Flyers get back to looking like themselves, but a playoff berth remains uncertain

Fleetwood Mac’s “Dreams” is on the Flyers’ playlist after wins and for a brief moment Saturday night, the Flyers were living their dream as they were back in the playoffs following a 1-0 win against the New Jersey Devils.

As coach John Tortorella said, “We played to get our game Tuesday to mean something.”

Sure, it will more than likely be critical Tuesday when the Flyers host the Washington Capitals. But, as Scott Laughton knows because he said he’d probably have the TV on, the playoff spot was a pit stop because soon after the Flyers won, the Capitals topped the Tampa Bay Lightning 4-2, and the Detroit Red Wings beat the Toronto Maple Leafs 5-4 in overtime. As quickly as they were in, the Flyers fell out of the second wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference.

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Although all three teams are tied in points (87), the Capitals and Red Wings move ahead of the Flyers because they have each played one fewer game. The Pittsburgh Penguins lost 6-4 to the Boston Bruins and remain at 86 points with two games remaining in their regular season.

The Flyers are off Monday but their competitors will all hit the ice. The Red Wings play the Montreal Canadiens, the Penguins play the Nashville Predators, and the Capitals play the Bruins. Tuesday’s meeting with the Washington Capitals will matter for the Flyers at least at the time of puck drop.

But before that game, here are three key reasons the Flyers won which show they’re back to being the Flyers.

Sam Ersson didn’t really change anything despite his recent struggles.

“It’s easy to want to go ahead and change a lot of things. Often less is more,” he said. “It’s more about really believing in my game and my routines and everything I do. So it’s more of trusting even more.”

That’s a good thing because, in his 48th start of the season, the netminder earned his fourth shutout.

“We’re not shocked. I don’t think you guys [the media] are shocked either,” winger Travis Konecny said. ‘He’s done it all year. He’s played great for us. And, you know, competitors like himself, they step up in these big games and he’s a gamer. You can tell he wants to be in these moments, and he’s there now.”

Outside of their win Thursday against the New York Rangers, the Flyers have struggled to score first. So it was nail-biting time when the first shot Ersson faced — the first shot of the game — was a wrister by Devils captain Nico Hischier from the right faceoff circle; Hischier was open and able to skate in on Ersson after Luke Hughes attracted two Flyers. Ersson made the save but the puck squeaked through and Erik Johnson cleared it from the crease.

The save and subsequent play by the veteran blueliner seemed to let everyone take a breath. Now, of course, for a goalie who likes to face shots, his teammates didn’t make it easy on him as he faced a total of 20 — six in the first period, five in the second, and nine in the third. But with two consecutive wins under his belt, it seems like the old Ersson has returned.

“He was battling and he has found something here. And that isn’t a physical skill, that’s a mental skill. And every time we talk about Erss, what do I talk about? His mental toughness. So I’m thrilled for him that he’s been able to keep us afloat and made a couple of huge saves. Low-event game, very hard for goalies [but] stood in there. … Terrific for him. He’s got one more,” said Tortorella, confirming that Ersson will start the last game of the season.

Playing strong defensively, the Flyers’ penalty kill once again stepped up in a big way. With the power play continuing to be powerless, and unable to connect on a 73-second, 5-on-3 in the first period, it was the “power kill” in the second period that was fully charged.

The goal was actually started by the goal scorer. Konecny made a play on Dawson Mercer’s stick, causing the Devils forward to miss the puck. It squirted out into the slot where Nick Seeler made a diving play to chip it away from the Devils and to Laughton, who read the play and was heading up the ice.

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“A little bit of trust in Seels there,” Laughton said. “I was kind of cheating up the ice, but he got a great stick on it.”

“I think the biggest part was [Seeler] thought Laughts was going to get it and then Laughts took off and Seels was like, ‘Oh God I better get this,’” Johnson said with a chuckle.

“Thank God he was thinking what me and Laughty were thinking,” Konecny added.

Laughton got the puck and quickly backhanded it across to Konecny, who was streaking in for a breakaway. The Flyers forward buried the puck — where else — glove side.

“He’s been one of our best players for a couple years now. So that responsibility kind of falls on him, too,” Laughton said about Konecny feeling some pressure to produce. “And then he’s been great the last couple, taking over and leading that way.”

It may have been a low-event game for Ersson, but he can blame the 18 guys in front of him. Aside from dictating play, the Flyers were back to their shot-blocking ways.

The top shot-blocking team in the NHL (1,507), the Flyers were ranked 16th overall during their eight-game losing streak. They blocked 13 shots in three straight games from March 26-30. It could explain why they were outscored 42-18 across the eight games.

But they blocked 19 against the Rangers and 22 Saturday. Only five guys weren’t credited with a blocked shot. Ryan Poehling led the way with four and Travis Sanheim had three.

Jamie Drysdale had a big block in the second period with the score still 0-0. He went down on one knee and blocked a Mercer shot attempt as Erik Haula was crashing the net. In the third period, with the Devils pressing for the equalizer, Joel Farabee ate a John Marino slap shot with 11 minutes remaining in the game. And with 5:27 left, Hathaway made a sliding block on Hischier as he got the puck right in the slot.

With their strong defensive play, the Flyers were able to spend more time in the offensive zone.

“When you’re struggling to score, sometimes you might look for a play that you normally wouldn’t and I think we were kind of gripping our sticks too tight and looking for the perfect play at times,” Johnson said. ”We’ve been playing a little more direct, a little simpler, and I think it’s just led to us spending less time in our zone and more time in theirs.

“And to that, I think it’s led to better play for us. You get the puck out of our zone as clean as possible, as often as you can, usually you’re spending less time in your own zone defending and you’re in the other end of the ice. So for that, I think it’s been good for us.”

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