Flyers Practice: A Sneak Peek at Possible Lines, Ersson Talks 4 Nations

In their second practice before their Saturday matchup with the Edmonton Oilers, the Philadelphia Flyers increased their intensity.

Wednesday’s practice was a bit lighter. The intensity and pace picked up, but they still lacked physicality in Thursday’s practice. The only notable absence was captain Sean Couturier, who seemed healthy at yesterday’s conclusion. It, in all likelihood, could have been a maintenance day for Couturier. Sam Ersson rejoined the Flyers for practice.

Owen Tippett was the only player wearing an off-colored jersey (orange, while the rest wore black or white), indicating he is the only Flyer still in a non-contact sweater for practice.

Still without head coach John Tortorella, Travis Sanheim, and Travis Konecny due to the 4 Nations Face-Off, the Flyers showed what may be a sneak peek at the possible lines for Saturday.

Sneak Peak at Potential Lines

While the Flyers’ coach is still in Boston, associate coach Brad Shaw and assistant coach Rockey Thompson ran some 5-on-5 with what looked like possible lines for Saturday’s game against Edmonton. Here is how they looked, in no particular order:

Forwards

Owen Tippett-Scott Laughton-Andrei Kuzmenko

Tyson Foerster-Noah Cates-Bobby Brink

Jakob Pelletier-Ryan Poehling-Matvei Michkov

Nicolas Deslauriers-Sean Couturier(was absent) -Garnet Hathaway

Defensive Pairs

Cam York-Erik Johnson

Egor Zamula-Rasmus Ristolainen

Nick Seeler-Jamie Drysdale

Goalies

Sam Ersson

Ivan Fedotov

Aleksei Kolosov

The top forward line is a bit of a hard one to decipher. I could not pick up who was on each side of Laughton, but it seemed as if Tippett got most of the time on the left side. It is interesting, though, as in their last game, the Flyers had Kuzmenko and Konecny on either side of Laughton. With Tippett being the only player in a non-contact jersey, he could have been a stand-in for Konecny.

The Cates line was reunited at Thursday’s practice. The Poehling line intruiged me. The size is not there. 5’9″-6’2″-5’10” would be the size of the line. Maybe Couturier is intended to play on that line, or perhaps he slots into the fourth line. Regardless, the size of the wingers on that third line might be its downfall.

As for the defensive pairs, Johnson seemed to be the stand-in for Sanheim, who is set to play in the 4 Nations final on Thursday night. With that, it looks like the pair will return to their form before the injury bug hits the Flyers blueliners.

Ersson Talks 4 Nations Performance

It is no secret that Sam Ersson had one of the best goaltending performances of the 4 Nations Face-Off.

His 32-save night against Team USA is one the Flyers netminder will never forget. On Thursday, he returned to practice with the Flyers and talked about his big night.

Ersson told the media that he found out late after morning skate that day that he would get the nod for the Swedes. Regardless of the timing, he was excited for the opportunity. “It’s big for me, not just to be a part of the tournament, but also to get a game and get to play. It was very fun and a big experience for me,”  Ersson said.

The mental game has been a strong part of Ersson’s game and has been a key part of his success. He let in a Chris Kreider goal 35 seconds into the game but was lights out after that. He said his mentality didn’t change between games with the Flyers and Team Sweden. When asked about his thoughts after allowing a goal, Ersson said,  “You’re going to let in goals; you just got to deal with it in the best way.” 

Ersson also spoke about the possibility that his performance Monday night put him on the map to play for Sweden in future best-on-best competitions. “It’s nice for me to get to show off my game at the national level and for the Team Sweden coaches. At the same time, what I do here with the Flyers will determine if I get the chance to be in those tournaments.”

He would go on to say that his main focus is with the Flyers. Finally, when he was asked if he talked to Flyers head coach John Tortorella, who was on the American bench as an assistant coach, Ersson said Tortorella sent him a “good game” text after the game.