Ersson, Flyers pick up consecutive wins for first time this season originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia
The Flyers had another grind-it-out win Thursday night with a 2-1 decision over the Blues at the Wells Fargo Center.
Bobby Brink scored the game-winning goal with 3:01 minutes left in the third period. Samuel Ersson delivered the goods in net on Halloween. He made an excellent save on a redirection with 20.2 seconds remaining.
Noah Cates followed it with a big blocked shot to help seal the win.
Garnet Hathaway netted the game-opening goal in the first period after Ryan Poehling made an electric play up ice.
The Flyers (4-6-1) won consecutive games for the first time this season. After giving up four or more goals in seven of their first nine games, the Flyers have yielded only one over these two straight wins. They were able to build on the 2-0 blanking of the Bruins from Tuesday night.
“It’s something I’d like to see happen for us, to play two or three in a row,” head coach John Tortorella said at morning skate. “Then it starts being instinctive, how we play. I think we showed more of our identity against Boston, what our standard of play is and the style of play, minus still some struggling offensively. But you need to put two or three in a row, so that’s the concentration, that’s what our meeting was about this morning.”
Following a six-game losing streak, the Flyers have won three of their last four games to stabilize a bit.
Tortorella’s club sees the Blues (5-6-0) again in a month when they visit St. Louis at the end of November.
• Coming off a 23-save shutout over the Bruins, Ersson denied 20 of 21 shots against the Blues.
St. Louis finally cracked the 25-year-old midway through the third period when Nathan Walker buried a rebound.
Aleksei Kolosov backed up Ersson for the second straight game. At morning skate, Tortorella confirmed that the Flyers are rolling with the 22-year-old right now as their No. 2. Ivan Fedotov, the third goalie on the club’s roster, has been a healthy scratch the last three games after giving up 14 goals over three starts.
“Ivan had some games, we weren’t happy with his game,” the head coach said. “We’re going to look at Kolosov. To me, that’s how I feel about it. I’m not sure where it all goes as the grand plan, as we keep on going here, because we also have to think about Feds, too, to get him some time.”
St. Louis netminder Jordan Binnington stopped 19 of the Flyers’ 21 shots
• Poehling put the Flyers’ offense on his back midway through the first period when he went coast to coast, dangling through the Blues with a slew of moves to set up Hathaway’s goal.
Highlight-reel stuff from the 25-year-old center.
• Nick Seeler used his left hand to block a shot in the first period. His effort was applauded by fans as he got back up to his feet and skated off in pain. The defenseman was animated when he arrived to the bench.
The Flyers have fought it offensively, but they’ve defended like a Tortorella team the last two games.
• Matvei Michkov went scoreless for a third straight game. He looked tired Thursday night and not like his usual, puck-hunting self. Just seemed off.
The 19-year-old rookie still has nine points (four goals, five assists) through 11 games.
• The Flyers are scheduled to practice Friday in Voorhees, New Jersey before hosting the Bruins on Saturday (1 p.m. ET/NBCSP).
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