Author: Jackie Spiegel

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. — Foreigner blasted from the stadium’s speakers.

“You’re as cold as ice,” Lou Gramm sang.

For the 74,575 fans packed into West Shore Home Field at Beaver Stadium, it’s fair to say that was an accurate description of how they were feeling Saturday. The faithful stayed outside in freezing temperatures — it was 16 degrees Fahrenheit at puck drop, but felt colder — willing to sacrifice their own bodies to watch Penn State host Michigan State in the first outdoor game at the home of the Nittany Lions.

“I think it’s cool. It’s like going back to hockey’s roots,” said Penn State alum Billy Maney. “It’s just a different environment and each stadium I’ve been to, or each event, it’s been unique.”

Sporting a 2010 Winter Classic Flyers jersey, Maney — who said it was way colder in Happy Valley than for that game at Fenway Park — wore three to four layers. His game plan to stay warm was to run the stairs, like how Montreal Canadiens coach Martin St. Louis does at the Bell Centre after his team’s morning skate.

He wasn’t the only one strategizing how to stay warm as the sun arced east to west during the three hours it took to complete a 5-4 overtime victory for the Spartans. Michigan State’s Charlie Stramel, a Minnesota Wild prospect, capped off his hat trick in the extra session to win it for the Spartans.

Boxes and boxes of hand warmers welcomed revelers as they entered, with each person bundled up and ready to face the tundra of Beaver Stadium. That is, everyone but the students standing under the press box shirtless for most of the game.

The men, who dwindled from 15 down to five as they turned redder and redder from the cold with each passing goal, would yell “Take it off” to other fans, intermixed with the usual “We are” chants from the rest of the crowd.

“It’s the first time,” explained Brian Keck, a Penn State alum who traveled from York to stand in the cold all bundled up with 15 of his former classmates and their families for a winter weekend, something they’ve done for the last 20 years.

“It’s going to be a great event, and always, Penn State sporting events are the place to be when it comes to sports.”

Despite the ice needing repairs throughout, it was truly a spectacle as No. 5 Penn State hosted No. 2 Michigan State. It had a football vibe as the Blue Band played, and flags with “We Are” and “Penn State” ran up and down the field after every goal for the hometown team. And the team that normally calls the field home, lined the rink and marveled as pucks hit the glass — and some went over the netting — during warmups.

“It’s one of our first experiences with another team here,” said Tony Rojas, a linebacker for the Nittany Lions, in a custom hockey jersey with his No. 13 on the back. “It’s a cool experience and obviously to cheer on the guys at Penn State. We’re all together.”

But it also had an NHL vibe with jerseys for the Washington Capitals, Chicago Blackhawks, Pittsburgh Penguins — former Flyers forward Jaromír Jágr was spotted on one — Winnipeg Jets, New York Rangers, and of course, the Orange and Black dotting the crowd. Flyers orange is an easy color to spot at games in general, and Saturday was no different, as prospect Shane Vansaghi could see the faithful while on the rink.

“So fun,” Vansaghi said of the experience. “Probably one of the best experiences I’ve ever been a part of in terms of my hockey career. It’s got to be up there with probably the most fun game that I’ve ever played.

“And just the way it ended, the way it went, it was fun. … Competitive, tight game back and forth, so it’s just fun to be a part of those games, especially playing in front of [more than] 74,000 people.”

Growing up in St. Louis, Vansaghi didn’t get to experience outdoor hockey often, although there was a bitter cold snap when he was 12 or 13 years old, so he had about two weeks to skate outdoors. Despite his inexperience, he was an old pro at it with eye black and zero extra layers thanks to the heated benches; however, he did confess his toes and his hands were a little cold at the end of the game.

His teammate and fellow Flyers prospect, Porter Martone, “grew up and found the love for the game on an outdoor pond,” as a youth in Ontario, Canada.

“It is pretty special to play an outdoor game,” said Martone, who had three assists on Saturday after collecting the game-winner and two assists in Friday’s 6-3 win at Pegula Ice Arena.

“I remember when I was 2 years old, just skating on that rink and just learned how to fall in love with the game, and that’s where I kind of learned all the skills and kind of all the little things.”

While there was a lot of blue and white, there was also Michigan State green. Jayson Lottes and Michael Regan came with five layers to insulate them from the cold. They drove from Bethesda, Md., and Wilkes-Barre, respectively, to cheer on their alma mater. “It’s exciting for the sport. Having so many people here is a great thing,” said Regan.

