup in net. If Vladar starts this match, look for Samuel Ersson to get the start in Los Angeles on Thursday.