Flyers Report Card: Goaltending, Special Teams, and Matvei Michkov

After back-to-back losses in New York, the Philadelphia Flyers bounced back with a big 4-2 win over the New Jersey Devils on Monday night.

Unlike the two previous games, the Flyers scored multiple first-period goals and held on to the lead. Big nights from Sam Ersson and the Flyers’ special teams helped power the Flyers to the win.

Lets take a look at the good, and some of the bad from Monday night.

Flyers Report Card

Sam Ersson: A

Sam Ersson has been playing some of, if not the best, hockey of his career since play resumed for the Flyers on December 28th. Ersson continued to shine Monday night, turning in a 33-save performance. That is tied for the second most saves in a night for Ersson this season.

The Flyers’ goaltender showed out on Monday, making multiple flashy saves and stunning the Devils on many high-danger chances. Ersson proved once again why he is the number-one goalie in Philly.

The only thing stopping me from giving him an A+ is the two goals against him, which you really cannot fault him for. At least not the first goal. It was a stellar night for Sam.

Special Teams: B+

The Flyers’ special teams came through in a way I did not expect against the New Jersey Devils.

The penalty kill held its own against the Eastern Conference’s top power-play unit, including a momentum-shifting double-minor kill in the first period. The Devils scored with the extra attacker on the ice late in the third period, with the shot deflecting off the stick of Garnet Hathaway.

The Flyers’ power play scored one of the team’s prettiest goals of the season. A Bobby Brink one-timer just six seconds off the draw off a feed from Rasmus Ristolainen. It was a thing of beauty. The Flyers’ special teams stepped up Monday night.

York-Ristolainen: A

With Egor Zamula’s “upper-body ailment,” the Flyers were forced to shake up their defensive pairs.

With that, John Tortorella paired the team’s top defensive players together, creating a great shutdown pair. While their impact defensively was great, they also made an offensive impact in Monday night’s win.

Rasmus Ristolainen tallied two assists, helping him reach the 300-career point marker. Cam York also earned an assist Monday night, getting the secondary helper (Ristolainen got the primary) on Garnet Hathaway’s second-period score. It is always nice to see offensive production from some of the best defenders on the team.

Matvei Michkov Mangment: D

If there was anything to nitpick from Monday’s game, it would be the time-on-ice of Matvei Michkov.

The Flyers’ young star has been one of the most exciting players to watch this season. He has 34 points in 49 games this season, which is second on the Flyers.

Despite that, Michkov had his second lowest time-on-ice this season with just 9:45. It also looked as if Michkov was bumped down to the second power-play unit, as he only had 49 seconds of power-play TOI Monday night. It is definitely questionable usage of one of the top talents on the Flyers’ roster.