After a rough outing on Saturday night in Calgary, the Philadelphia Flyers look to get back to their winning ways in Edmonton later Tuesday. Ivan Fedotov will give way to Samuel Ersson until likely their home-and-home with Washington next week, but that has less to do with his performance than it does with scheduling.
Fedotov allowed 5 goals on 31 shots against the Flames on Saturday and while it wasn’t a scintillating performance, it’s hard to pin the tail on the proverbial donkey when you look back at the defensive breakdowns and situational play. Fedotov doesn’t get fully absconded and he looked like a deer in the headlights to start the game, but he weathered the storm for most of the final 40 minutes.
Fedotov had spectacular numbers in the KHL between 2019-20 and 2021-22. He posted a .931 SV% and a 2.11 GAA for Traktor Chelyabinsk despite a 10-16-2 record. Fedotov followed that up with a .925 SV% and a 2.21 GAA the following season with a far better 14-7-3 record and then a .919 SV% and a 2.00 GAA for CSKA Moscow in 2021-22. He also helped Russia at the Winter Olympics to a silver medal with a .943 SV% and a 1.61 GAA in games.
The hulking Russian netminder was well on his way to the professional circuit in North America after the 2021-22 season, which was encapsulated by him signing him entry-level contract. Unfortunately just before he was to depart for Philadelphia, he was arrested for allegedly evading military conscription. He served a year in the Arctic and it was believed he would then be free to do as he pleased once the year came to a close.
However, CSKA Moscow retook him under their wing, signed him to a contract, and then thrust him into their starting role while the Flyers tolled his contract and the IIHF stepped in with sanctions. It seemed like a lost cause when CSKA kept playing him despite the hefty sanctions levied towards player and team. However, at the end of March, his contract was terminated and he was free to leave for the Flyers.
In a perfect world, he would have acclimated himself to his new surroundings before ever stepping onto the ice but the Flyers were desperate, their playoff hopes were dwindling, and Ersson had been driven into the ground so much so that he was becoming a liability in goal. Fedotov was given an opportunity to appear in the NHL but struggled to the tune of a .811 SV% and a 4.95 GAA in 3 games.
With a full summer and subsequent training camp under his belt, the hope was that he would return to the same form that delivered CSKA Moscow the Gagarin Cup in the KHL and his nation a silver medal at the Olympic Games. He had a so-so training camp and his first game of the regular season left a lot to be desired.
However, we take a deeper look at the goals he allowed and notice a trend of defensive breakdowns, primarily from the bottom-4:
On the first goal, Anthony Mantha was able to keep the puck in the zone along the boards with two Flyers on either side of him. He pokes it to the corner past a laissez-faire Noah Cates and towards Martin Pospíšil who man-handles Egor Zamula before sending it towards the net where it hits Jonathan Huberdeau and into the net. Not too much Fedotov could have done on that one.
The second goal came on a 4-on-3 man advantage with the Flames firmly entrenched in the offensive zone. After a nice game of pitch-and-catch between Huberdeau and MacKenzie Weegar, the latter ripped a seed of a shot through traffic and into the top corner. Fedotov lost sight of the puck just before Huberdeau fed Weegar for the one-timer, which gave the Flames’ defenseman a hole to pick at the top of the net.
The Flyers penalty kill also laid back and got into a really tight triangle, leaving their playmakers with all the time in the world to set up shop. Zamula, Rasmus Ristolainen, and Scott Laughton were focused on the two puck handlers and trying to stop a cross-crease pass, but that allowed Weegar the time and space to wire it from the point.
On the third goal, the Flyers were down attempting to kill a 5-on-3 and the usual suspects of Zamula and Ristolainen got caught yet again. Andrei Kuzmenko was parked behind the net with both defensemen trying to block his exit, positioned on either side of the net. Unfortunately for them that left Nazem Kadri wide open in the slot with Cates caught flat-footed.
