The Philadelphia Flyers keep cruising, moving to a 17-10-3 record on the season with points in their last eight games following a 1-0 win over the Detroit Red Wings. Undefeated in regulation in December, the Flyers have taken an early strong start to the season to another level. What were some general takeaways from their win over Detroit?
Ersson Is an NHL Goaltender
Sam Ersson was made the full-time backup of the Flyers this season, so he entered 2023-24 with something to prove. His start to this campaign brought some doubt upon his game, putting up a .760 save percentage (SV%) and a 5.91 goals-against average (GAA) in his first month with the Orange and Black this season. Very easily, the Flyers could have pulled the plug and sent him to the American Hockey League (AHL), where he could learn a few things.
The Flyers chose against this, and it has only gone up from there for him. Recording a 33-save shutout in this game, there should be no doubts about his status as an NHL-ready netminder at the age of 24.
Ersson’s fantastic SV% of .926 in November certainly turned some heads. In just five starts that month, he turned the tides for his season entirely. That level of play started to die down a bit this December when he started with a .893 SV% and a 2.84 GAA through three games. Those numbers are a bit deceiving, considering the quality of chances he faced in those games, but they don’t look good on him overall.
This shutout win changes a lot for him. Both SV% and GAA are misleading statistics from time to time, but leveling out this month with an impressive win does a lot to make him look better. Nothing has really changed about his game, but this match was evidently one of his best. It wasn’t his most challenging start with how well the defense in front of him played, but he still had to be rock-solid in order to not allow a single puck to get by him.
With this big win in mind, he has to be riding some confidence. This game marked the first time Ersson’s family saw him play in the NHL, making this one extra special. He has provided a level of depth that can put the Flyers at ease when they have to rely on their backup.
Absences Don’t Stop the Flyers
Shortly before the game started, it was announced that defenseman Travis Sanheim would be unavailable for this contest due to illness. In addition, goaltender Carter Hart missed his second game due to sickness for this game, so the Flyers were down two of their most valuable players on the entire roster.
Logic and common sense would tell you that the Flyers need every single player on their team to have success. Since they were sellers during the offseason, the high-end talent on the roster doesn’t correlate with where they are in the NHL standings. The Flyers have few stars as is, but losing two of their best did not matter whatsoever in this game.
Related: Flyers’ 2023-24 Success Sustainable But Shouldn’t Change Rebuild
Focusing on Sanheim, a loss of his caliber is huge. Without him, the Flyers’ defense looks much weaker on paper. Despite him being one of the league’s top defenders in terms of ice time, Philadelphia made out fine without him. Rasmus Ristolainen was bumped to the first pairing and looked fantastic with Cam York while the rest of the defense did their job.
Even if it’s just for the short term, losing someone like Sanheim is supposed to derail a season, in theory. As long as these types of absences aren’t too frequent, this incident makes the idea of a multi-game injury to a key player seem a bit less devastating to the overall team. If the Flyers’ defense can look impeccable without one of the best two-way defenders in the league at this point, they can pretty much win without anyone. That will have to be put to the test more frequently, but the Red Wings still struggled against a team without both its best defender and best goaltender. For a club that is supposed to be rebuilding, that’s definitely out of the norm.
York Played Like a Number One Defenseman
With Sanheim’s absence in mind, York had to be at his absolute best in order for the Flyers to come away with a win. Taking on the role of a true top-pairing defenseman, he had one of his best games of the entire season. Both he and Ristolainen did a wonderful job on the first pairing, hardly missing their sick teammate at all.
York scored the only goal in this contest, but that’s not where the focus should be necessarily. His game-winning goal already makes his game worthwhile, but it was his play throughout the night that was impressive. He has always had a knack for quietly good offensive plays — able to create chances and stickhandle beautifully when he decides to pinch — but he showed the maturity of his game on defense in this game, too.
Just 22 years of age, him having more opportunities like he had against the Red Wings can only be good for his development in the NHL. It usually takes a bit for defensemen his age to reach York’s level of maturation — he is the exception.
“It’s Still Early” Comments Can Be Put to Rest
In October, much of the Flyers’ success could be easily dismissed because of how early it was in the season. To a lesser extent, the same could be applied to November. Now that it is December and the Flyers are still humming, perhaps it might be time to completely disregard the “it’s still too early” comments around the team. When healthy, the Flyers are simply good at hockey.
For most teams that find success comparable to what the Flyers have through 30 games in a season, there isn’t any holding back in calling them a contender. The Flyers aren’t at that point yet, but a record of 12-3-2 through their last 17 games is hard to beat. Since losing to the 0-10-1 San Jose Sharks early in November, the season has completely flipped on its head. They’ve shown no signs of stopping.
The Flyers have a couple of days off before they go back on the road to face the red-hot New Jersey Devils on the road. With the Flyers sitting at 7-1-2 in their last 10 games and the Devils looking at a record of 8-2-0 in the same span, that might be a good watch for any hockey fan.
