Oct 31, 2024; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; Philadelphia Flyers right wing Bobby Brink (10) celebrates his goal with defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen (55) against the St. Louis Blues during the third period at Wells Fargo Center. Mandatory Credit: Eric Hartline-Imagn Images
On Halloween, the Flyers were up to some of John Tortorella's old tricks in hopes of giving the sparse crowd in attendance a real treat.
It worked, as a half-filled Wells Fargo Center saw the Flyers defeat the St. Louis Blues 2-1 on Thursday, as the Flyers won consecutive games for the first time this season.
But the way they are doing it is not a style that is conducive to sustained success in today's NHL. They know it. Their coach knows it.
But, it does work - especially at this time of year, when games are a bit less charged and often a lot less energetic than the second-half of the season when the speed and intensity of the sport ramps up for a playoff push.
But in October, and now into November, if you need to play the game a certain way to try and stockpile some wins, you do it.
And the Flyers are turning the clock back a year and winning games from the defense out.
That's because the team just can't score goals.
Many players are snake-bitten at the moment and there's little to no puck support in the offensive end and chances are often one and done.
The Flyers spend a lot of time in their own zone defending, and if they're going to do that, then they might as well start doing it well - and they have the last few games.
Go back to last Saturday, in a game against Minnesota. Yes, the score was 7-5, but if you go back and watch the game, the Flyers defended their tails off. Especially the relatively new pairing of Travis Sanheim and Rasmus Ristolainen, who seem like they are on the ice for the half the game for the Flyers.
With Cam York out of action for a bit with an upper body injury, the veteran rearguards were put together last weekend and have been superb for the Flyers.
In the four games since they were paired together, they have an expected goals against when they are on the ice of 1.64, according to the hockey analytics site Natural Stat Trick.
But it's not just this new defensive pairing that is playing shut down. The Flyers are playing a team defensive structure - especially in the last two games - that is designed to completely frustrate the opposition and smother all chances.
Consider the following stats:
Spotlight: Seeler (#STLvsPHI)
• 16:52TOI, A, 3SOG, HIT, 6BLK
"That's the way we have to play. We have to outwork teams, we have to block shots, [and] we have to sometimes play an ugly game." - Seeler; 10/31/24 #Flyers #LetsGoFlyers
It's been nothing short of a defensive clinic.
"The structure has been void for most of the first eight, nine, 10 games here," Tortorella said. "The past couple games we're getting there. What I appreciate from the players is they are not overextending themselves offensively - because we are struggling - they're still staying within our structure."
Tortorella's hope is the Flyers can keep themselves in games by playing this way, allowing some of the more offensive-minded players on the roster to get out of their early-season scoring funk by not feeling the pressure to score with more frequency.
There was a stretch of time where this worked last season, as well. There was an eight-game stretch in early December where the Flyers allowed just 15 goals and were blocking shots like it was the playoffs.
Tortorella flipped the switch on this style because the team was in an offensive funk, and by the end of those eight games, not only were they limiting the opposition's scoring chances, but the Flyers were scoring four or five goals.
They built offensive output out of defensive posture.
Tortorella is going to that a little bit earlier this season, but with the Flyers losing seven of their first nine games, he had no other choice.
But now they've won 3-of-4 and they get a rematch Saturday with a scuffling Boston team whom they just shutout on Tuesday.
It's a pretty good bet that Tortorella rides the hot hand of goalie Sam Ersson in that one, as the Flyers try to string together] a three-game winning streak for the first time.
Speaking of Ersson...
Not to be overlooked in these games in which the defensive structure has been incredibly sound, but Ersson has been very good in goal. He was one unfortunate carom away Thursday from being the first Flyers goalie to record back-to-back shutouts in nine years. (Michael Neuvirth, in case you were wondering).
And this save, with 20 seconds to go against former Flyer Brayden Schenn, saved the game for the Flyers:
SAM ERSSON. GAME SAVER.#LetsGoFlyers pic.twitter.com/yviNIIAFYq
With the Flyers schedule being a little bit lighter in November - as in, no back-to-back games until the final weekend of the month - Tortorella can lean a little bit on Ersson to carry the load without feeling like he's over-burdening him, which was a problem at the end of last season.
It's probably a good thing for the Flyers because the backup situation isn't the greatest right now.
Aleksei Kolosov is here, and the Flyers are biting their tongue on having him in the NHL at the moment. They won't say it out loud, but they'd much prefer he was developing in the AHL and playing a lot of games, but given the circumstances, he's here - and they are going to give him a shot, but it's not clear when his next start will be.
Ersson likely gets another shot at Boston after shutting them out on Tuesday and then the Flyers have a brutal (in terms of competition) road trip to Carolina, Tampa Bay and Florida before returning home to play the lowly San Jose Sharks on Nov. 11.
It's very conceivable that Ersson starts each of the next four games before we see Kolosov get the nod again.
And what of Ivan Fedotov?
He's obviously third on the depth chart right now, and even that is a shaky foothold. Ultimately, the Flyers will waive him and hope he clears waivers and they can assign him to Lehigh Valley in the AHL where he can play games.
But it's not that simple, because there is some risk of losing a player you put on waivers, so the Flyers are trying to be judicious.
What I'm hearing is the most likely scenario is a conditioning assignment.
Per the CBA, a player can be loaned to the AHL team for up to two weeks on a conditioning assignment - which the player has to agree to do - without being exposed to waivers. The player still collects his NHL salary and counts against the cap, but it allows the player to sort of knock the rust off.
If you look at the Phantoms upcoming schedule, if the Flyers wait until after Saturday's game to send Fedotov out on the conditioning assignment, he would be available for the Phantoms for six games, of which the Flyers would likely want to see him play four.
By that point, they'll likely get another couple starts out of Kolosov and have four more games for Fedotov and can reassess before deciding if they should expose him to the waiver process or not.