But the Penn Staters were the loudest and proudest since they had, literally, home-field advantage. With each goal by their team, a roar echoed around the stadium, and white pom-poms pumped to the music.

No reaction was bigger than when Gavin McKenna, the projected No. 1 pick in the 2026 NHL draft, showed off his high-end talent and tied the game 2-2 in the second period.

“I kind of blacked out on that one,” said McKenna, who grew up skating outside in Whitehorse, Yukon, of his animated reaction. “I think just the emotions in that game, obviously, with the crowd, the atmosphere, how tight of a game it was, it’s pretty easy to get excited like that.”

The game was another major milestone for a school that is becoming a hockey valley. Fourteen years ago, Penn State became a Division I program. Last season, they reached a Frozen Four normally dominated by blue-blood teams from established hockey states like Massachusetts, Minnesota, Michigan, and Colorado.

On Saturday, the University filled a football stadium with not just hockey fans but with Penn State hockey fans.

“I went to every coach on our staff and said, ‘Look behind you,’ because when you looked behind you, it was just absolutely jammed,” Penn State coach Guy Gadowsky said. “And people were into it. I couldn’t believe it was a hockey game; I really couldn’t. It just blew me away. Constantly, numerous times, every period, I would just look around at the atmosphere and just take it in. I don’t know how to explain it.

“It’s very, very humbling that I get to be a part of something like this.”

COLUMBUS, Ohio — For most of the night, it seemed as if the Flyers were still on a road outside Columbus. Despite facing a Metropolitan Division foe in the Blue Jackets, and with their playoff dreams fading away, it was too much of that Midwest way of ease.

They finally turned it up for the third period and were knocking on the door of a comeback, thanks to Travis Konecny and Dan Vladař, but then fell back into the habits that sank them earlier in the game. Within five minutes it went from a tie game to a 5-3 loss.

Just a few weeks ago, the Flyers were sitting inside the playoff picture. Now they’ve lost nine of 11.

“We just shot ourselves in the foot a few times, and they capitalized on them,” defenseman Travis Sanheim said. “And just weren’t executing the way that we need to at this level. And it cost us.”

The gas tank seemed to be low for much of the team for much of the time — except for Konecny and Vladař.

“We all know he’s our big dog, as everybody says,” Vladař said about Konecny. “We were happy that he’s going, but at the same time, it’s a team game. We just can’t rely on only two players. We cannot expect from him scoring [a] hat trick every single game.”

A painful hat trick

Konecny notched his third career hat trick as he gutted and grimaced out a performance that could have and should have gone down in Flyers lore.

His first goal tied the score at 1, settling things down momentarily after his line was on the ice for the first Columbus goal 38 seconds into the game — thanks to a turnover by Trevor Zegras. But then, at the end of the second, Konecny blocked a Damon Severson slap shot off his ankle or foot and appeared to be in so much pain that the guy who normally sticks around after the buzzer was already deep down the tunnel when it sounded.

He wasn’t out there for the start of the third — missing the opening shift with his linemates, Zegras and Christian Dvorak — but he was on the bench just as the puck dropped and was back on the ice for their next rotation. The next shift after, Konecny made it 3-2, and with 4 minutes, 46 seconds remaining, he received a nifty pass from his buddy Travis Sanheim to tie it at 3.

But in the process, the Flyers may have lost Konecny for some time.

“He’s hitting the holes, and … he races inside on them and beats people, and then obviously he’s got a good shot,” coach Rick Tocchet said.

“And he took one off the foot. He’s limping around. He might not play [Thursday against the Boston Bruins]. We don’t know. He [had] a lot of guts tonight.”

Konecny is the Flyers’ leader in goals (20) and points (48), and losing him would be a big hole to fill as they try to climb back in the race. They are six points out of third place in the Metro and eight points back of a wild-card slot.

Vladař’s strong return

Although Sam Ersson battled and performed up to the task across the gauntlet through Las Vegas, Utah, and Colorado, the return of Vladař after a six-game absence was expected to be a durable shovel added to the dig-out.

Although he missed two weeks and said he didn’t “think my legs and my reads were there at the beginning,” the No. 1 goalie was up to the task. But the defense faltered in front of him again, committing turnovers and leaving Blue Jackets wide-open on the weak side.

