Flyers fans didn’t hold back against Cutter Gauthier, from expletive-filled chants to confiscated signs

It was clear Cutter Gauthier was in for a long night the second he emerged from the tunnel for warm-ups at the Wells Fargo Center. A 6-0 loss to the Flyers certainly didn’t make it any easier for the Anaheim Ducks’ forward.

A massive group of fans congregated along the boards, chanting “We want Cutter!” as they waited for the former Flyers first-round pick to hit the ice for the first time in Philadelphia.

The boards weren’t papered with as many signs as you might expect. Some fans took advantage of the Anaheim Ducks’ name to make a few obvious puns, but a number of signs were taken away, including Ethan Scannon’s, for being “too big” (Wells Fargo Center policy states that signs can’t be larger than 11 inches by 17 inches).

The confiscated sign? “William the quitter is a coward” — Gauthier’s first name is William.

Before Gauthier became the most-hated man on the ice, he was supposed to be the Flyers’ next big star. The team drafted him at No. 5 overall in 2022, and shockingly traded him away in January of 2023 in exchange for Jamie Drysdale and a second-round pick after Gauthier made it clear to the organization that he would not sign with the Flyers, for reasons Gauthier has kept private.

“He looked at us at the draft and told us he was built to be a Flyer, wanted to be a Flyer, and maybe a few months later told us that he didn’t want to be a Flyer, he didn’t want to play for the Flyers,” general manager Danny Briere said after the trade.

Some of the signs that did make it into the arena included 11-year-old Jules Delfin’s.

“He’s not a Duck, he’s a chicken, and he’s going to get cooked,” Delfin said, holding the sign she’d made to welcome Gauthier to Philadelphia. “He’s going to become fried chicken.”

A particularly rowdy (and drunken) fan was escorted out of the area. But those obstacles didn’t slow anyone down. This is Philadelphia — what did they expect?

“I hope he gets booed every time he touches the puck,” Scannon said, and that’s exactly what happened.

After booing the Flyers off the ice against the Stars on Jan. 9, the packed crowd was locked in and ready to support the Flyers on Saturday (and, of course, to get their lick back at Gauthier). And this time, the Flyers gave them something to see.

» READ MORE: Cutter Gauthier returns to Philadelphia as public enemy No. 1. Here’s a look back at his rocky time with the Flyers.

From the moment Gauthier hit the ice, he was relentlessly booed, and the arena positively erupted when Jamie Drysdale, the Flyers’ return for Gauthier in the trade with Anaheim, scored in the first period on the power play.

“Jamie’s better!” chants rang down from the Wells Fargo Center crowd.

The tension also spilled down onto the ice. Travis Konecny “promised” postgame that he didn’t challenge Gauthier to a fight, despite what some lip readers believed, but Garnet Hathaway took a few shots at him during a first period scrum and Scott Laughton later got Gauthier in the face.

The crowd popped every time a Flyer landed a big hit on Gauthier, and scrums broke out at almost every stoppage. The Flyers even made a Rasmus Ristolainen hit on Gauthier the “Check of the Game.”

Boos rained down on Gauthier every time he took the ice and every time he touched the puck until the final whistle — even as the most of the vulgar chants made way for “E-A-G-L-E-S” with the Flyers up by six goals late in the third. But the crowd couldn’t resist one final round of “[expletive] you, Cutter,” and the Flyers left the ice to a standing ovation and a shutout victory for Sam Ersson.

“It is what it is,” Gauthier said postgame. “The media likes to say some things, and rehash some more things, but I can’t control anything that any other people say. I’m not here to please everyone, I’m here to do what’s best for me.”

Gauthier also said after the game that he didn’t think the hostile environment was the reason the Ducks laid an egg in Philadelphia, and Ducks coach Greg Cronin said the team just fell apart in the third period after Ryan Poehling scored 24 seconds into the period for the Flyers.

“Obviously the drama behind the game, you can’t prepare for that,” Cronin said. “You don’t know how people are going to respond to it. I thought the crowd was terrific, and clearly they had an agenda.”

» READ MORE: Jamie Drysdale and the Flyers ‘welcome’ Cutter Gauthier to Philly with a 6-0 statement win

It was the best crowd and the best game of the season for the Flyers — and the “loudest” crowd Gauthier and the Ducks played against this season.

“I hope we can play in front of a crowd like that about something meaningful,” John Tortorella said. “ … I hope it means something to the organization as far as winning and losing. That’s when we want to see a crowd like that … I want it to be that we’re a team to be reckoned with in a playoff series.”

For now, a blowout win over a former prospect that spurned your team will have to do.