The Philadelphia Flyers will head into the 4 Nations Face-Off break on a high note. Philly came away with the 3-2 win over the western-PA rival Pittsburgh Penguins on Saturday.
Scott Laughton, Garnet Hathaway, and Travis Konecny scored in Saturday’s win.
The Flyers’ record improved to 24-26-7.
Andrei Kuzmenko was noticeably one of, if not the best, Flyer on the ice Saturday night.
He came out of the gates firing on all cylinders, putting together an impressive first two shifts of his Flyers career. He earned an assist on Scott Laughton’s game-opening tally on his first shift.
Kuzmenko was skating hard, making creative and flashy passes to set up his teammates. It was undoubtedly an impressive Flyers debut from Kuzmenko.
He only tallied one shot on goal but played nearly 19 minutes in 18 shifts. Kuzmenko was the third star of the game in his Flyers debut.
It should not come as a shock to hear that Philadelphia’s netminder Sam Ersson was, again, a significant story in the game.
The Penguins out-chanced the Flyers; there is no doubt about that. Pittsburgh outshot Philadelphia 10-2 in the first period, 11-7 in the second, and 12-11 in the third period. The final total was 33-20 in favor of the Penguins. It went beyond shots. The Penguins dominated puck possession in the first 30 minutes of the game.
Despite that, the Flyers went into each intermission with the lead—again, thanks to Ersson. That is not to discredit the defense, however. Ersson eventually got some help from the defense, which improved after Karlsson’s second-period goal.
Ersson finished the night with 31 saves and made a handful of spectacular saves.
Ersson’s 31-save night was game-saving, but he could have faced significantly more. The Flyers defense blocked 34 shots Saturday night. Jamie Drysdale and Nick Seeler blocked five shots each, leading the team.
34-blocked shots are the team’s season-high in 2024/25.
14 different Flyers skaters tallied a block Saturday night. It was an extremely impressive effort for a defense effort that really settled after the first half of the game.
The Flyers will head into the 4 Nations Face-Off break on a high note. Sam Ersson (SWE), Rasmus Ristolainen (FIN), Travis Sanheim (CAN), Travis Konecny (CAN), and John Tortorella (USA) will all take part in the tournament over the break. NHL play resumes for the Flyers when they host the Edmonton Oilers on Saturday, February 22nd.