“We’ve talked from training camp [about] the weakside goals, and lately, since Tampa, we’re just giving up too many weakside goals,” Tocchet said, referencing two straight losses to the Lightning in mid-January.

“You cannot let that weakside goal go in. Obviously, there’s a couple of guys [who] made mistakes on it. Let Vladdy have the strong side shot; he stops that all day long. But that one’s impossible for him to stop.

“I shouldn’t say impossible, because he made some great saves.”

Indeed, he did.

There’s always talk about goalies needing to make one more save in a game. Vladař did that and more. He saw the puck well, especially through traffic, and made 26 saves on 30 shots, stopping three out of five high-danger shots.

Two of those saves were highlight-reel, saves-of-the-year stops on Adam Fantilli when it was 3-1 and Boone Jenner when it was 3-2, with his glove as they waited on the weak side all alone at the right post. Sean Monahan, who scored the game-winner two shifts after Konecny notched his third goal, mentioned postgame he was happy his shot was on the stick side.

“[Sanheim] can’t be tied up with his guy, he’s got to stay loose. He’s got to stay loose because there’s a breakdown,” Tocchet said about the game-winner. “Noah [Cates] should have took back ice, but Sanny just was, he stood with his guy. He should just leave him loose, and then he takes the weak side. So, it’s a couple of things, multiple things. You want to give your goalie a chance to make the save when there’s a breakdown.”

It did seem as if the Blue Jackets were crashing the net and making a goalie returning from injury move side-to-side a lot.

“I don’t think it was intentional because of Vlad,” Sanheim said.

“I think it was some of the mistakes that we were making and coverages and allowing them to make those plays. It puts a lot of stress on your goaltender and can’t blame him, he made a heck of a save on a couple of occasions and really kept us in that game.”

There were turnovers galore, missed assignments, missed reads, and the official stat says nine giveaways. It’s been the norm lately for the Flyers as their once-promising season is charging downhill.

The question is, how many times can the Flyers break till they shatter?

COLUMBUS, Ohio ― The Flyers traveled more than four hundred miles from where they’re known. Although they had a change in scenery, they carried many of their issues over from Monday.

Despite Dan Vladař’s spectacular saves in net, in his first game since getting injured against the Buffalo Sabres on Jan. 14, and the third career hat trick by Travis Konecny, the Flyers were handed a 5-3 loss by the Columbus Blue Jackets.

The Flyers have now lost nine of their last 11 games, including two straight in which they have been outscored a combined 9-3.

Sean Monahan scored with 3 minutes, 28 seconds left in regulation as he stood alone at the left post. The Flyers struggled to get the puck out, and Damon Severson sent the puck across from the right boards to the open winger. Mathieu Olivier scored an empty-netter to seal it for Columbus.

It was a delicate few opening seconds for the Flyers when, on the first shift, Charlie Coyle gave the Blue Jackets a 1-0 lead 38 seconds into the game. Trevor Zegras was on the boards and tried to pass to his centerman, Christian Dvorak, to start a breakout, but it went through, and Zach Werenski kept the puck in to Olivier.

The rugged forward then fed Coyle, who was honored before the game for reaching 1,000 games on Jan. 22, as he got behind the defense. Coyle scored over the glove of Vladař.

Later in the period, Konecny evened the game with his 18th goal of the season. It also tied him with Zegras for the points lead (46).

Zegras had the puck deep and tried to chip it to Konecny, but it popped all the way out to Noah Juulsen at the left point. The defenseman fed it across to Cam York, and he hit Konecny in the middle. He had room and skated down and snapped the puck past goalie Elvis Merzļikins.

The Flyers had a great chance to take a 2-1 lead with under 2 minutes left in the opening frame when, on a power play, Zegras skated through the Blue Jackets defense. He hit the puck off the heel of his blade, but the Flyers kept going, ultimately with Zegras getting another look at a wide-open net. His shot ended up hitting either the right post or the stick of Bobby Brink that was lying in the crease after he lost it during a commotion.

Columbus took the lead with 20 seconds to go in the period on a goal by Kirill Marchenko. Skating four-on-four, after the Flyers were called for too many men during the man advantage, the Blue Jackets skated down with Werenski and Owen Tippett chasing after the puck.

From one angle, it looked like Werenski interfered with Tippett. From another, it looked clean. Regardless, there was no call, and Werenski, who will represent the United States at the 2026 Milano Cortina Olympics, fed the puck from the right circle to Marchenko in the left for the one-timer.

