Flyers Report Card: Goaltending, Special Teams, and Matvei Michkov
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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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Flyers Hold on to Early Lead, Beat New Jersey 4-2 Mondy Night
The mismanagement of Michkov ‘s ice time is an absolute disgrace and the worst thing that Torts has done during his tenure here. I fully understand that there will be growing pains and mistakes made, but even with this in play he should be playing a minimum of 18-20 minutes per game, not the 15 he’s currently playing and certainly not the amount of time he was on the ice on Monday. He is the engine that will be driving the team for the next decade plus and the abysmal ice time he’s getting is a joke.
Totally agree 100%
Agree! Michkov is adjusting to the NHL and hitting the wall which is typical of rookies. Let him work through it. He will be stronger for it.
This year isn’t about the playoffs, let the young guys get experience.
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