Flyers end 2024 on a high in 4-0 road victory against San Jose Sharks

SAN JOSE, Calif. ― And 2024 comes to end.

For the Flyers, it ended with a bang as they beat the San Jose Sharks 4-0 at the SAP Center. It is the team’s fifth win in the last 13 games of the year and was one of their most lopsided victories of the season.

Unfortunately, it came with the loss of Sam Ersson. The Flyers goalie stopped all 15 shots he faced in the first two periods but did not come out for the final frame. Coach John Tortorella did not have an update after the game but thought the injury occurred when the Swedish netminder aggressively went for the puck in the slot and collided with Luke Kunin. Ersson missed time twice this season with a lower-body injury.

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Aleksei Kolosov played the third period and made seven saves, including robbing a wide-open Macklin Celebrini on the doorstep.

By the time Kolosov entered the game, the Flyers had a commanding 3-0 lead. Coming off a 5-4 loss to the Los Angeles Kings, where he thought his team played well, Tortorella turned the blender to a medium setting for this one. He swapped centers Ryan Poehling and Sean Couturier, with Poehling moved between Owen Tippett and Travis Konecny, and Couturier now between Joel Farabee and Garnet Hathaway.

Maybe it sparked something because the Flyers got a bunch of goals.

With the Couturier line on the ice, Nick Seeler got the Flyers on the board 5 minutes, 59 seconds into the game with a nifty move and bank shot. His partner Jamie Drysdale pinched at the right point and rimmed the puck around to Seeler who came down the boards to meet it.

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The defenseman, who has two goals this season and 10 in his career, faked like he was going through the left faceoff circle — getting Barclay Goodrow on his heels — before scoring from the goal line off goalie Alexandar Georgiev.

Through two periods, the shot attempts were even at 38, but the ice was tilted in the Flyers’ favor and they had an impressive 3-0 lead after 40 minutes.

Poehling doubled the lead in the second period with his third goal this season. On the ice with Bobby Brink and Tyson Foerster after Noah Cates — who is still their center — changed, Poehling had a shot from the right circle. Brink maintained control of the puck behind the net and fed Egor Zamula at the point for a one-timer. Poehling got the rebound in front and scored on the backhand over Georgiev.

Like his line combinations, Tortorella created two new power-play units. One had Matvei Michkov, Cates, Brink, Foerster, and Rasmus Ristolainen. The other had Konecny, Tippett, Farabee, Frost, and Drysdale.

That unit scored twice … technically.

Their first tally with the man advantage came in the opening period when Frost redirected the puck backdoor off a pass from Tippett. But that goal was overturned due to an offside on the zone entry. It gave them confidence, knowing they could connect because they made it count in the second period.

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The Flyers maintained possession off an offensive-zone faceoff, and Tippett sent a circle-to-circle pass to Konecny for the one-timer. It snapped a five-game drought for the Flyers top goal scorer and an eight-game power-play goal drought.

Zamula made it 4-0 in the third period. He tracked down his own rebound and fired a centering pass from deep in the corner that looked like it went off Shakir Mukhamadullin’s pants and past Georgiev. The goal is the defenseman’s third of the season.

Brink and Drysdale each had two assists. … Michkov played 14:39 and had six shot attempts, including two shots on goal, and two hits. … Celebrini played 18:25 and had 10 shot attempts, including six shots, two blocked shots, and a plus-minus of minus-1. … The Flyers had 20 hits. … Forward Olle Lycksell, defenseman Erik Johnson, and goalie Ivan Fedotov remained healthy scratches.

The Flyers will practice in Las Vegas on Wednesday before taking on the Vegas Golden Knights on Thursday at T-Mobile Arena (10 p.m., NBCSP+).