Erik Gudbranson made it 3-1 less than two minutes into the second period when his point shot off a faceoff beat Vladař. It may have nicked Dvorak on the way in.

Despite allowing four goals, Vladař did not look rusty as he kept the Flyers in the game. He made a phenomenal standing pad save on Werenski as it looked like he batted the puck out of the air with 3:05 to go in the second.

And then in the third period, in between Konecny scoring again from the middle of the ice to make it 3-2, Vladař robbed Adam Fantilli sitting at the right post with his glove, and then did it again to Boone Jenner from the same spot. The first save on Fantilli was reviewed, but it confirmed Vladař’s magnificent save.

Konecny finished off the hat trick to tie the game at 3-3. He received a pass from Travis Sanheim from the left board as Konecny crashed down the right side.

This goal and his other in the final period came off a gutsy performance by the forward, who blocked a shot late in the second period and hobbled to the bench. He went down the tunnel right at the buzzer of the middle frame and didn’t get back to the bench until after the puck dropped for the third period.

Konecny now leads the Flyers in goals (20) and points (48).

“He’s hitting the holes, and he’s, we call it, race inside, and he races inside on them and beats people, and then obviously he’s got a good shot,” said Rick Tocchet.

“And he took one off the foot. He’s limping around. He might not play tomorrow. We don’t know. He [had] a lot of guts tonight.”

Breakaways

Defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen did not return following his second shift of the game, leaving with a lower-body injury. The Finn returned on Monday after missing six games. Tocchet did not have an update on him after the game. … Defenseman Emil Andrae was a healthy scratch, along with forwards Nic Deslauriers and Garnet Hathaway.

Up next

The Flyers will get right back to it in Boston on Thursday against the Bruins (7 p.m., NBCSP+).

The Flyers were riding high after a solid week out west. But they crashed back to reality, losing a four-point game against Metropolitan Division rivals, the New York Islanders, on Monday.

Here are three interesting things said postgame:

Rick Tocchet: ‘You’ve got to handle prosperity.’

Standing outside the coaches’ room in the bowels of Ball Arena on Friday in Denver, Rick Tocchet was asked if the win against the No. 1 team in the NHL, the Colorado Avalanche, could serve as a springboard for his team. The coach calmly responded that they could enjoy it for a moment but that everything needs to remain on an even keel.

It’s a smart mindset amid an 82-game grind, as there will be winning streaks, losing streaks, highs and lows, and everything in between. But while the Flyers won Friday to seal five of six points across a three-game gauntlet of games, Trevor Zegras said what everyone watching was thinking postgame Monday, “We just kind of came out and thought it would be easy, I guess.”

What does Tocchet mean when he says his club needs to handle prosperity better? Part of it is that the Flyers need to sustain wins; they need to know that just because you win Night 1, it doesn’t mean Night 2 will be easy. And it’s something they should know since they have only won two straight once in 2026, have lost eight of their past 10, and are 3-10-4 after a regulation win this season.

Noah Cates: ‘I think we were kind of perimeter.’

The Flyers have been focusing on getting to the middle and driving to the net. But they struggled with it on Monday.

According to Natural Stat Trick, at five-on-five, the Flyers had 13 shots, with just five from high-danger areas. It was a noticeable difference from their games the past week, where, against the Avalanche and Utah Mammoth, they had 12 and 13, respectively, at five-on-five.

Captain Sean Couturier said Monday that the team wasn’t “at our best on winning battles” and “going to the dirty areas,” as was evident from the eye test, too. Was it something the Islanders, who deploy a 1-1-3 system, were doing or that the Flyers weren’t driving to the net?

“Yeah, I think both,” forward Noah Cates said. “I think we were kind of perimeter, not getting guys to the front of the net and different things like that. But they’re so structured, and that’s just kind of their MO, has been for the last couple of years, kind of their hard and stingy defensively, and just kind of winning battles down low, and then getting pucks to the net and getting bodies there is tough against them.”

Tocchet: ‘Some guys accepted it.’

The coach wore this one, saying it was on him. But he’s not the one on the ice making the plays. His players are the ones who need to step up.

“We just got our butts kicked on home ice in a game where it’s probably tough to get to, and a lot of fans in the building,” Jamie Drysdale said.

It seemed that as soon as the Islanders found the back of the net — while the Flyers were the ones on the power play — in the first period, it sucked the life out of the building and the team.

