Flyers-Sharks takeaways: Sam Ersson makes biggest save of season; Power play is improving

The Flyers keep on truckin’.

In a season of should wins, this was a biggie. When you’re up against one of the worst teams in the NHL — well, tied for No. 31 in the standings — and you’re battling to maintain your spot in the playoff bubble, it’s a game that is more likely a must-win.

Facing a team that had nothing to lose in the San Jose Sharks, it took some time, but the Flyers were able to finally eke out a 3-2 victory on Tuesday. It was a good bounce-back win, done so without the bench boss leading the charge.

Here are three takeaways from the Flyers’ win on the Grateful Dead night at the Wells Fargo Center.

» READ MORE: Owen Tippett scores winning goal as Flyers escape trap game with 3-2 victory over Sharks

John Tortorella served the first game of his suspension and, with the fiery coach forced to watch the game from afar, associate coach Brad Shaw and assistant coach Rocky Thompson ran things. Tortorella said pregame that things would be “seamless” and that’s just how it went for the squad. Shaw ran the defense, Thompson ran the offense and according to Travis Konecny, the only difference was who was calling the lines.

“Obviously it’s a little different when there’s a little change of personnel, but our job stays the same,” Owen Tippett said. “We had that meeting and we want to do what we can do and kind of stick together and see what happens.”

In the movie 57 Seconds, star Josh Hutcherson finds a ring that allows the wearer to travel 57 seconds into the past. He uses it to avenge his twin sister’s death. If the Flyers used the ring after scoring the go-ahead goal by Tippett, it would take the team back to probably one of the biggest saves of the season by Sam Ersson.

“He’s been a rock all year. I think everyone in the room has so much confidence in him,” Morgan Frost said. “Never a doubt that he was going to do that and, yeah, he made some huge saves tonight.”

With the score tied at 2, Alexander Barabanov broke in all alone and tried to beat Ersson on his glove side. It made sense for Barabanov to go to the Swede’s glove after his teammate, Filip Zadina, scored in the first period on a similar move, one Ersson said he lost some patience on. This time, Ersson said he may have committed again a bit too early but “got my leg over there.” That’s putting it mildly. He made a fantastic left-pad stop to keep things tied up.

“That’s the nice thing about being a goalie, you get to impact the game in a big way,” Ersson said. “That’s what you want. You want to have those moments come at you and you want to come out with a big save. That’s the most fun part of being a goalie.”

Ersson has been stupendous for the Flyers since the calendar flipped to Nov. 3. Entering the game, the rookie netminder went 18-11-4 in his last 34 games with a .908 save percentage and the sixth-best goals-against average (2.42) among goalies with a minimum 25 starts. He made another 27 saves on Tuesday.

“We’re not surprised by him,” said Konecny, who set up Tippett for the winner 57 seconds after Ersson made the save. “He does great things all the time for us to keep us in games. And that’s why we are where we’re at. Everyone does their part and he’s doing his all the time for us. So, it’s awesome to see.”

Speaking to the media for the first time this season, Thompson, who runs the power play, was up-front and honest about how things are going: “Our power play stinks.”

Insert grimace emoji.

He’s not wrong. Entering the game against the Sharks, the Flyers were dead last at a measly 12.7%. Yikes. But there is a silver lining as the team sported some new looks to its five-man units and went 1-for-4 with the man advantage.

» READ MORE: Flyers believe previous adversity will aid their playoff push: ‘What stands in the way becomes the way’

“We only got the one, but I thought we did a lot of good things,” said Frost, who scored a goal off a blocked shot by Konecny. “I think we had some good chances and a lot of good plays by some of those other guys. And I thought we had a better attack mentality and once we did that, I think we kind of tired them out and that opened some more of the little but more skilled passes.”

The power play had some new combinations and a new face with Denis Gurianov, who was just acquired from the Nashville Predators last week, on the second unit. Across the board, the Flyers showcased more sustained pressure during the man advantage and more willingness to send two men on the puck when they lose. In the end, they had 23 shot attempts, 12 of those shots on goal.

“We just had that mindset of attack,” Tippett said. “I think, as soon as you get a good draw — Frosty was great on draws, I think he didn’t lose one tonight on the power play and it was great. As soon as you can kind of establish pressure right off the draw and you’re on the page it makes it a lot easier.”