Flyers’ Konecny, Ersson Lead the Way in 4-1 Win vs. Jets

If Konecny is producing, the Flyers are likely winning. He now has 24 goals in 52 games this season, putting him on pace to be just short of hitting the 40 mark for the first time in his career. In one of the more pivotal stretches of 2023-24 now that every game is important, every goal for him will be, as well. If he really is set to have a good stretch for the next little while, it cannot be understated how huge that could be.

Ersson Just Needed Some Rest

Goaltender Sam Ersson was coming off a few poor games, but now is coming off a couple of great ones, allowing a single goal in each of them. Before the All-Star Break, he just wasn’t playing at his best. Now that he has had a little bit of rest, he’s right back where he left off. Stopping 28 of 29 shots and lasting until just over five minutes remaining in the third to have his shutout bid ended, had another quality game after his win over the Florida Panthers on Feb. 6.

Whether or not Ersson was ready to handle a true starter’s workload was put into question early on, but he has silenced those doubts recently. It’s not easy to go from starting every other game to every single one, but that’s been his situation. That might not sound like the best idea, but he’s been largely responsible for the Flyers’ last two wins, and definitely so in their game against the Panthers.

It’s not like Ersson had an easy night, either. Like always, he dealt with many high-danger shots but turned those aside. It was only later on in the game that started to be the case, but he still had to be rock solid through the entire 60 minutes. The second- and third-period onslaughts from the Jets could have really overwhelmed him, but he stood his ground and didn’t give them much to work with.

Ersson’s emergence this season could be the start of something special, and if that’s the case it would be huge for the Flyers. He couldn’t get a single start early in the season and got lit up for five and seven goals when he did, so for him to be a starter so soon afterward is nothing short of miraculous on his part. Hopefully, he can continue to be the go-to netminder.

Flyers Get the Hard Part Out of the Way

The start to the Flyers’ post-All-Star Break stretch has been nothing short of easy. Winning both of their games thus far against the Panthers and Jets could be massive for them moving forward. They don’t play a team with more points than Winnipeg until Feb. 24 when they face the New York Rangers, and it won’t be until March 16 that they play a team with more points than Florida with that game being against the Boston Bruins. These were two contests that the Flyers probably should have lost on paper, but they got the job done and now are in a more comfortable spot.

No team is an easy matchup, but some foes are more formidable than others. The Flyers just got arguably the two toughest matches of the entire month out of the way, now they have to continue this momentum. Things could have gone way south for them in these two games alone, but they were up for the challenge.

Next up, the Flyers will take on the Seattle Kraken on Feb. 10, this time in Philadelphia with the Orange and Black losing to them in overtime the first time they played. Another great defensive team with a goaltender who has really found his stride in Joey Daccord since the two teams last squared off, this one might be even tougher than the first.