“There was no effort coming back,” said a frustrated Tocchet, who answered a follow-up question that it was Hockey 101. “We didn’t even have the puck, and then we had two guys go to the same guy, and then one guy doesn’t backcheck.

“We don’t have the puck, just come back in the slot hard. One guy stays in front, the other guy takes him, there’s no goal. And who knows, if we’re zeros after the first, maybe. But it seemed like when they scored it, some guys accepted.”

Back at sea level, it looks like the Flyers left their energy in the Rocky Mountains.

Coming off a three-game road trip, with wins against two Stanley Cup contenders, the Vegas Golden Knights and Colorado Avalanche, you would have thought the Flyers would be amped to get back in front of the hometown faithful, especially since they had left town on a six-game slide.

But they came out with a lackluster effort, and the result was a 4-0 loss to the New York Islanders and goalie Ilya Sorokin. It marked the second time this season the Flyers were shut out and ended the team’s three-game point streak.

Had the Flyers won the game, they would have jumped ahead of the team from Long Island via tiebreakers into third in the Metropolitan Division, as each team would have had 59 points in 51 games.

Jean-Gabriel Pageau gave the Islanders a 1-0 lead in the first period while shorthanded against the unit with Trevor Zegras, Travis Konecny, Christian Dvorak, Bobby Brink, and Jamie Drysdale.

Off the offensive-zone faceoff to start the power play, which was won by Dvorak back to Drysdale, the puck ended up on Brink’s stick down the boards. He tried to pass it to Dvorak, but it went to Islanders defenseman Adam Pelech, and he knocked it away.

Pageau picked up the loose puck and dumped it in off Ersson, who steered it into the right corner. Islanders forward Casey Cizikas was first on the puck, despite having Brink and Drysdale there, and fed it back to Pageau, who was skating alone through the slot. It was the fifth short-handed goal the Flyers have allowed this season.

Philly fell into a 2-0 hole in the second period when Mathew Barzal deflected a point shot past Ersson. The line of Dvorak, Konecny, and Nikita Grebenkin got pinned in their own end with Dvorak out there for 2 minutes, 12 seconds, Konecny for 1:42, and Grebenkin for one minute.

Drysdale was also out there for 1:42, skating with Travis Sanheim for over a minute as the Islanders kept the puck to one side of the ice, with the Flyers unable to recover. In the end, Barzal pushed off Drysdale in front and moved into the slot to deflect the shot by Isaiah George.

Later in the second period, former Flyers defenseman and Sewell, N.J. native Tony DeAngelo made it 3-0 with a power-play goal.

Ahead of the goal, the Flyers had a chance to get on the board when Rasmus Ristolainen, activated before the game from injured reserve, got the puck to Owen Tippett while shorthanded. Tippett went one-on-one with DeAngelo, even making a between-the-legs move, but couldn’t get a shot off and sent it back to Emil Andrae at the point.

Andrae couldn’t control the pass, and the Islanders broke out three-on-two with Anthony Duclair carrying the puck up the ice. Duclair passed it back to Barzal on the right wing, and he found DeAngelo in the middle for the one-timer.

Pageau added another goal in the third on a pass by Maxim Tsyplakov. The forward got behind the defense after the puck came off the wall in the neutral zone, and fired one upstairs off the pass.

Philly had 21 shots, but only four from high-danger areas, according to Natural Stat Trick; two of those were on the power play. Sorokin entered the game with an 11-3-3 career record, 1.61 goals-against average, and .944 save percentage against the Flyers.

Breakaways

Ersson started his fourth straight game for the first time since Feb. 8-27, when he went 3-0-1. With Ristolainen activated, defenseman Hunter McDonald was loaned to Lehigh Valley of the American Hockey League. … The 2nd Annual Gaudreau Family 5K will be held on May 16 at Washington Lake Park in Sewell. Registration will open on Feb. 13.

Up next

The Flyers are on the road again for two games in two nights. First up, they see old teammate Egor Zamula and the Columbus Blue Jackets on Wednesday (7:30 p.m., TNT, truTV, HBO Max) before going to Boston to face the Bruins on Thursday (7 p.m., NBCSP+).

DENVER ― Three games. Three different outcomes. Five out of six points.

Not a shabby week for the Flyers, who lost six straight before heading west and took on three of the NHL’s best. Not a shabby week for, really, anyone, facing the gauntlet of the Vegas Golden Knights, Utah Mammoth, and Colorado Avalanche in three consecutive games.

