Backup goalie Sam Ersson struggles in Flyers’ 7-4 loss to Anaheim

The life of a backup NHL goalie isn’t particularly easy. You practice the same amount as the starter. On game days, your morning skate sessions last longer.

Most of the time, you don’t play. But you still need to figure out a way to stay sharp because when your number is called, you’re still expected to perform. This is life for Sam Ersson, the 24-year-old who won the Flyers’ backup goalie spot behind Carter Hart out of training camp.

With Hart as the clear No. 1, and off to another good start, Ersson will likely find himself seeing the fewest amount of game action since he turned pro in Sweden in 2018.

On Saturday, Ersson started against Anaheim ahead of a busy game week for the Flyers. And for the second straight Saturday, he struggled, and the Flyers once again largely outplayed their opponent and lost — this time, 7-4, to the Ducks at the Wells Fargo Center.

“It’s not really an excuse,” Ersson said about adjusting to being a backup. “It’s up to me to be prepared, and when I get the chance, I got to be able to deliver a lot better performances than I’ve been the last couple games here. I got to find a way to be a lot better.”

Ersson made just 18 saves on 25 shots. The Flyers outshot Anaheim, 31-25.

On one of Ersson’s final saves, the crowd gave him a Bronx cheer late in the third period. Flyers coach John Tortorella took exception with that — colorfully.

“That game does not fall to one guy, on the goalie,” Tortorella said. “It belongs to all of us.”

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The Flyers (4-3-1) were still mostly in the game and playing well enough to not be trailing by three goals when Frank Vatrano scored his second goal of the game and seventh of the season to give Anaheim a 3-0 advantage seven minutes into the second period.

It was as anticlimactic as a goal can get.

Vatrano was in tight and took a centering pass from Jackson Lacombe. Ersson was late sliding over, though he appeared to stop the puck. But when the game went to a commercial break, the referees skated over to center ice and put on their headsets, the play was under review.

A few minutes later, it was ruled that the puck fully crossed the line.

“It’s definitely a puck I got to have,” Ersson said. “It’s my post. I have to seal that.”

After falling behind 4-0, the Flyers showed signs of life.

Cam Atkinson put the Flyers on the board with his fifth goal of the season, after Owen Tippett made a great play and backhand pass. It was 4-1 Ducks with more than eight minutes to play in the second period.

Forty-six seconds later, Travis Konecny scored on a one-timed snap shot to cut the deficit to 4-2.

Less than three minutes in the third period, Trevor Zegras tallied a power-play goal and Brett Leason made it 6-2 just 32 seconds later, stunting the Flyers’ comeback.

“We were just really disjointed as far as sustaining our energy,” Tortorella said.

Konecny later made it 6-3 on the power play with his eighth goal in eight games, but Vatrano scored his hat-trick goal and put the game away shorthanded with 8 minutes, 48 seconds to go.

Konecny was understandably less interested in talking about his hot start than he was mulling over his turnover that led to Zegras’ goal.

“Obviously, we’re looking to get back in it, but I think I got to reflect there and realize why I’m out there is to kill the penalty,” Konecny said. “We had played good in the second. We were probably going to have a good opportunity, if we just stayed in the game there, to crawl back into it.

“I kind of knocked us out of the game tonight.”

Joel Farabee scored his fourth goal of the season with three minutes left in the game, but the result was long decided.

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To be fair to Ersson, his team didn’t make it easy at times in front of him. On Anaheim’s opening goal, Travis Sanheim, who was dominant in Thursday night’s win over Minnesota, failed on a clearing attempt, and the Ducks took a 1-0 lead 58 seconds into the game with Ryan Strome’s goal.

Anaheim (4-4-0) made it 2-0 and snapped the Flyers’ streak of 14 consecutive penalty kills when Vatrano was given way too much space on the power play high in the slot.

And on Vatrano’s second goal — the one that was reviewed — it was a Sanheim giveaway in the offensive zone that allowed Anaheim to take it the other way in the first place.

Still, the Flyers, like any team, need their goalie to make saves.

“He’s a unique guy for me,” Tortorella said of Ersson. “I think he’ll rebound. I think he’s got a mental awareness and toughness. He’ll bounce back. When he plays again, I don’t know. But that is a learning curve for him as far as being the No. 2 guy. I’m not going to go here alternating goalies back and forth to get him in rhythm. I got a pretty good guy in Carter Hart. He’s going to play the bulk of them. And [Ersson] is just going to try to get himself ready for his starts.”

The Flyers are off Sunday and return Monday at home against Carolina (7 p.m., NBC Sports Philadelphia). Their four-game homestand concludes Wednesday against Buffalo (7 p.m., TNT).