Goalie Samuel Ersson posts his first NHL shutout as the Flyers blank the Buffalo Sabres, 4-0

BUFFALO — One night after the Toronto Maple Leafs stuck it to the Flyers, 6-2, capitalizing on a litany of blunders and gaffes, the Flyers turned around and bullied the Buffalo Sabres at the drop of the puck.

The Flyers bounced back quickly and scored three goals in the first period on Monday night at the KeyBank Center, leading the way to a 4-0 victory over the Sabres. Wingers Zack MacEwen, Joel Farabee, and center Noah Cates each found the back of the net in the opening frame.

But when the Flyers started to let the Sabres back into the contest in the second period, fueling their transition game and allowing Buffalo to create scoring chances, 23-year-old goalie Samuel Ersson stood tall. He denied all 28 shots on goal for his first NHL shutout.

“I thought they turned it up on us a little bit,” coach John Tortorella said. “That’s where Erss played well. It’s a 4-0 game, but they had quite a few chances, too. But overall, I thought we played well. We were on our toes, and I thought it was a good rebound game from our past one.”

For the first time this season, the Sabres — who went into the game leading the league in goals per contest (4.00) — were held scoreless.

Allison put the game further out of the Sabres’ reach when he scored early in the third period off a set play for the Flyers’ fourth goal. Center Scott Laughton won an offensive-zone draw, and forward Kevin Hayes fed Allison the puck at the front of the net.

At long last, the Flyers grabbed their first win of the season on the second night of a back-to-back. Going into Monday night, they were 0-6-0 when playing a game the day after.

» READ MORE: Flyers winger Wade Allison working his way back into form following injury

While the Flyers struggled defensively on Sunday night against the visiting Leafs, winger Nicolas Deslauriers and the fourth line got in on the forecheck and helped create scoring chances, including his first goal since Oct. 29. That momentum carried into the first period against the Sabres when Tortorella opted to deploy the fourth line on the Flyers’ first offensive-zone draw of the first period.

While MacEwen lost the faceoff, the Flyers kept the puck in the zone. Center Patrick Brown and Deslauriers won the puck battle along the boards. From below the goal line, Brown centered a pass for MacEwen, who popped the puck short side past Sabres goalie Craig Anderson for a 1-0 Flyers lead. The goal was MacEwen’s first since Nov. 5.

“It’s nice to get rewarded with one through the forecheck like that,” MacEwen said. “I think the more and more we play together, the more we kind of get rolling.”

Since he assumed the role as coach last offseason, Tortorella hasn’t shied away from praising Cates, who has established a reputation of being responsible defensively for the Flyers. Cates was rewarded for his hard work away from the puck on Monday night with roughly five minutes remaining in the first period, about a minute-and-a-half after winger Joel Farabee scored to make it 2-0.

Sabres center Dylan Cozens attempted to move the puck out of his own zone, but Cates swarmed him, swatting at the puck in an effort to turn it over. Cozens passed the puck back to Sabres defenseman Kale Clague, and Cates pestered him, too. Farabee got his stick on Clague’s pass up the boards and winger Travis Konecny recovered the puck. While Anderson denied Konecny’s initial shot, Cates was in position to score on the rebound to put the Flyers up, 3-0.

“That’s kind of our identity and how we need to play,” Cates said. “When we get the first goal from from that [fourth] line, and then another goal from our forecheck and playing hard ... that kind of builds what we’re talking about here and our identity and our structure.”

While the Flyers jumped out to an early lead in the first period, the Sabres woke up in the second period. They poured the pressure on for long stints throughout the middle frame, pinning the Flyers in their own zone on a couple of occasions as they fought through the fatigue of the second night of a back-to-back. The Flyers called on Ersson to be sharp in those spurts, and he delivered a shutout.

» READ MORE: Toronto Maple Leafs end Flyers win streak with dominant 6-2 win

The Sabres mustered 12 shots on goal in the second period alone, including eight scoring chances, according to Natural Stat Trick. On one occasion, defensemen Ivan Provorov and Cam York were pinned in the Flyers’ zone for roughly three minutes and couldn’t get off the ice. Eventually, Ersson made a glove save on Sabres winger Victor Olofsson to stop the play and allow the Flyers to get fresh legs from the bench. Ersson earned his fourth straight win after his breakout performance on the California road trip saw him collect three victories.

“First one, it’s special,” he said. “But the win’s what matters, and that’s what you’ve got to take with you moving forward.”

The Flyers return home Wednesday to face the Washington Capitals at 7 p.m. (NBC Sports Philadelphia).