Flyers takeaways: Forwards reap the rewards of getting to the net; Sam Ersson stays hot
The Flyers scored five goals around the net while Ersson continued his sterling play since the Olympic break in a 5-1 win over Chicago.
There is no taking away from the win, but while we mark some games as schedule losses, this one was always earmarked for a win.
The Chicago Blackhawks are once again near the bottom of the standings, and they also have a very young team, with an average age of 26. Anton Frondell was playing in his second career game, and Sacha Boisvert, who was a teammate of Flyers prospects Owen McLaughlin and Jack Murtagh at Boston University this season, was making his NHL debut.
It also could have been prime for a letdown game, but it was not, as the Flyers produced one of their most complete games to date, topped off by a 5-1 wire-to-wire win.
The schedule does get tougher from here on out, so, regardless of who they are playing, here are four things the Flyers did well on Thursday night that they can carry into their final 11 games.
» READ MORE: Flyers’ second-period flurry powers a 5-1 win over the Chicago Blackhawks
Driving to the interior
Flyers coach Rick Tocchet said during his pregame availability that the team had a good presentation on driving the net. The Flyers talked about how it is something they need to get better at, and on this night, they did.
There really isn’t too much to say beyond this heat map provided by Natural Stat Trick. At five-on-five, the Flyers had 24 high-danger chances — their average this season is 9.2 a game.
“We’re trying,” center Christian Dvorak said of going to the net front more. “This time of year, there’s not so many tic-tac-toe goals; you’ve got to get to the front of the net and get some good bounces. I think I’ve been doing better with that, and the D’s had some great shots with some good tips. So I think if we keep doing that, those will keep coming.”
The Flyers scored five times from in front. They entered the night with 59 high-danger goals across 70 games. That is 0.84 per game. Needless to say, it was a good night. And as Tocchet said, the team “just got to take advantage of opportunities.”
Dvorak capitalized on a miscue to set up Alex Bump for his third goal of the year, and Luke Glendening intercepted a bad pass to feed Sean Couturier for his second goal in as many games.
“I thought we played interior tonight,” Tocchet said postgame. “We had a couple of those back-door [plays]. We were always around the net. A couple of guys could have got some goals there too. So, yeah, that’s a good thing. We have to build on it, though. You’ve got to do it every night if you can.”
Letting Owen Tippett go
You’ve probably heard this before: Tippett was flying around the ice.
The way he uses his speed is now noticeable, keeping defensemen on their heels as they back up to have a good gap and try to control him. He just goes around them anyway.
“Yeah, it’s been unbelievable,” Dvorak said of Tippett’s game. “Just moving his feet, he’s so fast, it’s hard to keep up with him. He’s been huge for us and a big part of this team, and had another great game.”
Tippett had two assists in the game, one of which was a nice leading pass to Trevor Zegras for a shot that led to Denver Barkey’s goal. In the second period, he used his speed to force young second-year defenseman Artyom Levshunov to turn the puck over deep in his own end, which eventually led to Dvorak’s marker.
“He’s punching the clock every game, and you notice him,” Tocchet said. “I don’t think he was happy with his game last game, and I could just tell today he was a little more serious today. You could just tell he dragged everybody in the fight tonight.”
The 27-year-old from Ontario also had two good looks to get a goal for himself.
In the first period, the Flyers got the puck in their own end, and he flew down the right side, blowing past defenseman Ethan Del Mastro, but sent the puck wide. His rebound chance hit the side of the net, and Emil Andrae, back in the lineup, swooped in for a follow-up opportunity. In the second, he scooped up the puck, curled in the left circle, and went right across the crease before being denied by the pad of Spencer Knight.
“A little bit,” Tippett said when asked if he feels pressure to take charge. “I don’t put too much pressure on it to think of it that way. I just kind of try and focus on the game plan and controlling what I can control.”
Don’t be afraid to start Sam Ersson
Four starts. Four wins.
“He’s got a good swagger,” Tocchet said of Ersson. “He’s put a bunch of good games, really good, [together]. ... He looks rock solid. He’s been working, though. I got to give him credit, him and [goaltending coach Kim Dillabaugh]. ... He would go, himself and Dilly, to the rink by themselves. So he’s putting in the work.”
Across five games since the Olympic break — he served mop-up duty against the New York Rangers on March 9, stopping the three shots he saw — Ersson has a 1.58 goals-against average, .931 save percentage, and, according to Natural Stat Trick, a 2.11 goals saved above average.
Among goalies with at least two games, his GAA ranks third, his save percentage is tied for fourth, and his GSAA is 20th. In his 24 games between the start of the NHL season and the Olympic break, to put it nicely, he wasn’t anywhere near the top with a 3.51 GAA, .856 save percentage, and -22.57 GSAA.
What changed? If you ask Ersson, it wasn’t anything because he firmly believes that “in times of struggle, I feel like you just got to almost dig in and believe even harder on what you’re doing and in your game.”
Whatever it is, it’s working, as Ersson made several key stops, including a masterful diving blocker save to stone Ilya Mikheyev on a shorthanded two-on-one chance.
“He came up with huge saves, that one on the power play that we had, sliding across,” Tippett said. “He gave us a chance to win early. I think both our goalies right now are giving us a chance every night, and we’ve got to do everything we can to play in front of them.”
Pedal to the metal
What was the true difference tonight? As Dvorak said, they played a full 60 minutes.
“You can’t roll the rollercoaster,” Tocchet said. “So we’re trying to be like, even keel. Yeah, great win, getting five goals, we should feel good about each other, but tomorrow’s a different day. We’ve got to lock it in. It’s maturity. We can’t be the rollercoaster.”
They need to keep doing it because the schedule is a tough one if they want to get back into the playoffs. This game was a good start and could be a stepping stone, but they have to keep the pedal to the metal.
“I think we just take the positives. I think a lot of the stuff that we did tonight wasn’t overcomplicating things,” Tippett said following an all-important regulation win, as that is the first tiebreaker.
“The goals we did score are how we want to do it, right? Around the net, in the blue paint, and getting those second-chance opportunities.
“So, yeah, I think it’s a matter of not getting too high or too low, and just kind of focusing on what we did good and building off that into the next game and knowing that our next game is a big one, and it’s a back-to-back, so we’ve got to stick to those basics and get going.”
Playoff standings
Metropolitan Division
Wild card
Flyers’ remaining schedule
Teams battling for the final Eastern Conference playoff spots are in italics.