Kuzmenko was able to chip a pass past Ristolainen to an unmarked Kadri for the easy one-touch. Fedotov played too deep in his crease as he tried to figure out what Kuzmenko was going to do and that allowed Kadri time and space to wire it over his shoulder as he wasn’t able to size up the shooter in time.
The fourth goal was an absolute backbreaker with the Flyers pressuring and down by one. They had their fair share of chances but couldn’t seem to solve Dustin Wolf. With just over 5 minutes remaining in regulation, Cam York’s one time blast was blocked and led to an odd-man rush going the other way.
Connor Zary blocked the shot and jettisoned the odd-man rush by finding Mikael Backlund, who had Blake Coleman opposite him. Coleman was able to wait out York and Fedotov before finding Backlund for the easy tap-in. Fedotov bit on Coleman’s fake and was caught flailing and with his stomach to the ice as Backlund was able to lift it over the goaltender.
However going back to the offensive zone, there was a clear breakdown and miscommunication by Travis Sanheim. With Travis Konecny handling the puck along the boards, he had York directly at the point and Sanheim along the boards opposite him.
As Konecny had the puck, Sanheim made a beeline towards the net, perhaps anticipating a cross-seam pass. However, Konecny passed it to York whose shot was blocked, Sanheim was caught pinching, and Konecny and Matvei Michkov were too far behind to catch the two Flames on the odd-man rush.
Less than a minute later, the Flames made it a 3-goal game after Huberdeau potted his 2nd of the game. The Flyers lost a draw and the Flames fired a shot through traffic that hit Pospíšil in front of the net. He was able to get away from Jamie Drysdale’s attempted check and stick lift to find Huberdeau in the slot, who got around Zamula’s attempts to defend him.
Fedotov was a little too aggressive on the initial point shot, which had him outside of the blue paint. Drysdale could not contain or hold down Pospíšil, who was able to retrieve the loose puck, despite his attempts. Huberdeau and Zamula were jostling for position from the faceoff, but the veteran forward was able to not only get to the front of the net but he was also able to make easy work of the Russian defenseman.
By the time Huberdeau received the pass, Fedotov was out of position and needed a Herculean effort to make the save.
it wasn’t a pretty performance by Fedotov but a lot of the blame was thrown his way. He was certainly caught out of position on a few of them – he lost sight of the Weegar blast and he bit on Coleman’s fake shot – but the defense around him didn’t help the cause, especially Zamula. The young defender was on the ice for 4 of the first 5 goals allowed and was beaten handily by the Flames’ offensive players on at least 2 of them.
On the first goal, Pospíšil was able to work around his checking before he threw a dart that ricocheted off Huberdeau and past Fedotov. On the fifth goal, he couldn’t stop Huberdeau from trucking to the front of the net, nor did he have his stick on the ice to potentially thwart Pospíšil’s pass.
The penalty kill has also not been sharp to start the season and they’re certainly missing the services of Nick Seeler, but there was a lack of aggression and intent from the usually-aggressive penalty kill.
John Tortorella and Brad Shaw certainly looked displeased on the bench so it’s only a matter of time before they try to shore things up, especially with a road matchup against Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl, and Evan Bouchard.
As for Fedotov, it hasn’t been the start to his NHL career that anyone anticipated but he did have some bright spots during the game. He allowed 3 goals on the first 10 shots before settling down making some big stops as the Flyers attempted to make a comeback deep into the third period.
There could be some added pressure with Alexei Kolosov currently marinating in the minor and the Flyers presumably having an end-of-October deadline to make a decision on the disgruntled Belarusian, according to Elliotte Friedman.
Barring poor performances from Ersson, he will start against Edmonton and will likely start Thursday’s contest against Seattle. After that, the Flyers host the Vancouver Canucks on Saturday for their home opener. If it’s Ersson for a third straight contest, then Fedotov will likely look to atone for his season debut in one of the games against the Capitals in a back-to-back, home-and-home situation the following week.
