January 14, 2024
The Philadelphia Flyers are a wago–
If you cant tell how much fun and better this Flyers locker room is… Flyers forming a train as Travis Konecny takes the ice for morning skate. #LetsGoFlyers pic.twitter.com/UzsW9roVn1
— Brandon J. Sommermann (@B_Sommermann) January 12, 2024
Regardless, they're rolling either way.
After a bizarre Monday night that no doubt changed the outlook of the franchise – though unknown to what extent – the Flyers seemed to have come out of it that much more united as a team.
Jamie Drysdale, shocked that he was suddenly traded himself, came in from Anaheim, was thrown right into the fire in Philadelphia, and with his fluid skating and puck control along the blue line, was fully embraced by the fan base of his new home.
The Flyers beat Montreal in the shootout, then went on a road trip out to the Midwest and swept a tough back-to-back, of which leaves them just two points behind the New York Rangers for first place in the Metropolitan Division – albeit, a very much crowded one – as of Sunday.
We're midway through January, the Flyers are still staying with it, and the vibes surrounding this hockey team have just immaculate.
Here are five thoughts on where the Orange and Black are at...
The Flyers' road back-to-back lined up as Minnesota on Friday night then Winnipeg right after on Saturday.
The Wild have been struggling this season but are hardly a roster to be dismissed, while the Jets have taken off as one of the Western Conference's top teams.
So how did the Flyers hold up? They climbed out of a 3-1 hole then completed the comeback in OT to beat Minnesota 4-3, and then in the quick turnaround blanked Winnipeg 2-0 behind another major performance from Samuel Ersson in goal.
Look, they've far from always gotten the result, but if the Flyers have proven anything this season, it's that they can and will skate with anyone, and won't shy away from grinding games out.
And they just walked away with two big ones here.
Helping the Flyers close the gap against the Wild was Tyson Foerster, who threaded home a great feed from Scott Laughton in the second period to make it a one-goal game and snap a 16-game goal-less drought for the 21-year old winger.
Tyson Foerster breaks his 16 game goal drought and the Flyers are within 1
— Nasty Knuckles (@NastyKnuckles) January 13, 2024
pic.twitter.com/DASwJxiS7k
The next night against the Jets, it was finally Cam Atkinson's turn with a two-goal performance that emphatically broke a 26-game slump dating back to mid-November.
Cam Atkinson’s second goal of the night!! pic.twitter.com/Arn97z4w3r
— Nasty Knuckles (@NastyKnuckles) January 14, 2024
The further into the season the Flyers get, the more offense they're going to need from the lineup top to bottom – it can't all be coming from Sean Couturier, Joel Farabee, and Travis Konecny on line 1.
Foerster has been doing a lot of the little things right for a while now – digging into the corners, making the smart passes, seeking out the open ice and shots – but he's just had a hard time translating it into goals. But he's young, so it's something you have to trust will come with time, and hopefully it's starting to.
Atkinson, meanwhile, looked like he was trying to snap out of his rut trying to fit a square peg into a round hole. He's been taking shots, but the majority of them over the past two months have been low-danger slap shots fired straight into goaltenders' pads.
Saturday he tipped an errant pass home then cleaned up on a rebound. Hey, take them as they come. However, he did have another chance coasting through the slot and tried to drag the shot across his body and through the gap in Connor Hellebuyck's pads.
He stopped it, but it was a good read and shot selection on Atkinson's part. If he can manage more of those types of looks, that's another thing where you have to hope the goals start to pile up again as well.
Also wanted to note that Owen Tippett has gotten going of late. His tying goal against the Wild on Friday was his third in as many games before his streak snapped against Winnipeg the next night.
Joel Farabee had the Flyers' opening tally against Minnesota Friday night then went on to tip in the OT winner.
The 23-year old winger is up to 14 goals and 19 assists for 33 points on the season, which is good for second on the team in scoring behind Konecny, and at his current pace, is well on his way to setting new career highs in nearly al, offensive categories.
Perhaps somewhat quietly – compared to the likes of Konecny, a healthy returning Couturier, and a resurgent Travis Sanheim – Farabee has been another big reason why the Flyers have been successful as they have, and has developed a game that has only become increasingly more noticeable as the season wears on, especially ever since his promotion to the top line.
The Flyers complete the comeback in OT 🔥 pic.twitter.com/SOk3ZucdcA
— B/R Open Ice (@BR_OpenIce) January 13, 2024
If an opponent makes a mistake while No. 86 is out there, he's jumping on it.
The Flyers' power play is still the worst in the league as of Sunday, but it's getting better, at least.
They've had goals on the man advantage in each of the last five games now, and seemed to have finally found a way to start jumping on openings after setting up camp in the offensive zone.
No doubt Egor Zamula's new-found confidence quarterbacking the power play up by the point and Jamie Drysdale's addition back there as well is helping things take shape.
The 12.4 success rate still isn't great, but hey, they're figuring something out. Little victories.
The Flyers don't blank the Western Conference juggernaut Jets without another standout performance from Samuel Ersson between the pipes.
The 24-year old netminder stopped all 35 shots that the Jets threw at him, and that included some tough saves to make among those 35, but he stood tall.
Samuel Ersson propels the @NHLFlyers to victory with his third @pepsi shutout of the season. 👏 pic.twitter.com/9g6k1i7GeN
— NHL (@NHL) January 14, 2024
Ersson is 11-5-3 on the season with a .910 save percentage and a 2.33 goals-against average in his 18 starts thus far, and after a rough start to the season, he's reset, zeroed in, and has been incredibly fundamentally sound since – in his reads, his rebound control, and cutting down angles.
As mentioned earlier this week, the NHL this season has become a two-goaltender league. You need two goalies to survive and between Ersson and Carter Hart, the Flyers have one of the league's biggest dilemmas readily answered.
Again, a goalie controversy shouldn't be the thought. Think of it more as a rotation.
If the Flyers can keep rolling Hart out one or two games at a time and then go to Ersson seamlessly for the third, they're going to be in incredibly good shape approaching the home stretch of a playoff race that only seems to be getting more real by the day.
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