The Philadelphia Flyers swept the difficult back to back road set as they shutout the NHL’s best in Winnipeg, 2-0. Samuel Ersson was spectacular from start to finish and Cam Atkinson broke out of his lengthy goal drought before adding an insurance marker on the power play to solidify the victory.
After taking down the Minnesota Wild last night, Ersson got the start tonight in Winnipeg and made 35 saves for his third shutout of the season, including 13 in the final frame. Vezina Trophy frontrunner Connor Hellebuyck played very well, making 34 saves, however Atkinson’s brace was all the offense needed for the Flyers’ 23rd win of the season.
The Flyers scored a power play goal for the 5th straight game, their penalty kill was a perfect 3/3 as they have now overtaken the Los Angeles Kings for top spot in the NHL. They will finish off their road trip on Monday in St. Louis.
On the second leg of their back-to-back set, the Flyers travelled north of the border to take on the NHL-leading Jets within the confines of the Canada Life Centre. The Flyers capped off a comeback in last night’s game against the Minnesota Wild after scoring 2 goals in a span of 85 seconds midway through the third period to tie things up before Joel Farabee deflected an Egor Zamula point shot in overtime.
With Carter Hart having started last night’s game, John Tortorella turned to Samuel Ersson, while Marc Staal returned to the lineup in lieu of Jamie Drysdale who was dealing with an illness, and Bobby Brink also made his return but at the expense of Sean Couturier who was dealing with a minor injury.
Scott Laughton started the game between Owen Tippett and Travis Konecny and Garnet Hathaway was promoted up in the lineup as he was on the wing with Morgan Frost and Tyson Foerster.
As for the Jets, they sat atop of the NHL standings heading into Saturday’s 16-game league affair with a 28-9-4 record with the Vancouver Canucks one point behind them. They have been without Kyle Connor since early December and were going to be without Mark Scheifele tonight but they got some good news regarding Nikolaj Ehlers’ return. The Jets have been spearheaded by a balanced attack as they sat in 9th place in goals for but most importantly 1st in goals against with a measly 2.29 goals allowed per game.
Connor Hellebuyck earned the start tonight and was looking to improve on his 21-6-3 record while carrying a 2.20 GAA and a .923 SV%.
FIRST PERIOD
60 seconds into the game, Tyson Foerster was whistled for a hooking minor, bringing out the Winnipeg Jets’ 23rd/ranked power play. Fortunately the Flyers survived the kill, but Samuel Ersson was tasked to make several big stops early on.
At the 14:47 mark of the first period, Cam Atkinson busted through his lengthy goal drought to get the Flyers on the board. Atkinson entered tonight not having scored a goal in 26 straight games but he got his stick on a Ryan Poehling shot in the slot that snuck through the five-hole of Connor Hellebuyck for his 9th of the season.
The first period came to a close with the Flyers leading 1-0 and holding a 16-11 shot advantage.
SECOND PERIOD
64 seconds into the middle frame, Neal Pionk slashed Morgan Frost upon entering the offensive zone. At the tail end of the power play, Atkinson cleaned up the rebound left over from Frost’s point shot for his 2nd of the game and 10th of the season at the 2:52 mark of the period.
With 11:05 remaining in the second period, Josh Morrissey was found guilty of a tripping minor, sending the Flyers onto their second power play of the night. They fired several shots on goal but none reached the net as the Jets survived.
With the tired legs becoming a factor for the Flyers, the Jets had pockets of dangerous opportunities but Ersson kept his positioning to a tee to keep the Jets off the board.
Foerster was called for his second minor of the game with 1:11 left to play in the period but the Flyers survived the first 71 seconds as they only had 49 ticks left to kill off to start the third. The Flyers entered the intermission with a 2-0 lead while carrying a 31-22 shot advantage.
THIRD PERIOD
To start the third period, the Jets were throwing everything including the kitchen sink towards Ersson but the young Swede came up with save after save to keep the Flyers up by 2 goals, the biggest being a breakaway stop on Cole Perfetti. The Jets held a 9-2 shot advantage through the first 8 minutes.
With 75 seconds remaining in regulation and down by 2, the Jets hopped onto the power play after Travis Sanheim was whistled for a delay of game minor.
The 2nd-ranked penalty kill in the NHL came up with a massive kill as the Jets really only had one good chance with two extra skaters as Hellebuyck was on the bench for the sixth skater. Ersson made the key stop to finish off his 3rd shutout of the season as the Flyers held on for a critical 2-0 victory.
UP NEXT
The Flyers finish off the road trip on Monday against the St. Louis Blues (8:00pm ET, NBCSP).
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