December 21, 2023
Eric Hartline/USA TODAY Sports
Flyers winger Joel Farabee tries to tip the puck past Predators goalie Juuse Saros.
The Flyers took it down to the final seconds again, but they finally hit a bump in the road and finally lost in regulation for the first time all month, losing 4-2 to the Nashville Predators after Gustav Nyquist buried the empty-netter.
The point streak ends at nine games, and they'll have one more at Detroit on Friday as part of a back-to-back before the Christmas break.
But man did this team show Philadelphia, and the hockey world, a whole lot these past couple of weeks.
Happy Holidays. Here are five thoughts on the Flyers...
Morgan Frost had the night's opening tally for his first goal since November 30 against the Devils, and how?
UP, OVER, AND IN 🚨
— NBC Sports Philadelphia (@NBCSPhilly) December 22, 2023
Morgan Frost gets things started for the Flyers just 91 seconds into the game. pic.twitter.com/zzXGUSQuGD
The goal was only Frost's fourth of the season in what's been an odd year for him.
Prior to Noah Cates' injury, if Tortorella needed to pull a forward out of the lineup, Frost was the first in line, and in some cases, he would sit for a while.
But since getting consistent minutes, his speed and playmaking ability have helped drive the Flyers into the offensive zone, yet it just hasn't yielded results for him in terms of sheer numbers.
It probably doesn't help either that Frost has to be placed within a purely offensive role, which somewhat limits his versatility in a John Tortorella-run team.
But maybe Thursday night gets the ball rolling for him, as he had the assist on Sean Couturier's second-period goal (on the power-play!) also for a two-point game, then was really hunting for another mark after this egregious hit:
Yakov Trenin was given a 5 minute major for boarding on this hit on Morgan Frost. pic.twitter.com/X85KIW3XkW
— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) December 22, 2023
The thing to remember with Frost though is that he didn't catch fire points-wise until mid-late December of last season.
Maybe he's just a slow starter?
Couturier gave the Flyers what's become a rare power-play goal.
But the power play also did this:
SHORTHANDED SMITTY pic.twitter.com/bHHbRzQnp6
— Nashville Predators (@PredsNHL) December 22, 2023
The Flyers have done so much right during this stretch, but the power play remains their Achilles heel.
They went 1-for-4 on the night with the man advantage, and their 10.2 success rate going into it was ranked 31st in the league.
"We kinda just took the wind out of our sails," Frost said postgame. "We didn't play with enough energy."
Here's Samuel Ersson's line from the start of the season up to the November 7 loss to the (at the time) spiraling San Jose Sharks: 1-3-1, 17 goals allowed, and an .830 save percentage.
Ersson's line in his eight games since entering Thursday night: 7-0-1, 16 goals allowed, a .930 save percentage, and two shutouts.
He started his fifth straight game against Nashville Thursday night, filling in for Carter Hart while he's been dealing with a lingering illness, and gave them a fight.
The 24-year old has been phenomenal for the Flyers between the pipes, and his turnaround from those early season struggles went hand-in-hand with this run the team has been on.
"He knew that he needed to be better, he knew he was better," Tortorella said after Ersson shut out Detroit Saturday night. "He has concentrated, I think [goaltending coach Kim Dillabaugh] has done a terrific job of keeping him ready. Couple of situations here where we expected Carter and didn’t have Carter. He plays and comes back and plays another one. This is probably one of his best games. He has improved right on through here."
Then went and gave Nashville a challenge, making a series of tough saves on the way to stopping 27 of 30 shots.
Hart dressed Thursday night as the backup, and with a trip to Detroit on deck as part of a back-to-back before the Christmas break, he could get the nod Friday night in what would be his first start since December 9 – barring any setback, of course.
He's still the No. 1 goaltender and, if fully healthy, gives the Flyers their best shot to win.
But it definitely is comforting to know that you have Ersson right behind him, and fully ready to answer the call.
The Flyers' current run has left them in a whole lot of close games, which in turn, has left Tortorella to lean on his top players in a whole lot of late-game situations.
They've pulled through up until Thursday night, but all those minutes do pile up, especially for Couturier as the top center, who has looked great but is still just coming back from nearly two years missed from back issues.
The break following Friday night in Detroit will give the whole team a chance to rest up and reset a bit, and Cates eventually coming back will offer a little more depth to work with, but Tortorella did acknowledge earlier Thursday that he'll have to keep an eye on the minutes coming back.
The Flyers finally lost in regulation, but they're 7-1-1 this month, beat the Penguins twice, were riding a nine-game point streak, and have had us all looking at the standings and beginning to wonder about the actual possibility of a playoff push.
Sean Couturier has returned to form and skated a ton of minutes, Travis Konecny's been flying all over the ice, Travis Sanheim's rebound has been one of hockey's biggest feel-good stories of the year so far, Joel Farabee has become a noticeably more responsible player, and Owen Tippett, Tyson Foerster, Bobby Brink, and Cam York have all been building stronger and stronger foundations as full-time NHLers.
And that's not even to mention Rasmus Ristolainen's growth as a more dependable stay-at-home defenseman, while Sean Walker and Nick Seeler have suddenly become one of the league's dominant shutdown pairings.
The Flyers have been winning, yeah, but above all, they've been playing solid, fun-to-watch hockey that has given fans reason to tune in or show up night-to-night – the Wells Fargo Center has definitely been looking a bit fuller of late.
Maybe they hit a wall here, or maybe they lose momentum coming back from the Christmas break and balance out as many originally expected.
But enjoy this for what it is – and just imagine what it could look like once Cutter Gauthier and Matvei Michkov get here.
This is still very much a rebuild, and Danny Brière, Keith Jones, and definitely Tortorella will tell you that.
"You don't know what your team is until the end of January," Tortorella said earlier Thursday.
But this team is showing you that they're putting the pieces together, that they're headed in the right direction.
So maybe let yourself have a little faith in them.
Or at least enjoy the ride. It's going to be a long one still, and might start getting bumpy coming back for the new year.
"This team is gonna have to forecheck," Tortorella said postgame. "When this league gets going at the end of Christmas, after the holiday, that's when the grind starts coming in. If we think we're gonna be this high-flying transition team, stretching, and not forecheck, we're in for a rude awakening. We found that out tonight."
But it's still only one loss, the first outright one in a while, and with one more shot tomorrow to steady back up.
"There's a different confidence in the room this year," Frost said. "Everyone believes in each other, everyone trusts each other. I don't think anyone's gonna get too down."
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