Flyers takeaways: Ivan Fedotov’s steady presence, consistency on offense has led to three-game winning streak

A quick recap.

The Flyers won the first game of the season against the Vancouver Canucks but then lost six straight, in which they were outscored 29-14. Since two straight losses to the Washington Capitals to cap off that losing streak, they’ve won seven of 11, have points in five straight, and have won three in a row.

What changed?

Here are four reasons why they may have turned a corner, highlighted in their 5-2 win against the Buffalo Sabres on Saturday night.

» READ MORE: Flyers hot streak continues against Buffalo Sabres on Star Wars night at the Wells Fargo Center

After a start that saw them incredibly disconnected — including passes missing their mark, a lack of a forecheck, and puck support almost non-existent — the Flyers have been playing more consistently as five-man units.

Coach John Tortorella thought the support and forecheck was there on Saturday. “We had to make up for our last game when we did none,” he said about Thursday’s Flyers’ 5-4 overtime win against the Ottawa Senators.

The Orange and Black didn’t necessarily deserve to win that game but they battled and stayed with it by blocking a season-high 30 shots. Against the Sabres, a game where they were out-chanced by their opponent again, they blocked 25. This time, defensemen Rasmus Ristolainen and Travis Sanheim led the way with four each.

“Well, I think we are playing better,” Tortorella said. “The biggest thing is that we are playing in fives. The two biggest things that we worked on when we were all disjointed was playing in fives and making sure we see a third guy high all the time because that allowed us to play on our toes, that allowed us to check forward. That’s been a lot more consistent in our game.”

Consistency is key as the season ebbs and flows. It’s something the Flyers have learned, while also realizing they need to show up every night.

“The year that we had last year, and the work that we put in, you forget how hard it was to play at that level and you think it’s just going to happen again when you come into a season,” Sanheim said. “We’re doing a much better job of working for each other and competing. And we’re getting the results.”

After a rocky beginning in which he allowed four or more goals in three starts and it didn’t look like he’d get much of a chance in net, Ivan Fedotov has become a steady presence for the Flyers.

On Saturday, he stopped 23 of 25 shots to earn his third straight win. From his first three starts, in which he didn’t win a game, to his three straight wins, he has seen his goals-against average drop from 5.35 to 2.22 and his save percentage rise from .821 to .918.

“You have a lot of games during a season and I didn’t want to make a lot of pressure for myself,” Fedotov said. “Game by game, you just have to keep your mind strong.”

Fedotov made several big-time stops against the Sabres. He stopped former Flyers forward Nicolas Auber-Kubel in the first period with his blocker after Noah Cates turned the puck over near the Flyers' blue line, and then robbed Bowen Byram as the clock ticked down.

In the second period, Sanheim got tripped up as he tried to get the puck out and Dylan Cozens ended up skating in alone. Fedotov squared up to the shooter perfectly for the save. The final frame saw him allow two goals on six shots but with the score 4-1 he made a hard save on JJ Peterka through traffic.

“Still a small sample size. He’s played really well in three games. It was here to here,” Tortorella said holding one hand near his waist and the other well above his head. “But he’s going to have to continue. This is five or six games for him and I think he certainly feels more comfortable. To me, he’s more competitive. He just looks the part. He didn’t even look the part his first starts. He looks the part now. So he’s just going to stay within himself and keep on playing.”

Eighteen games into the season, Travis Konecny has 11 goals and 22 points while averaging more than 21 minutes a game.

Against the Sabres, he collected his fifth multipoint game with two goals and an assist. His second multipoint game of the season was in the Flyers' 7-5 win against the Minnesota Wild, a five-point night, to help snap the team’s six-game skid.

The alternate captain currently has a six-game point streak with six goals and six assists. Per the calculator, that’s 12 points. In six games.

Wowzer.

“Oh, he’s a huge part of our team offensively, killing penalties, energy,” Tortorella said. “He’s a really good player and with the team that is still trying to find themselves offensively, he has been a mainstay right through this. He has been a very important guy as we wait for other guys to get going.”

Konecny’s second goal of the night was an empty-netter but his first goal was pretty. After his buddy Sanheim blocked a shot and sent a stretch pass up to Matvei Michkov, Konecny took off like a greyhound chasing a rabbit around a track to make it a two-on-none. He caught up with Michkov and received a faked-shot-turned-pass from the Russian star before burying it.

“I think you saw that last year, he led the way, and you’re seeing again this year, that when we’re going it seems to be that he’s on his game,” Sanheim said. “So I think he understands that and he recognizes that, and he wants to be the guy that is leading the way.”

» READ MORE: Flyers mailbag: Are the Orange and Black finally turning a corner? What does the future hold for Morgan Frost?

Then Konecny participated in the other part of his game, the edge part — although he had a good reason. After the goal, Zach Benson tried to hit Michkov behind the net. Konecny took exception and went after the second-year player.

“I always talk about our room, and that’s a huge part of it,” Tortorella said. “That has just come together. If there’s one thing that has come together in our rebuild here, it’s that. ... So what you’re talking about, sticking up for one another, it doesn’t surprise me. We don’t talk about it, they just do it because that’s what that room is.”

The other half of the Travi, Sanheim, has not only been an anchor on the team’s blue line but has become a wrecking ball at the offensive end.

In 18 games, Sanheim has 11 points (five goals, six assists), a plus-minus of plus-3, and is playing an average of 25 minutes, 17 seconds a night, the fifth most in the NHL.

On Saturday, he had several chances to score as the Flyers pinned the Sabres in — including a one-timer from the inside of the left face-off circle — before he fired off a one-timer from the right circle. With the goal and his stretch pass to Michkov on the Konecny marker, the defenseman now has back-to-back multipoint games after collecting a goal and two assists against the Senators on Thursday.

» READ MORE: Former No. 1 pick Erik Johnson almost quit hockey in 2021. Now, he’s a Stanley Cup champ who reached 1,000 games

“He’s taken off,” Tortorella said, adding that he hopes Hockey Canada is watching as they prepare to make their picks for the 4 Nations Face-Off. “He’s got a level of confidence that it’s just, it’s outstanding.”

While those two plays hit the back of the net, according to Natural Stat Trick, Sanheim led the Flyers in individual shot attempts at five-on-five (six), had three individual scoring chances, two high-danger chances, and two rebound attempts. Remember, he’s a defenseman.

“I think just overall, when I get the puck, I feel like I can make plays, whether it’s offense or defense, breaking out, using my body and defending,” Sanheim said. “I’m feeling really confident right now, and pucks are going in for me. So hopefully that continues. I know it won’t all season so I’ll take it while it’s lasting.”