Samuel Ersson struggled early last season with momentum saves, when used as a backup netminder, that would eventually turn the page on the game in the Flyers favor. However, when he took over the helm as a number one netminder following the departure of Carter Hart, Ersson became a stone wall for the most part. Sure he struggled a bit down the stretch, in large part due to workload, however, he managed to still put forth a good season.
Flyers’ Head Coach John Tortorella noticed his increased workload down the stretch, and he managed to use him more effectively over the course of the past month of the season. Ersson was pretty impressive with his rebound control, and he made timely saves most notably against the San Jose Sharks. He moves laterally from post to post well, and he has also donned a new goalie mask in the same token this season.For his efforts, Ersson had a good year last year. So much so, he owned the 19th best GAA in Flyers history with a 2.87. That’s actually better than Carter Hart’s career 2.94 GAA as a Flyer.
Then, a lower body injury arose. He came back from that injury well posting a 1-0-1 record, to only see him have another recurring injury. It happened to be the same injury as before, a lower body injury, notably his groin.
Ersson was out for about a month, and he came back like a different Goaltender, in a bad way. He owns a 4-4 record in his last eight starts, and has posted a Save Percentage over .900 in just two of those said starts, to include his last start against the San Jose Sharks on December 31, 2024, before he left the game with a lower body injury.
Flyers’ General Manager Danny Briere said that Ersson was day to day, and he was out with a lower body injury. That meant the tandem of Aleksei Kolosov and Ivan Fedotov were back on the prowl. And with that Ivan Fedotov played well, and placed himself back into the backup position.
“Erss in net, Fedotov backs up,” said John Tortorella before the game against the Dallas Stars. “Just want to get him playing again. He’s healthy, we wouldn’t put him in net if he totally wasn’t ready to go.”
This means the Goaltending situation looks like this in Philadelphia:
- Samuel Ersson
- Ivan Fedotov
- Aleksei Kolosov
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