Flyers vs. Blues: Finally Rolling; What’s Next for Goalies?

With regulation wins in their last three games, the Philadelphia Flyers appear to have finally gotten rolling, at least temporarily.

Sam Ersson brought the fire with a 25-save shutout against the Bruins on Tuesday night, giving the Flyers their first shutout in Boston since 2006. I was in Kindergarten!

Even with the loss of Cam York, who was placed on injured reserve on Saturday, the Flyers characteristically rose up to perform at a level greater than their sum of parts.

Travis Sanheim has been a revelation after shifting back to his natural left side, supplemented by the resurgence of Rasmus Ristolainen. Emil Andrae has been a pleasant surprise after replacing the struggling Egor Zamula, and Erik Johnson has not looked half bad despite his advanced age and being 15 years Andrae’s senior.

The forwards are more of a work in progress at this stage, but the hope is that Tyson Foerster finally got the monkey off his back with his goal against Boston. If other young players, such as Bobby Brink, Morgan Frost, and Owen Tippett, can start to establish themselves and get hot, maybe the Flyers can begin to think about re-inserting themselves into the playoff picture.

And what better time to do that than a Halloween matchup with the St. Louis Blues?

Flyers Game Lineup

Travis Konecny – Sean Couturier – Matvei Michkov

Owen Tippett – Morgan Frost – Bobby Brink

Joel Farabee – Scott Laughton – Tyson Foerster

Noah Cates – Ryan Poehling – Garnet Hathaway

Extra: Nick Deslauriers

Travis Sanheim – Rasmus Ristolainen

Emil Andrae – Erik Johnson

Nick Seeler – Jamie Drysdale

Extra: Egor Zamula

Sam Ersson (S), Aleksei Kolosov

Extra: Ivan Fedotov

Blues Game Lineup

Pavel Buchnevich – Alex Texier – Jordan Kyrou

Brandon Saad – Brayden Schenn – Jake Neighbours

Dylan Holloway – Zack Bolduc – Kasperi Kapanen

Alexey Toropchenko – Radek Faksa – Oskar Sundqvist

Ryan Suter – Colton Parayko

Philip Broberg – Justin Faulk

P.O. Joseph – Matt Kessel

Joel Hofer (S), Jordan Binnington

The key to this Flyers game will obviously be the goaltending. Ersson played exceptionally well against the Bruins, and there is no time like the present to double down on that and establish some consistency in the goal crease.

Perhaps Ersson’s standout performance was a direct response to the call-up of Aleksei Kolosov, who made his NHL debut in a 4-3 loss to the Montreal Canadiens on Sunday. What pressure?

It is important, too, to note that Kolosov has seemingly wrested the backup goalie role away from incumbent Ivan Fedotov, who has allowed 14 goals in three games this season and 24 goals in his six career games in the NHL.

This St. Louis Blues team is not particularly deep at any position besides, maybe, goaltending, and they can only have one goalie on the ice at a time. Ryan Suter is not a No. 1 defenseman in the NHL in the year 2024.

As long as the Flyers stay true to their structure and adopt a disciplined approach, especially mentally, this is a very winnable game for them. The Blues have a few playmakers who must be respected, but nothing crazy, just like the Flyers.

How to watch the Flyers game

Thursday night’s Halloween Flyers game will be televised on NBC Sports Philadelphia. For fans unable to watch the Flyers game, a radio broadcast will be available on 97.5 The Fanatic.