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Flyers hand Ducks their 5th straight loss

The Ducks’ Dmitry Kulikov, left, and the Philadelphia Flyers’ Owen Tippett battle for the puck during the second period on Tuesday night in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)

The Ducks’ Max Comtois skates with the puck during the first period of their game against the Philadelphia Flyers on Tuesday night in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)

The Philadelphia Flyers’ Tony DeAngelo, left, tries to keep the puck away from the Ducks’ Brett Leason during the first period on Tuesday night in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)

The Ducks’ Simon Benoit waits for play to resume during their game against the Philadelphia Flyers on Tuesday night in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)

The Philadelphia Flyers’ Morgan Frost (48), Kevin Hayes (13), Tony DeAngelo (77) and James van Riemsdyk (25) celebrate after a goal by Hayes against Ducks goaltender Anthony Stolarz, right, during the first period on Tuesday night in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)

The Ducks’ Ryan Strome waits for play to resume during their game against the Philadelphia Flyers on Tuesday night in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)

The Philadelphia Flyers’ Travis Sanheim, right, and the Ducks’ Trevor Zegras battle for the puck during the first period on Tuesday night in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)

The Ducks’ Troy Terry, right, tries to get past the Philadelphia Flyers’ Morgan Frost during the first period on Tuesday night in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)

The Ducks’ Dmitry Kulikov handles the puck during their game against the Philadelphia Flyers on Tuesday night in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)

The Philadelphia Flyers’ Noah Cates (49) collides with Ducks goaltender Anthony Stolarz, bottom, during the first period on Tuesday night in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)

The Ducks’ Troy Terry, right, tries to get past the Philadelphia Flyers’ Morgan Frost during the first period on Tuesday night in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)

The Ducks’ Max Comtois, right, cannot get a shot past Philadelphia Flyers goaltender Samuel Ersson during the first period on Tuesday night in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)

Ducks goaltender Anthony Stolarz, left, deflects the puck as the Philadelphia Flyers’ Scott Laughton looks on during the second period on Tuesday night in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)

The Ducks’ Kevin Shattenkirk, right, collides with the Philadelphia Flyers’ Nicolas Deslauriers during the second period on Tuesday night in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)

The Ducks’ Dmitry Kulikov (29) clears the puck away from the Philadelphia Flyers’ Owen Tippett (74) during the second period on Tuesday night in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)

The Ducks’ John Klingberg, left, Adam Henrique, center, and Trevor Zegras celebrate after a goal by Henrique during the second period of their game against the Philadelphia Flyers on Tuesday night in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)

The Ducks’ Max Jones, left, and the Philadelphia Flyers’ Rasmus Ristolainen collide during the second period on Tuesday night in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)

The Philadelphia Flyers’ Rasmus Ristolainen, right, scores a goal past Ducks goaltender Anthony Stolarz during the second period on Tuesday night in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)

The Philadelphia Flyers’ Rasmus Ristolainen, left, scores a goal past Ducks goaltender Anthony Stolarz during the second period on Tuesday night in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)

Ducks goaltender Anthony Stolarz waits for play to resume during their game against the Philadelphia Flyers on Tuesday night in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)

The Ducks’ Max Comtois plays during their game against the Philadelphia Flyers on Tuesday night in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)

The Ducks’ John Klingberg, left, and the Philadelphia Flyers’ Owen Tippett chase after the puck during the second period on Tuesday night in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)

The Philadelphia Flyers’ Morgan Frost (48) celebrates with James van Riemsdyk, left, Owen Tippett (74) and Nick Seeler, right, after scoring a goal against Ducks goaltender Anthony Stolarz, bottom, during the second period on Tuesday night in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)

Ducks goaltender Anthony Stolarz reacts after giving up a goal to the Philadelphia Flyers’ Morgan Frost during the second period on Tuesday night in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)

The Philadelphia Flyers’ Ivan Provorov, left, and the Ducks’ Max Jones collide during the third period on Tuesday night in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)

The Philadelphia Flyers’ Kevin Hayes, left, and Scott Laughton, right, celebrate as the Ducks’ John Klingberg skates away after Hayes’ goal during the third period on Tuesday night in Philadelphia. Hayes had his first career hat trick in the Flyers’ 5-2 win. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)

The Philadelphia Flyers’ Kevin Hayes (13) celebrates with teammates after scoring his third goal in their game against the Ducks during the third period on Tuesday night in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)

The Ducks’ Jayson Megna looks down at the ice during their game against the Philadelphia Flyers on Tuesday night in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)

Workers clear hats from the ice after the Philadelphia Flyers’ Kevin Hayes scored his third goal in their game against the Ducks during the third period on Tuesday night in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)

