cutter gauthier

PHILADELPHIA — Trevor Zegras scored twice for the Philadelphia Flyers in his first game against his former team to lead them to a 5-2 win over the Ducks on Tuesday night.

Cutter Gauthier scored his 20th goal of the season for the Ducks in his second game in Philadelphia against the franchise he forced to trade him — and turned him into one of Philly’s biggest sports villains — as the Ducks lost their seventh straight game.

On a night the Flyers honored late founder Ed Snider, the arena was packed with fans just happy to root again for a team in playoff contention.

Flyers fans mostly showed up to boo — and profanely chant — at Gauthier. They roared in the second period when Garnet Hathaway cleanly crushed Gauthier into the boards.

The Flyers were forced to trade Gauthier, the fifth overall pick in the 2022 draft, a year ago because he wouldn’t sign, train or even communicate with the Flyers. Gauthier has never made his exact excuse for wanting out publicly clear — just one more reason for Flyers fans to jeer him like a pro wrestling bad guy.

There was a scary moment early in the second when Ross Johnston leveled Jamie Drysdale — who the Flyers acquired for Gauthier — and the defenseman was face down on the ice for several minutes. The stretcher came out but Drysdale was eventually helped up and walked with assistance to the locker room.

Johnston was hit with five minutes for interference and given a game misconduct.

The two teams made another big trade with each over the summer when the Flyers landed Zegras once Anaheim concluded he no longer fit the Ducks’ roster as they attempt to end their seven-year playoff drought.

Zegras — who followed Gauthier with two straight goals in the first period for a 2-1 lead —will be a restricted free agent this summer. The Flyers expect him to be a key part in their ascent in the East standings.

Cam York and Travis Sanheim also scored for the Flyers and Nikita Gregbenkin added an empty-netter. Alex Killorn had a goal for the Ducks.

Macklin Celebrini became the third player with 60 points this season with a goal and two assists in the San José Sharks’ 5-4 victory over the Ducks on Monday night.

Mario Ferraro, Igor Chernyshov, William Eklund and Zach Ostapchuk also scored for the Sharks, who earned their second win since the holiday break despite getting outshot 43-13. Yaroslav Askarov made 38 saves.

Troy Terry scored two goals, Cutter Gauthier got his 19th goal and Pavel Mintyukov also scored for the Ducks, who have lost three straight and seven of nine while falling out of first place in the Pacific Division. Lukas Dostal allowed four goals on nine shots before Petr Mrazek replaced him during the second period.

With his seventh multipoint game of December, Celebrini needed just 39 games to get 60 points — the most scored by a teenager before New Year’s Day in the NHL. He also extended his points streak to eight games.

Celebrini left the ice after getting hit in the face by a deflected puck in the third period, but returned several minutes later.

Alexander Wennberg set up San José’s first two goals with exceptional passes, but Anaheim scored off an atrocious turnover by Askarov. He gave away the puck behind his net to Nikita Nesterenko, who found an uncontested Terry.

Celebrini scored his 21st goal late in the first, and he set up Chernyshov’s second career goal in the second. Eklund chased Dostal with his 10th goal after another clever pass by Celebrini.

Gauthier scored late in the second before setting up Mintyukov early in the third.

San José scored on two of its three shots in the second period, and it didn’t put the puck on Anaheim’s net in the first 11 minutes of the third. Ostapchuk still made it 5-3 on a long tip with 6:13 to play, but Terry scored moments later with Mrazek pulled.