The Flyers have ‘a goaltending situation,’ John Tortorella says

The question at the end of many of The Lone Ranger episodes as he rode off into the distance was: “Who was that masked man?” For the Flyers, the question is more like: “Who is that masked man?”

Why? As coach John Tortorella said on Friday, “Let’s face it, we have a goaltending situation.”

Although he wouldn’t allude to which goalie specifically, it’s fair to say the situation does not swirl around Sam Ersson. Despite his poor numbers, which are more of a reflection on the guys in front of him, Ersson has been one of the few bright spots at the start of the season.

The situation is about the backup spot. Ivan Fedotov, 27, has yet to find his footing in the NHL with a 5.35 GAA and .817 save percentage in three starts. And yes, some of his numbers are because the Flyers struggled out of the gate, too. But the 6-foot-8 goalie has not looked comfortable, with several questionable goals getting through.

On Monday, in advance of the Flyers’ home-and-home series with the Washington Capitals, when asked about Fedotov and if he was confident he could get going, Tortorella said, “I don’t know.”

The bench boss would not commit at the time to the Russian netminder starting the second game, saying he was just worried about the first one on Tuesday; Fedotov did start the game in Washington, and while he struggled early, he kept the Flyers in the game before two empty-netters sealed the Capitals’ 6-3 win.

» READ MORE: Sean Couturier’s hat trick helps Flyers beat Minnesota, earn first home win of the season

But things have changed since then. With the opening of salary-cap space after Jett Luchanko was sent back to juniors and Cam York was placed on injured reserve with an upper-body injury, the Flyers recalled goalie Aleksei Kolosov from Lehigh Valley of the American Hockey League on Saturday night.

Kolosov is considered one of the team’s goalies of the future — and the future may be now. With their third back-to-back of the season wrapping up Sunday at the Wells Fargo Center against the Montreal Canadiens (7 p.m., NBCSP), the question now is: Who will be the masked man? Will it be the 22-year-old Belarusian in his NHL debut?

The one thing anyone can count on is that it won’t be Ersson between the pipes. Tortorella has talked ad nauseam about not overloading the goalie like he did at the end of last season. And although it’s early in the season, Ersson has already started five of the first eight games and came on in relief in another and he tended the twine in Saturday night’s 7-5 win against the Minnesota Wild, helping the Flyers snap a six-game losing streak and earn their first at home.

Ersson and the Flyers also snagged their second win of the season and, ignoring the numbers, the Swedish goalie has taken the No. 1 spot and run with it. Aside from two wins, he has a 3.56 goals-against average and an .872 save percentage — not great — but he has kept the games closer than the scores indicate, including an overtime loss to last year’s Stanley Cup finalists, the Edmonton Oilers.

Kolosov brings a new element to the crease. After he finally showed up to training camp, albeit more than a week late, he showed off an athletic style that may be a strong complement to the tactician that is Ersson. In two games — a combined 57 minutes, 59 seconds — Kolosov posted a 4.14 GAA and .810 save percentage; the second game was a matchup of farm teams for the Flyers and the New Jersey Devils, with their big club in Europe to start the season.

This season with the Phantoms, Kolosov is 1-2-1 with a 3.29 GAA and an .875 save percentage. The one positive in Kolosov’s favor is that his indoctrination to the NHL could be against a Canadiens team that has yet to win a road game and is at the bottom of the Atlantic Division. The Flyers, who, by the way, are at the bottom of the Metropolitan Division, have also had more time to rest. They played during the day on Saturday at home and Montreal beat the St. Louis Blues, 5-2, in Quebec before hopping a plane south.

The NHL’s Department of Player Safety has fined Garnet Hathaway $5,000, the maximum allowable under the collective bargaining agreement, for elbowing Wild forward Joel Eriksson Ek on Saturday. The incident happened late in the second period and Hathaway was assessed a minor penalty for roughing. Eriksson Ek suffered a broken nose earlier in the month.

A feisty forward, Hathaway was also involved in a scrum with just over two minutes remaining in the game. The Flyers had a 6-5 lead when his stick got tangled up with Mats Zuccarello. Scott Laughton and Zuccarello then took shots at each other before everyone got involved. Hathaway grabbed Eriksson Ek and was called for hooking Zuccarello while the Wild forward got a minor for roughing against Laughton.

Marcus Foligno called it “[expletive]” that Zuccarello went to the box by himself, although Hathaway was given a penalty too. In a follow-up question, he was asked about Hathaway taking shots at Eriksson Ek and playing a rough game and said, “That’s the way the guy plays. That’s how he has to stay relevant in this league.”

Hathaway has drawn four penalties this year, the fifth most (technically 23rd) in the NHL, with Brad Marchand of the Boston Bruins atop the list with nine. The Flyers forward is tied with several players, including Travis Konecny, at second in the NHL for penalties taken (seven).

The team also called up Emil Andrae to give it a seventh defenseman, and he could make his season debut on Sunday. The blueliner broke camp with the Flyers last season and skated in four games before being sent down to Lehigh Valley. He was called up this season when Nick Seeler was placed on injured reserve Oct. 11 but did not play in any games.