For the Philadelphia Flyers, the wins just keep on piling up. Their thrilling 3-2 overtime win over the New Jersey Devils now has them sitting on a sensational 18-10-3 record this season with seven wins through eight games in December. What were some takeaways from the Flyers’ all-important road victory against their divisional rivals?
An Ugly Win Is Still a Win
The Flyers’ win over the Devils looks pretty impressive on paper for several reasons. They weren’t outshot, New Jersey held a 7-3-0 record in their last 10 games entering this contest, and the Flyers were on the road against one of the favorites to win the Metropolitan Division. In the actual game, though, Philadelphia wasn’t at their best.
Compared to their first matchup against the Devils this season, the Flyers were arguably worse in this one despite losing in their first meetup. The Devils did a fantastic job of both controlling the pace of this game and generating quality opportunities. It hasn’t been often this season where the Flyers have looked like the inferior team, but there is no dancing around the fact that they got outplayed in this one.
Even though the Flyers didn’t exactly look their best, they have played well enough all season to justify an off-performance once in a while. This is especially the case when the Flyers win said game, doing so in a hugely important divisional matchup with a Stanley Cup contender. It’s certainly cliché, but only the two points matter in the end.
If the Flyers got away with lackluster games frequently, there would be some issues after a game like this. The Flyers are a rebuilding team, but they have earned almost all of their wins. As long as they aren’t creating bad habits, there’s no reason to fret.
Poehling Can Be a Solid Plug at Second-Line Center
Other than Sean Couturier, none of the Flyers’ centers this season have had a season worth raving about. That’s not to say there haven’t been some high-quality performances, but nobody has truly taken the initiative to be a clear-cut second-line center.
24-year-old forward Ryan Poehling was signed in the early stages of free agency by the Flyers to get himself another chance to prove he is worth something in the NHL, never quite living up to his first-round draft pedigree. He has appeared on the second line in previous games, but his performance was so substantial in this game that there is simply no way that the Flyers get a win without him.
Poehling was seen as a depth signing from the get-go for Philadelphia, but their lack of dominance at center has given the young forward some chances to move up the lineup. He had two huge goals in this one, scoring the Flyers’ lone two regulation goals. It’s not like this was a one-hit wonder for him, as he had a three-point night against the Columbus Blue Jackets in November when taken off the fourth line. As long as there is an opening at the second-line center slot, Poehling has proven that he shouldn’t be exempt.
Laughton Will Have to Turn a Corner
Veteran forward Scott Laughton has appeared in 550 NHL games with the Flyers, scoring 212 points in that span. Impressively, he has done all of this before his 30th birthday.
This season has been a bit of a dud for him though, and that didn’t change much in this game. He was relegated to a fourth-line role in this contest — which he has played in from time to time — and still made a costly mistake for the Flyers.
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Taking an offensive-zone penalty that led to a power-play goal against, coming out of the box wasn’t Laughton’s most glamorous moment. Though he was able to put that behind him and not let that affect his game, his underwhelming season has gone beyond some bad penalties.
There should be some slack cut for Laughton considering there hasn’t been much of a chance for him to get the offense back on track as long as he’s been in the bottom-six forward lines, but his game as a whole just has not been where you’d like it to be. Simply put, he hasn’t earned the chance to be given a big opportunity. Now 31 games into the season, time is ticking for a turnaround.
For a two-way, middle-six forward, the expectation wasn’t necessarily a huge breakout for Laughton this season. Coming off a career-high 43-point season, regression was expected — albeit, minimal at that. “Sarge” has seen his ice time go from over 18 minutes last season to under 16 minutes this go around. The issue with him has been about both his offensive and defensive game, as both aren’t where they should be for a player of his caliber.
Despite some down games this season, Laughton still has over 50 games to salvage his season. It’ll be a lengthy process as long as he’s on the fourth line and off the power play, but head coach John Tortorella likes to shuffle his depth lines every once in a while. The next opportunity for him will come, but he has to make sure he’s taking advantage from here on out.
Ersson Continues to Dominate
It’s starting to seem like a nightly occurrence where Sam Ersson is dominating the crease. Because Carter Hart is suffering from an illness of some sort, Ersson has been a staple between the pipes in the Flyers’ last four games — he has a 3-0-1 record in them.
The numbers don’t always do him justice, as his 24-save performance suggests he had a good but not great game. He went against several breakaways and a flurry of Devils chances in overtime, but he held strong on every occasion. As each game passes, his save percentage (SV%) continues to climb higher. It seems as though his confidence has done the same.
So far this month, Ersson has played at a rate that many starters would consider a heavy workload. Serving as both a starting netminder in the American Hockey League (AHL) and a backup for the Flyers in 2022-23, this is definitely a new experience for him. When he has been called upon to save the day, he’s almost always been up to the challenge.
Before a five-game road trip starting on Dec. 22 and ending just after the new year, the Flyers have a home-ice duel with the Nashville Predators on Dec. 21 to close out their season series. Nashville took the first one in overtime, which stands as Philadelphia’s only loss in December to this point. The Orange and Black will look to change their fortune this time.