Flyers Turning Point: For Brink and Ersson, practice makes perfect

The Philadelphia Flyers survived the Washington Capitals in the shootout, 4-3 on Thursday night, but they couldn’t have done it without some good old fashioned practice.

Young Flyers Sam Ersson and Bobby Brink – Philadelphia’s two shootout heroes – brought out the best of each other in the skills competition.

Tyson Foerster just had his attempt stopped by Charlie Lindgren’s flying poke check before it was Brink’s turn to shoot. With the two teams scoring in the first round and missing in the second round, the 22-year-old rookie had the opportunity to put the Flyers in the driver’s seat with a goal. Surely Lindgren won’t poke check again, will he?

Bobby Brink avoids the aggressive poke check and finishes off the eventual shootout winner!#LetsGoFlyers pic.twitter.com/cQejujdHLD

— Hockey Daily 365 l NHL Highlights & News (@HockeyDaily365) December 15, 2023

The 30-year-old goaltender did dive at Brink, but Brink’s patience allowed him to skip past Lindgren and casually deposit the game-deciding goal into an empty cage. While everyone else in the arena didn’t know what was coming, Brink did, and he knew because Ersson taught him. Both players fessed up to it after the game.