5 Scariest Philadelphia Flyers Stats Ahead of Halloween Hockey

The Philadelphia Flyers will be hosting the St. Louis Blues at the Wells Fargo Center on Thursday night for a Halloween hockey matchup, but that isn’t the spookiest thing about the team right now.

The Flyers currently own the third-worst record in the NHL, and there are a number of scary stats that support this outcome at the moment.

Trick: Matvei Michkov and Travis Konecny have not scored at 5-on-5

Matvei Michkov and Travis Konecny may be No. 1 and No. 2 on the Flyers in the goals and points categories, but, between their nine combined goals, neither player has a single one at 5-on-5.

Konecny has three on the power play, one shorthanded, and one on a 6-on-5 with the goalie pulled in Aleksei Kolosov’s NHL debut on Sunday, a 4-3 loss to the Montreal Canadiens.

Similarly, Michkov has three of his own on the power play, with his other one coming on a 6-on-5 delayed penalty on Saturday in a 7-5 win over the Minnesota Wild.

You have to imagine some regression to the mean is in order, but the Flyers’ 3-6-1 record is one that reflects their struggles to score at 5-on-5.

They depend on the power play, and if that hits a rough patch, they could be even worse than 30th in the NHL.

Treat: Travis Sanheim and Rasmus Ristolainen are dominating

Cam York going to injured reserve for a minimum of two weeks was a massive loss for the Flyers.

Fortunately, Travis Sanheim and Rasmus Ristolainen have helped fill that void and then some.

Sanheim, playing back on his natural left side alongside a reborn Ristolainen, a physical, defensive stalwart, has allowed Sanheim to jump into plays more freely. He doesn’t have to pick and choose his spots like he does when he plays on the right side with York.

John Tortorella’s lineup tweak is already paying dividends.

Out of all forward AND defense lines in the entire NHL, Sanheim and Ristolainen are controlling expected goals at the 10th-best rate, per Moneypuck. Among defensive pairs only, they rank third.

Former Flyers Shayne Gostisbehere and Sean Walker lead the pack, representing Carolina with an astounding 78.5%. Edmonton’s Brett Kulak and Ty Emberson clock in at second with 69.5%, and then comes Sanheim and Ristolainen in third with 67.6% of the expected goals.

Even when York returns, these two must remain together.

Trick: Jamie Drysdale is down bad right now

Expectations were higher for Jamie Drysdale when he came into this season rehabbed and fully healthy for the first time in his Flyers career. So far, his impact has been lacking, and that might be putting it generously.

Through 10 games, Drysdale has one goal, two assists, and three points, all of which have came on the power play. By extension, that means the 22-year-old has zero points at 5-on-5, despite being the best skater on the team and having the highest offensive potential of any other Flyer at his position.

Also consider that Drysdale has already racked up a minus-9 plus-minus rating through 10 games after having a minus-20 through 34 games with the Flyers and the Ducks last year.

Development isn’t linear and Drysdale has plenty of time to improve and score some more points, but it is completely reasonable to say he has disappointed to start 2024-25.

Treat: Sam Ersson is still a good goalie

On the surface, Sam Ersson does not have the most impressive statistics out there.

Through parts of three seasons, the 25-year-old Swede has accumulated a 32-24-8 record, a 2.88 GAA, a .891 save percentage, and six shutouts in 70 games. Six shutouts?

A lot of folks have talked about Carter Hart and how losing him has affected this Flyers team, but he also has six shutouts in his career. The difference is that he has played 227 games and won 96 of them.

For reference, Pelle Lindbergh had seven shutouts in 157 games. Ilya Bryzgalov had seven in 99. Ron Hextall had 18 in 489. Steve Mason had 14 in 231.

Hart has won more games than Ersson has played, and yet they have the same number of shutouts. That goes to show how talented Ersson is, even if his other peripherals don’t support it.

Let’s face it: the Flyers were bad in 2022-23, and they were bad in 2023-24 except for November, December, and most of January. They have been bad to start this year. So, yes, of course Ersson’s career stats are not going to look outstanding.

Show some faith in the kid.

Treat: Flyers’ special teams leading the way

Heading into this season, the Flyers had the worst power play in the NHL for three years running. Last season, they were the worst by a comfortable margin.

The addition of Michkov and a few fresh ideas on the ice have changed Philadelphia’s fortunes, at least for now.

Currently, their power play percentage of 22.2% ranks 13th in the NHL, which is borderline top-1o and a welcomed change from recent seasons.

On the flip side, the penalty kill continues to be one of the strongest special teams units in the league. With a success rate of 87.2%, the Flyers have the fourth-best penalty kill in the NHL.

The 5-on-5 play might not be all that spectacular, but the Flyers still have their special teams units going for them.