PHILADELPHIA _ Ryan Garbutt scored midway through the third period and the Ducks used it to end their season-opening trip with a 3-2 triumph over the Philadelphia Flyers for their first win.
The Ducks (1-3-1) were in danger of going winless in their five-game trek but Corey Perry pulled them into a tie late in the second period and Garbutt provided the tiebreaker at the 11:34 mark of the final period.
Garbutt fired in a one-time shot past Flyers goalie Steve Mason after Ducks defenseman Korbinian Holzer gave the winger a nice swing-back pass from behind the Philadelphia net. John Gibson made it stand up with 20 saves in goal.
The Ducks got reacquainted with the penalty box and shared more quality time together. Two nights after taking five straight penalties in the second period and seven total in New Jersey, they did the very same thing some 90 miles down Interstate 95.
But instead of Taylor Hall beating them with two power-play goals, the Flyers could only cash in one of them as Wayne Simmonds positioned himself down low to take Jakub Voracek's entry pass and chip it by Gibson for a 1-1 tie.
Strong penalty-killing otherwise kept the Ducks in the game. Matt Read did scoot past some lagging Ducks defenders for his fourth goal in as many games to open his season for a 2-1 edge. But the Ducks managed to shake off consecutive infractions to Ryan Getzlaf and Perry.
It was both of them who combined for some redemption. Perry came out of the box to get into a rush up ice with Getzlaf and the two did what they've done for 11 years, with the winger taking Getzlaf's drop pass and ripping a slap shot by Mason to make it 2-2.
Chris Wagner put the Ducks on the scoreboard first for the second straight game. Sami Vatanen sent a long stretch pass to Jared Boll, who caught it in stride and dropped it to his fourth-line teammate.
Using Boll as a screen, Wagner snapped a quick shot past Mason for his first goal with the Ducks. Wagner had four with Colorado last season before the Ducks picked him back up as a waiver claim.
