Flyers takeaways: Sam Ersson is ‘in the mud’ and needs to get out; Garnet Hathaway finally breaks through

Typically, our second-day stories on games include two positives sandwiched around a negative. It’s built that way to soften the blow of the negative.

But while coach Rick Tocchet said he liked parts of the Flyers’ game, after a 7-2 loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning, it’s hard to focus on positives. So, this is a reverse. Here are two negatives with a big positive in the middle.

As Garnet Hathaway said, the team is going to have to watch a lot of tape on Sunday because, in an odd twist of the schedule, the Flyers get another crack at the Lightning on Monday.

“We’re maybe making plays at the blue line that we shouldn’t make,” Hathaway said. “Their east-west game is a lot of their offense. They know when they have time and space, and they’ve got elite skill to make those passes through guys. So, some self-inflicted, some tip your cap. Either way, it doesn’t matter.”

Pretty much every single goal the Lightning scored came off a breakdown by the Flyers. Whether it was a turnover at the Tampa Bay blue line that sent the puck the other way — i.e., Matvei Michkov’s turnover that led to Gage Goncalves’ first goal of the night, or Trevor Zegras’ that led to Yanni Gourde’s tally — or backing up in the defensive zone, or leaving guys all alone to have their way with Sam Ersson, the Flyers struggled on Saturday.

» READ MORE: Depleted Flyers fall hard at home against Tampa Bay, snapping a three-game point streak

While Tocchet had no problem with his team’s effort through the first 30 minutes, he thought some of his players lost focus and “half-hustled.” He noted that several players made mistakes backchecking and let the Lightning get inside.

You can only put so much blame on not having three of your best players, but the Flyers fell apart, notably in the third period. They were outshot 8-4 and, according to Natural Stat Trick, they had 30% of the shot attempts at five-on-five. The Lightning scored four times.

“Just an awful third period,” captain Sean Couturier said. “We’ll just move on. It’s one of those games you’ve got to forget quick.”

Although the majority of players struggled, guys like Nikita Grebenkin, Owen Tippett, who scored his 14th goal on the season, and Hathaway stood out.

For Hathaway, it was a moment 36 games in the making, because in Game 37, he notched his first goal of the season. It was also his first point.

“A little overdue,” he said. “I keep thinking about, I can’t go back and change anything that’s happened so far. It doesn’t help me to think about. It doesn’t help me look back and wish I, you know, woulda, coulda, shoulda. It’s nice to get one. It’s nice to help the team on the score sheet.”

The goal was a deserved one with how he and Rodrigo Ābols played along the end boards — actually being the ones to create the turnover as they stole the puck from Lightning defenseman Erik Cernak. Hathaway then went right to the slot and deflected in the point shot. It is the gritty, blue-collar style of game that Hathaway needs to play to be successful.

Through 16 starts this season, Ersson is 6-6-4 with a 3.33 goals-against average and .858 save percentage. According to Money Puck, he is fifth-worst in goals saved above average (-9.5), and among goalies who have played at least 12 games, he ranks sixth in percentage of expected goals (-21.01).

On Saturday, Ersson allowed seven goals on 23 shots, giving him his worst save percentage of the season (.696).

Was every goal his fault? No. The first goal saw the Flyers completely ignore Nikita Kucherov — something you should never do — allowing him to sit all alone in front for a slam-dunk goal.

“We’ve got to be better in front of him. Those are tough games to play. Obviously, I think he deserved better,” Tippett said. “And I don’t know if the sarcastic cheers [are] really appreciated, but we’ve got to do a better job in front of him and not put him in some of those situations.” Ersson was on the receiving end of sarcastic cheers after his saves throughout the night, including on his first save after allowing two goals on the first three shots of the third period.

“Keep his head up,” Hathaway said about the message to Ersson. “Yeah, I don’t think we played as defensively sound as we needed to against a very offensive-minded team, and that’s not on him. He’s played great all year, so forget it, it’s in the past” ”

According to Natural Stat Trick, Ersson faced seven high-danger shots and allowed four goals. But he did allow two from mid-range and one low-danger goal. Is he a goalie struggling with confidence?

“Yeah, he’s struggling a little bit,” Tocchet said when asked. “... You’re going to have tough nights. It’s a tough night. To have an NHL career, sometimes you’re going to be in the mud, and you’ve got to get yourself out of it, got to work harder.

“You’ve got to analyze things, not just him, anybody, when you’re having a tough, tough night or something, or tough couple of weeks or something, whatever you’re having, you’ve got to really just dig down and then get the support of the team too. That helps too.”