Photo Credit: The Philadelphia Flyers
There were lots of positives to take away from last night’s second pre-season game, in a sense that the Islanders had 12 skaters that could play in the NHL to the Flyers seven. However, once again the goaltending of Felix Sandström remained a bright spot. He saved five out of six shots faced, as he continues to impress at training camp and game action for that matter.
“I’m battling to get a shot here,” Sandström said following the 2-1 loss to the Islanders. “I know the other guys are too, battle everyday. That’s where my focus is, play as good as I can.”
To start it off the goaltending of Felix Sandström was sharp once again. Sandström made five saves on six yards faced, and his glove hand was good last night. He made some dandy saves to keep the game scoreless right off the bat. For instance, with both teams scoreless midway through the first period, Sandström flashed some leather on Mathew Barzal to keep the game scoreless with the Islanders on the power play. He made a really nice glove save against a player who knows how to put the puck in the back of the net. The backup goaltending spot to Carter Hart continues to be a key positional battle at camp, and it’s a tough one to measure right now.
“That’s where my focus is, play as good as I can.” – Felix Sandström
Is Sandström making a strong case to stay within the organization? By all means, yes. He has been impressive at camp, as he made some dandy saves in the scrimmages on Friday, as well. Sandström is not only excelling at practice, but game action too. In the event the Flyers go with Ersson or Cal Petersen as their backup, Sandström would have to clear waivers to be sent back to Lehigh Valley.
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The same can be said for Samuel Ersson. Ersson made 12 saves on 13 shots faced last night against the Islanders. He was pretty impressive with his rebound control and not only that, Ersson made timely saves, but made some really good saves in the same token. Ersson moves laterally from post to post well, and has a new goalie mask in the same token.
The former Vasteras IK product in Ersson appears to a confident one after his first 12 stints in the NHL. He was 6-3, with a 3.07 GAA, and a .899 Save Percentage to start his NHL career last season. Ersson is agile, and really moved well laterally from post to post. He has a good glove hand, as he snares pucks out of mid air. For his efforts, Ersson earned a 2.00 GAA, and a .930 Save Percentage in his last three starts, and he led the Flyers to a sweep of the California road trip for the first time in franchise history.
This was an unlikely role given to him, with the sickness to Sandström, but he seemed to relish his new role with the Flyers. Ersson really turned some heads in a good way for the Flyers proud faithful, and took this backup goaltending spot by the bullhorns for a short period of time. However, John Tortorella seemed to favor Ersson over Sandström when Felix came back from injury.
“Overall, it was fun being back out there. I’m out here trying to prove that I can help this team win games.” – Samuel Ersson
One thing is certain, this backup goaltending situation remains a fluid one at camp, and the spot might come down to the last day of camp.
