Flyers goaltender Samuel Ersson is well aware that goaltenders often receive a disproportionate share of public blame when things aren't going well for a team. Ersson also knows how quickly things can change in hockey, and he has never been one to point fingers when things don't go his way.
When the Flyers followed up an impressive five-game winning streak with five straight losses in regulation heading into a weeklong All-Star break hiatus, Ersson didn't panic. He didn't make excuses. He simply turned the page; which is the exact sort of mental makeup an NHL goalie needs to be successful.
"I have to play better, and make a few more saves," Ersson said on February 5, adding that he hadn't lost any confidence in himself or the team. "We're still in a good position."
In the first two games after the All-Star break, Ersson stepped up big with a pair of strong performances in a 2-1 road win over the Florida Panthers on Tuesday and a 4-1 victory at home against the Winnipeg Jets on Thursday evening.
The games were quite different on the surface but surprisingly similar if one digs just a little deeper.
In Florida, the Flyers ran into the business end of a Florida buzzsaw in the first period. Philly was fortunate to get the game to the first intermission trailing 1-0. Nine saves from Ersson and 11 blocked shots in front of him (three by Egor Zamula and two apiece from Nick Seeler and Ryan Poehlling) enabled the Flyers to minimize the early damage. Thereafter, Philly was the better team over the final 40 minutes. Ersson finishes with 20 saves on 21 shots.
Only a first period Carter Verhaeghe power play goal through an accidental screen by Travis Sanheim eluded Ersson. Subsequently, Travis Konecny drew the Flyers even at 1-1 late in the second period and Noah Cates put Philly ahead to stay early in the third period.
Thursday's game against the Jets was the polar opposite at first glance. The Flyers took a 3-0 lead on tallies by Tyson Foerster, Konecny and Morgan Frost, a 13-5 shots on goal edge and 14-3 scoring chance advantage to the dressing room at the first intermission. However, in the waning seconds of the first period, Ersson robbed Winnipeg defenseman Josh Morrissey from point-blank range to protect the 3-0 lead.
The Jets came out attacking to start the second period. However, a shorthanded goal
by Ryan Poehling built a 4-0 lead for the Flyers at 2:29. Thereafter, the majority of the remaining 37:31 of regulation was spent in the Flyers' end zone.
Except for the scoreboard, the second and third periods of the match against Winnipeg were a lot like the first period in Florida. Over the final 40 minutes of play, the Flyers were outshot 25-8 and out-chanced by a 28-8 margin.
Although Ersson was named the latter game's Third Star, he arguably could have beaten out Konecny (Gordie Howe Hat Trick in the first period) for the top honors of the night. Ersson finished with 28 saves on 29 shots and was downright stellar when the Jets seemed poised to make a dent on the Philly lead.
The Flyers are now 2-0-0 since the All-Star break with wins over two high-caliber opponents. Ersson is one of the main reasons.
Final note: Although Ersson was 0-4-0 in his final four starts before the All-Star break and his stats looked ugly, he was not playing all that poorly. The team in front of him was not giving him a fair chance to provide the club itself a reasonable shot at victories.
The Flyers collectively needed to give goalie Samuel Ersson a fair chance to provide the team itself with a reasonable opportunity for an upset win over the defending Eastern Conference champions in the first game after the break. That’s what they did.
During the Flyers' five-game skid, they were not necessarily giving up a lot of shots on goal. However, the team was were plagued by turnovers in dangerous areas of the ice, and by wide open chances yielded to some of the most dangerous shooters in the entire NHL (including Nathan MacKinnon, Mikko Rantanen, Claude Giroux, Nikita Kucherov, Dylan Larkin, and David Pastrnak).
Ersson was also victimized by horrid puck luck, including two goals that teammates accidentally redirected into the net on attempted shot blocks and by a triple deflection that ultimately went in off Boston forward Danton Heinen's face after he tipped the puck with his stick.
The puck luck evened out a bit in the last two games. Most notably, in the Winnipeg game, the dangerous Nikolaj Ehlers had an open one-timer from the right circle. Before Ersson could go post-to-post, the puck hit the near side crossbar and went out of play.