The Philadelphia Flyers’ Nicolas Deslauriers picks up a hat from the ice after teammate Kevin Hayes scored his third goal in their game against the Ducks during the third period on Tuesday night in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)

The Ducks’ Brett Leason waits for play to resume during their game against the Philadelphia Flyers on Tuesday night in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)

The Philadelphia Flyers’ Kevin Hayes skates on the ice after scoring his third goal in their game against the Ducks during the third period on Tuesday night in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)

The Ducks’ Frank Vatrano plays during their game against the Philadelphia Flyers on Tuesday night in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)

The Philadelphia Flyers’ Kevin Hayes celebrates after their 5-2 victory over the Ducks on Tuesday night in Philadelphia. Hayes had his first career hat trick in the game. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)

Ducks forward Adam Henrique stretches before their game against the Philadelphia Flyers on Tuesday night in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)

Ducks forward Ryan Strome waits to warm up before their game against the Philadelphia Flyers on Tuesday night in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)

Ducks goaltender Anthony Stolarz waits to warm up before their game against the Philadelphia Flyers on Tuesday night in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)

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By DAN GELSTON AP Sports Writer

PHILADELPHIA — Given the season they’re having, the last thing the Ducks need is to run into a team looking to bounce back from a bad loss.

Kevin Hayes had his first career hat trick, Rasmus Ristolainen and Morgan Frost also scored and the Philadelphia Flyers rebounded from their worst loss of the season with a 5-2 win over the struggling Ducks on Tuesday night.

The Flyers lost, 6-0, at Boston in an afternoon game a day earlier that proved nothing more than a speed bump in their recent modest run of success. They still only have 19 wins but they have won four of five. They are 8-2 since an overtime win at San Jose on Dec. 29 and play hard under Coach John Tortorella.

“Boston’s a really good team. But they kind of embarrassed us a little bit,” Hayes said. “I thought our team responded well. It just shows the resilience that we have at this point of the season. You don’t want to keep losing games.”

Hayes, selected to the NHL All-Star Game, made up for a turnover that led to a missed Ducks breakaway when he scored his 11th goal of the season off a Ducks giveaway during a power play in the first period.

“Power plays are too good in this league to take more than two penalties a game, really,” said Ducks forward Adam Henrique, whose team successfully killed off four of the Flyers’ five man-advantage opportunities. “You want to be one or two and that’s it. We trend on the other side of that.”

After Henrique tied it for the Ducks early in the second with his third goal in as many games, the Flyers got going.

They scored the kind of unique goals that seemingly only happen when a team is on a hot streak. Ristolainen scored short-handed on a two-man rush for his first goal since Jan. 22, 2022. It was the Flyers’ NHL-best ninth short-handed goal.

Frost made it 3-1 in the waning seconds of the period when he poked his ninth goal of the season through Anthony Stolarz’s legs.

“We just didn’t give ourselves an opportunity,” Henrique said. “We probably could have prevented a few of the goals, just mistakes that we made, turnovers.

“At times, it’s mental mistakes or we’re just putting ourselves in bad positions where you end up having to take a penalty. More often than not we’re in the position of taking bad penalties and those seem to be the ones that always kind of come back to bite you.”

Hayes scored again in the third for a 4-1 lead, the 30-year-old forward on pace for one of his top offensive seasons, even as he spent time in Tortorella’s doghouse. Hayes was a healthy scratch earlier this season and has been benched for long stretches during games. He helped the Flyers move to 10-3-1 since Dec. 5 when they score three-plus goals.

Hayes’ empty-netter in the final seconds made it 5-2 and sent hats soaring onto the ice.

Kevin Shattenkirk scored late in the third for the Ducks, who lost, 4-3 in overtime, a night earlier in Pittsburgh. Stolarz had 34 saves.

Samuel Ersson made 25 saves for the Flyers, who are costing themselves a better shot at winning the draft lottery with their recent surge. Philadelphia entered Tuesday’s game with only 5% odds to win the No. 1 pick, per tracker Tankathon.

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“I don’t know what’s going to happen in the next 30-plus (games) but these are the things we’re asking as we grow as a team,” Tortorella said. “When you start thinking you’re a good team and you’re growing, losing two in a row is unacceptable. You need to find a way to win that next one so you don’t get into those streaks.”

NOT ON THE ICE

Russian defenseman Ivan Provorov, the subject of recent trade speculation, did not participate in pregame warmups when the Flyers wore Pride-themed jerseys and used warmup sticks wrapped in rainbow Pride tape.

“I respect everybody’s choices,” Provorov said. “My choice is to stay true to myself and my religion. That’s all I’m going to say.”

UP NEXT

The Ducks play at Columbus on Thursday at 4 p.m., the third stop on their six-game road trip.

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