Flyers outlast Red Wings, Rasmus Ristolainen scores OT winner for third straight victory

The Flyers are 5-0-1 since the Anaheim game and are keeping themselves in the Wild Card hunt.

Matvei Michkov tries to jam the puck past Detroit goaltender Alex Lyon during the first period of Tuesday night's game between the Flyers and Red Wings at the Wells Fargo Center.
Eric Hartline/Imagn Images

The calendar pushes further into the season, and the Flyers, within the scope of this year and the long-term picture, they're trucking along. 

On Tuesday morning, general manager Danny Brière held a press conference over in Voorhees to talk about the team's progress past the halfway mark of their schedule. 

He talked about the goaltending picture, which will stay at three at least for now between Sam Ersson, Ivan Fedotov, and Alesksei Kolosov, even though it isn't ideal to carry all of them on the NHL roster for long. He talked about trade buzz, trying to find a center for Matvei Michkov (they're looking but not rushing), and the rumors circling Rasmus Ristolainen, who seems to be becoming this deadline's Sean Walker (they're getting calls on him, but not shopping him). He talked about the recent dominance from Noah Cates' line, too, Travis Konecny's rise into NHL stardom, and guys like Morgan Frost, Joel Farabee, and Jamie Drysdale trending back upward again, along with where it could take them.

But they're taking their time. They're sticking to their plan. 

And on the ice Tuesday night at the Wells Fargo Center, the team itself stuck to its process, grinding out another low-event contest until late to beat the Detroit Red Wings, 2-1, in overtime for their third straight win. 

Ristolainen was the OT hero after a move and a loose puck just trickled by Red Wings goaltender Alex Lyon on a rush and a deke that got away from Owen Tippett in the blue paint. The defenseman was the one to crash in and clean it all up.

"I just saw the puck on the line and just tried to take everyone out of the way and just put in, take the net, or do anything," Ristolainen said from the locker room afterward. "I'm actually not sure if I was able to put it in or someone else, but we take the win."

The official call was the goal was his.

The Flyers had their ups, and definitely their downs, but for right now, they are hanging in there.

They're 22-20-6 for 50 points, keeping them within an arm's reach of the Wild Card picture, and are on a 5-2-1 stretch since coming back home from the holiday break – and if you want to narrow it down further, they're 5-0-1 since pummeling Cutter Gauthier and the Anaheim Ducks a couple of weeks ago, all with steadily better and better defensive hockey. 

Well, that and "Goaltending," head coach John Tortorella said postgame of the team's biggest difference of late.

"To me, I think your whole team changes, your attitude of your team changes from where our goaltending was to where it is now," he continued. "It's just, that's the way it works in the National Hockey League."

Ersson, who had Tuesday night's start in net, saved 27 of 28 shots to continue his strong return from injury, which included some clutch stops in the third period and into OT on some dicey Detroit opportunities.

It's still a rebuild, and Brière stressed again on Tuesday morning that the goal is to develop the Flyers into a legitimate Stanley Cup Contender tomorrow, not a bubble playoff team for today.

But they can compete right now. They've shown it, and although they're still on the outside looking in, they have a shot at making another postseason push so long as they can keep their momentum going – and their goaltending at least somewhat steady, too.

"For us, the future is still the key, and we're looking ahead," Brière said. "We're looking forward. The players are going to decide in the moment how far they want to push it."

Tuesday night's win over Detroit pushed them just a bit further.

Michkov generated four of the Flyers' eight shots on goal through the opening period, but they left it scoreless through a first 20 minutes of possession trade-offs and suppressed chances. 

Just past five minutes into the second, Michkov came back and kept his balance with the puck off a check from a zone entry, nudging it forward enough by the blue line for Farabee to step away with it and then move it down to Sean Couturier.

The Flyers captain slipped it back to the winger, and Farabee made a slick move to his backhand to flip a shot by Lyon for the 1-0 lead. 

The 24-year-old winger has been about as snakebitten as they come for the better part of the season so far, but since returning to the lineup from a several-game scratching of a press box reset, Farabee has four points and a plus-5 rating in the past three games, which included an assist on Ristolainen's winning goal.

