Philadelphia Flyers bounce back with shutout over Sabres
By Scott Cole
After a nasty 6-2 drubbing by the Toronto Maple Leafs, everyone overreacted and felt that the Flyers had come crashing back down to Earth. Their four-game winning streak was just a fluke. Well, Samuel Ersson had something to say about that. Ersson blocked 28 shots en route to his first career shutout as the Flyers rolled over Buffalo 4-0.
Ersson almost had a shutout in his previous outing, a 4-1 win over the Anaheim Ducks. In that game, Ryan Strome spoiled Ersson’s night with a goal with just 40 seconds left to go. However, with the shutout, Ersson has stopped 56 shots out of 57 in his last two games.
He’s improved his record to 4-0, has a GAA of 2.30 and a save percentage of .924. And all of that includes his horrific debut against Carolina where they scored five goals on him in 30 minutes. Since then, he has given up just six goals. Ersson’s play could help push Carter Hart to improve his game too. A little goalie competition for a team can be good.
Flyers: Gettin’ by With Help From My Friends
In the last few games, the Flyers have been propelled to wins by their front lines with amazing performances by Travis Konecny and others. Tonight, the fourth-liners were the stars of the team.
Zach MacEwen kicked things off early for the Flyers. Just two minutes into the game, he was fed a pass from Patrick Brown, who was battling for the puck in the corner. The centered pass found MacEwen who plopped it in the net for his fourth goal of the year. Nic Deslauriers picked up an assist as well.
A little over ten minutes later, Joel Farabee joined in the fun. After going through an extended scoreless streak, he has been hot as of late. A minute later, Noah Cates got his fifth of the season. Konecny assisted with both of these goals.
The score remained 3-0 until the opening minutes of the third period. A draw in the Sabres zone saw all-star Kevin Hayes get the puck in the corner. He flicked it over to Wade Allison, who was skating right towards the net and scored the final goal of the game.
Hopefully, the Flyers can build on this momentum. They have two games this week, Wednesday and Saturday, against the Capitals before taking I-95 north to Boston on Monday.