Photo Credits: FNG’s Rob Windfelder
The Flyers resume play Tuesday night in Florida against the Panthers. It will be their first game back after having a week or so off for the All Star festivities. The Flyers went into the break crumbling into a five game losing streak. That down-turn was preceded by a five game winning streak with the team riding high and doing no wrong. It will be curious to see which version of the Orange and Black shows up in Florida Tuesday night.
The Flyers have 32 games left in the 2023-24 regular season. They are still holding onto 3rd place in the Metropolitan Division but the pack is tightening up. How the Flyers bounce back from the past few weeks may set the tone for the final push towards the post season. If they can keep up the kind of pace they have set for themselves so far they could have a good chance of a playoff birth for the first time since “the bubble year” of 2020.
Stay the course
Everyone from head coach John Tortorella to GM Danny Briere could not be more clear about the direction and status of the team. This is not the finished product. The Flyers are potentially “sellers” and not “buyers” on their way to a possible return to the playoffs. The long term is the focus. The rebuild is still the priority. Yet they expect the team to compete and they want to win every possible game. This is not a contradiction.
Tortorella is building a team with a focus on winning hockey games. That is how you build a winning team. There will always be arguments about not pushing so hard before you have a shot at a respectable playoff run, focus on the draft and development. Many faces will change over the coming years but some of the young players who will be part of the new era are already here. This is their development. They are already being formed to set the attitude and foundation for the future. During this time the Flyers are already building a reputation as a team that refuses to give in to adversity. To face it head on. The way things are setting up there will be a ton of lessons in the final leg of this current season. It’s gut check time.
Adversity
The biggest change for this overachieving Flyers squad down the homestretch will obviously be the goaltending situation. The combination of Carter Hart and Samuel Ersson was a huge part of the team’s success so far this season. That is over.
Carter Hart is no longer part of the picture for the foreseeable future, if at all. Hart has been charged with a criminal offense. He’s been arrested, processed, and released “on undertakings” by the authorities in London Ontario. The wheels of justice grind slowly and there will most likely be no resolution to the proceedings before this current season and Hart’s contract with the Flyers both come to an end. The charges are very serious and the process needs to move forward and so do the Flyers. This is the truth of the matter and obviously the “matter” far outweighs any aspect of sport or entertainment.
Moving on
It’s certain that the Flyers will be moving forward under a cloud of headlines that will hang over their heads as they attempt to get beyond this period in time. None of these players moving forward had any connection to this nightmare situation yet they will have to deal with the repercussions to a certain extent. It will be a real test of character.
Samuel Ersson
As far as the hockey aspect of things, Samuel Ersson has suddenly become the most important player on the team. There isn’t a backup goaltender in the Flyers system that can fill his skates on the nights when he is not scheduled to start in the Flyers net. That will make every start that he does get even that much more important. That’s a lot of pressure, hopefully he is up to it. Not saying the Flyers are going to lose every night that Ersson is being rested, just saying their chances will be much better on the nights when he is between the pipes.
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Ersson has put up some impressive performances so far this season. Many would say he had already earned the spot as the top starter. Ersson’s overall numbers took a hit during the recent skid but he still holds a 2.60 GA and a .898 SV%. He has three shutouts and has been incredible in shoot-outs. Ersson has it in him to be the kind of goaltender that can get you through this type of situation if he’s capable of tapping into it.
Cal Petersen and Felix Sandstrom have spent the season thus far with the Lehigh Valley Phantoms. Their current AHL numbers are Sandstrom 3.18 GA .886 SV% and Petersen 3.26 GA .890.
Owen Tippett
Some good news, Owen Tippett has been skating with the top line at practice and could be looking to return to the line-up sooner rather than later. Tippett has become a valuable part of the Flyers offense over the past two seasons. He sustained a lower body injury and left the game that started the five game skid on January 20th. Tippett has 18 goals and 30 points on the season so far. He has just signed an 8 year deal with the team ensuring that he is one of the young players that is intended to be part of the team throughout the rebuilding process.
Travis Konecny
Travis Konecny represented the Flyers at the 2024 All Star Game. Konecny leads the Flyers in scoring this season with 22 goals and 20 assists. TK is building on a breakout season last year and is someone the team really counts on with his speed, crafty play, and gritty attitude. Konecny is capable of helping his team in all situations, he is a plus 9 and is tied for 1st in the NHL with 5 shorthanded goals. Konecny is another player who can have a big impact in this final stretch. He is known as an “agitator” on the ice but in the locker room he has a calm confident demeanor which is just what you need during turbulent times.
Gut check
The Flyers are being asked to deal with a tough situation as a team, as individual players, and as human beings. As a team they are just lost their “franchise goaltender”. As players they are being asked to focus on the task at hand and make up the difference. As human beings it can’t be easy dealing with such a serious and unresolved issue involving someone who has been a teammate for years.
Extra Credit:
The NHL playoffs are the most intense post season in all of sports. Some would ask what is the point of pushing these young players to a play-off bid just to see them get knocked out in an early round? There are a ton of lessons to be learned just from being there and seeing first hand just how intense it truly is. When this team has the skill-set to go for a deep run into the post season the more experience they have to take with them the better. Either way you don’t have a choice, Tortz wants to win games and winning games lands you in the play-offs. So that is obviously what Tortorella is shooting for.