"I'm not really going out there and doing anything crazy different," Farabee said. "But just the idea of when I don't have the puck, try to get to the net, try to get to the inside. Got a couple lucky bounces."

Ersson carried a 14-save shutout run going into the second intermission, and the line of Konecny, Frost, and Tippett spent the last couple of minutes of it hemming Detroit down in their own end with rapid cycling and shot after shot that they just couldn't thread through. 

The lack of finish on their opportunities, a team-wide issue all season, once again bit them when Detroit's Ben Chiarot snuck down from the point and buried a backdoor pass by Ersson from out of the right corner 30 seconds into the third.

With the game tied at one, play flew back and forth again, with the Red Wings gaining a shot advantage on a flurry at the top of the crease in front of Ersson that he endured until he could finally fall on the puck for a stoppage. 

Later on, past the halfway mark of the period, Ersson created his own scare when he skated out of the crease to play a puck, but had his pass immediately picked off by Detroit and coming back his way. Patrick Kane was moving in with the puck, but Travis Sanheim made a clutch play with his stick to knock the puck away and out of danger, which relayed into the Flyers turning it the other way and putting some pressure back on Lyon through Koecny and then that pesky line of Cates, Tyson Foester, and Bobby Brink – though still to no break in the stalemate.

They needed overtime, only after a few more causes to hold your breath, and down to the final few ticks until Ristolainen cashed in.

"Pretty goal, eh?" the defenseman joked.

Hey, rookie

Ryan Poehling (upper-body) went on injured reserve from the nasty hit he took against the Devils over the weekend and Scott Laughton was out of Tuesday night's lineup due to a personal/family matter. 

So in came Lehigh Valley call-up and 29-year-old rookie Rodrigo Ābols to make his NHL debut, complete with the traditional solo lap to begin warmups.

"Me and my wife were laughing about it," Ābols said. "It's not your ordinary debut when you have a wife and a three-year-old behind the stands cheering you on for the solo lap."

He held his own though. 

The Latvian center skated on the fourth line with Olle Lycksell and Garnet Hathaway on his wings, and with Tortorella unafraid to look his way. 

Ābols saw 10:39 of ice time in his first NHL game.

"I liked him," Tortorella said. "I think he understands the game. Big guy. I think we need to get bigger as a team as we move along here. Asked the right questions. I thought he handled himself really well."

While the NHL is uncharted territory, Ābols is hardly a stranger to pro hockey.

Before joining the Phantoms in the AHL for this season, Ābols spent the past several years playing pro hockey overseas in Sweden, which he acknowledged was a bit of a similar path to a former Flyer who also didn't debut in the NHL until his late 20s.

"I've always looked at Pierre-Édouard Bellemare, who actually came here as well in Philly, so he kinda had a similar story," Ābols said. "Played in Sweden, came over here, and carved out a good NHL career. Hopefully, I can do something similar."

The pride in it

Tuesday night was also the Flyers' annual Pride Night in support of the LGBTQ+ community. 

Laughton has been an ally and a You Can Play ambassador for years now, and Farabee picked up in the team's LGBTQ+ support initiatives as well.

As with every year, players put rainbow tape on their sticks during warmups, and the Wells Fargo Center got outfitted with special pride-themed decorations and graphics. The Flyers also organized a pregame Pride Fest by section 106 of the arena, which afforded space to local LGBTQ+ vendors, artists, and community groups, and Flyers Charities announced a $10,000 donation to the Mazzoni Center to be put toward its cancer awareness and prevention programs for Philadelphia's LGBTQ+ community.

"It's pretty cool," Farabee said of the efforts. "I think the whole night's awesome. Honestly wish Scott was here. He's kinda the one who got me into all of it, so having him here would've been awesome. But yeah, it's a cool night. I think just the idea of trying to get everyone, especially at the Wells Fargo, I think we're all just kind of one big family, so just getting people to feel welcome and getting different groups to come in is kind of what we're trying to do."

"It's such an important thing to know that you're supported in a sometimes hostile environment," said longtime fan Rebecca Werez, who came to Tuesday night's game in a Laughton shirt with a rainbow-striped number. "I think it's just really important, and it means a lot to me."

"There's always going to be queer fans," Werez added. "There always have been queer fans, so to have a night that showcases that is just so important."


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