Photo Credits: FNG’s Rob Windfelder
The Flyers win a nail-biter in Nashville to up their record to 10-10-3 just in time for the Thanksgiving holiday benchmark. Flyers goaltender Samuel Ersson is still out with an injury which is giving the team an extended look at their backup netminders.
Alexei Kolosov got the start tonight and had possibly his best showing so far. Kolosov along with fellow teammate Ivan Fedotov have been holding down the fort during Ersson’s absence, and for the most part have been getting the job done. The Flyers goaltending was a question mark coming into the season. It was an unknown that head coach John Tortorella said, “scares the crap out of me”. Things are looking a lot less tenuous as the season starts to take shape.
Alexei Kolosov
Kolosov made several strong saves last night, flashing his glove hand, and stopping 25 of 27 Nashville attempts. The predators opened up the scoring 6:17 into the contest. Roman Josi was running out of options down by the Flyers net. Kolosov had his possible angles covered so Josi tried to throw the puck into the slot. The puck took a weird hop off of Travis Sanheim’s skate and into the Flyers net.
At 12:46 into the 1st Scott Laughton broke an 18 game goalless drought. Ryan Poehling put forth a good hustle to beat out an icing call. He got the puck and fed it to Laughton who fired a wrist shot past Juuse Saros to tie the game at one.
Before the opening period was over Ryan O’Reilly beat Kolosov with a rocket of a slapshot from the circle. The Flyers goalie got a piece of it but the sheer momentum of the blast kept it moving till it hit the target. And that was how the scoring sat for almost the rest of regulation.
Morgan Frost
Frost will be restricted free agent at the end of the season and has certainly had his “ups and downs” with head coach John Tortorella. Frost came into the league with a crafty bag of tricks that worked wonders in the lower levels but he has had some rough spots adjusting to the NHL game. The players that make it to the “big show” quickly find out that some of their “go to” moves that used to work like a charm just don’t fly at this level. There is a period of self editing that comes along with a young NHL career. A player, especially a talented forward, needs to find just the right mix of being creative without becoming a liability defensively.
Frost was recently a healthy scratch for a couple games which is a situation he is not all too unfamiliar with. He notched a goal and an assist in his return against the Vegas Knights on Monday night. It is safe to say that this would be the perfect time for Morgan Frost to step up and make an impact before exit strategies become the main focus. If anyone on this team needed a big clutch goal last night it was Frost and boy did he get it.
Buzzer Beater
With just 11.4 seconds left in regulation and the Flyers down 2-1 Frost scored the tying goal sending this game into overtime. The Predators missed an attempt at the Flyers empty net. Kolosov was on the bench to make room for the extra attacker. There was one last rush into the Nashville zone. Travis Sanheim, who has been a monster as of late, moved the puck up to Sean Couturier at the Predators blue line.
In one continuous forward motion Coots sent the puck towards the net, Sanheim adjusted the trajectory of the puck with a tap in the slot. Frost was streaking towards the net and gave the puck one final readjustment tipping it passed the glove of the Nashville netminder. The Predators fans looked like someone had just stolen the turkey off the table.
Coots
The Flyers captain went tumbling into the corner after a one handed deflection of a Travis Konecny shot went into the Nashville net and ended the game halfway through the overtime period. Rasmus Ristolainen had some big hits and eight blocked shots as he extended his three game point streak with the secondary assist.
The Flyers go into Thanksgiving on a high note.
Extra Credit: Thanks to all of you fine folks for your continued support and readership of the Flyers Nitty Gritty. It’s always our pleasure breaking things down with you and being here for yet another season. All the best to you and yours on this Thanksgiving holiday.
Next Up: Flyers Rangers Orange and Black Friday turkey hangover game 1:00 PM in Philly.
