Ersson’s effort and late goal lead Flyers to victory over Blues on Halloween – The Hockey Writers – Philadelphia Flyers

Thanks to another stellar performance from Samuel Ersson in goal, the Philadelphia Flyers posted back-to-back wins for the first time in the 2024-25 season. Their 2-1 win over the St. Louis Blues is their third win in four games after a 1-5-1 start. The Blues, who started the season 5-3-0, lost their third straight game in regulation.

After allowing a combined 13 goals in losses to the Montreal Canadiens and Ottawa Senators, the Blues tightened up on defense but were unable to get past Ersson, who nearly recorded his second straight shutout after beating the Boston Bruins on Tuesday. the score is 2:0. before the Blues tied the game midway through the third. The Flyers, who took a 1-0 lead 11:12 into the game on Garnet Hathaway’s first goal of the season, responded in the final minutes of the third when Bobby Brink completed a superb pass to Joel Farabee that held the lead. become the winner of the game.

Game review

The Flyers got off to a bit of a sloppy start, with a difficult first shot from the top line leading to a sharp reduction in Matvey Michkov’s ice time. The rookie turned the puck over the wall and played just 2:53 of the first period, the lowest total of any Flyers forward as Owen Tippett and Joel Farabee got multiple looks on the top line in place of Michkov.

Philadelphia broke through with a superb try Ryan Poling. The speedy center burst to the blue line and split Scott Perunovich and Matthew Kessel before passing the backdoor to Garnett Hathaway to ram the ball home. Nick Siler, who earned a standing ovation from the crowd late in the period for a painful blocked shot to survive a dangerous sequence in the d-zone, received a secondary assist.

St. Louis threatened early in the second period, hitting the crossbar twice and taking a penalty in the first three minutes. Although the Blues were unable to capitalize, they were in strong control of the game for most of the period before the Flyers began to settle into their stride. Travis Konecny, in particular, found himself with a couple of dangerous opportunities, but Sam Ehrsson and Jordan Binnington continued to save the day. On-save, the score remained 1-0 after 40 minutes.

The Flyers played well out of goal in the third period, but tied the game midway through the match. Philip Broberg’s corner kick hit Nathan Walker, fresh off the bench, who fired the puck into the empty net for his first goal of the season and first for the Blues. It snapped Ersson’s nearly 120-minute unbeaten streak that began in the third period of Saturday’s game against the Minnesota Wild. Broberg’s assist was his ninth point in 11 games this season, placing him among the league’s top 10 scoring defensemen.

But with three minutes left, Jordan Kyrou opened the net with an unforced pass just outside the Blues’ area. Philadelphia’s third line of Scott Laughton, Farabee and Brink turned into a slick counterattack in which Brink buried Farabee’s feed to restore the Flyers’ lead with 3:01 remaining. Thanks to the defensive efforts of John Tortorella’s club, the Flyers crossed the finish line. Ersson’s 21st and final save may have been his best as he stoned Brayden Schenn on a dangerous deflection with just 20 seconds to play.

Philadelphia wraps up a four-game, five-game home streak Saturday afternoon with a rematch against Boston after the aforementioned 2-0 win at TD Garden on Tuesday. The Blues completed a four-game road trip and will return home to host former coach Craig Berube and the Toronto Maple Leafs. This will be Berube’s first time in St. Louis since the Blues fired him last December after leading the team to its first Stanley Cup in 2019. The Blues’ lone win of the trip came against Toronto last Thursday, 5-1 in the final.