Coach Rick Tocchet and his players have often talked about lessons. Here are five lessons the Flyers learned this week that could help propel them forward as the season heads to the Olympic break.

1. Owen Tippett has been unleashed

Speaking with The Inquirer after his introductory press conference, Tocchet said, “I think Owen Tippett is a guy who I feel has another level in him. I think he’s a prototypical big, fast winger. Can we unleash him?”

If you hadn’t noticed it in the past few weeks, it smacked you in the face Friday: Tippett is officially unleashed.

“He’s a big-time player,” Sam Ersson said postgame. “He makes big-time plays at the right time when we need it. And he’s that guy who can score from anywhere. He just doesn’t need much. And you give him the finger, he’ll take the whole hand.”

Standing in the Flyers locker room at Ball Arena after the game, Tippett’s hand was filled with pucks after the winger notched his second career hat trick. His first came after his initial shot was blocked, but he stayed with it and sniped it past Mackenzie Blackwood from the right circle. The second came on the left side off the rush, and his third, which sealed a 7-3 victory over Colorado, was a short-handed goal through the wickets.

His four points — he also assisted on Denver Barkey’s power-play — showed everything he’s been doing well for weeks. Since Dec. 20, Tippett leads the Flyers in goals (nine) and is two points back of Travis Konecny’s team-leading 15. He also ranks third in hits (29).

“I think I’ve been pretty happy with my game the last couple of weeks, just doing all the little things and not really worrying about kind of points or scoring or just knowing they’re coming,” he said. “So obviously, it’s nice to have three [goals]. But more importantly, it’s about the win.

2. Keep the foot on the pedal

On Wednesday, the Flyers learned the hard way on how letting up can change a game. Losing 5-4 in overtime, they faltered despite having 3-0 and 4-2 leads before Utah scored twice in the third period, including the game-tying goal in the last minute.

“We talked about it as a team. I think, like, sometimes when the pressure comes, instead of folding, it’s when you have to play your best hockey,” defenseman Cam York said after morning skate in Denver. “I felt like when the pressure hit, we didn’t play our best hockey … [and] it’s mental. I think sometimes when we get a lead, we like to just kind of let them do their thing a little bit more, instead of just keeping our game going. So I think that’s the biggest piece for us.”

On Friday, the Flyers did not let up. They scored three goals on seven shots in the final frame, including two goals in the first two minutes of the period to break open a 3-3 game.

“[Friday], there were about four or five guys … who stood on the bench and said some key things,” Tocchet said. “Usually, we’re a fairly quiet bench. But the guys who were talking don’t talk that much, and it was really inspiring for me to hear them say that.

“Jamie Drysdale stood up and said, ‘Let’s enjoy this moment. Like, we’ve got to enjoy these pressure games. That’s why you play the game. You don’t want hide from it.’ When he said that, I think maybe that gave everybody a little bit of ‘Yeah, let’s enjoy it, let’s not be nervous about it.’ And I think that helped.”

3. Stop taking penalties

For the love of hockey, the Flyers need to stop taking penalties.

Penalties happen, of course, and is every penalty a legitimate call? Absolutely not, as the officiating has been downright dreadful this year. However, there are certainly penalties that could have been avoided.

The good news is that the penalty kill has been much better. It went from a league-worst 60.6% from the holiday break through Sunday to 85.7% across the three games this past week.

The bad news, since Monday’s 2-1 win against the Vegas Golden Knights — where one of Konecny’s two goals was a shortie — the Flyers lead the NHL in times shorthanded (14). They’ve spent the second-most time on ice shorthanded at almost 8 minutes a game, with only Utah, which played that one game against them, having more at 8:30.

Part of why the penalty kill has been better was because they have more structure — playing the diamond Tocchet likes while being smart with their aggressiveness — and part of it was Ersson. According to Natural Stat Trick, across the last three games, the Flyers allowed 36 shot attempts, 19 shots, 21 scoring chances, and 10 high-danger chances.

They allowed just two power-play goals against, with one coming from a high-danger spot — and none of the three shot attempts from in tight by Colorado, which kept feeding the bumper, got through. On the flip side, they do have two short-handed goals this past week and five on the season.

“We scratched and clawed. It was a tough game; got to kill two penalties right off the start. We had to kill a bunch of penalties tonight,” said Tocchet of the Flyers taking two penalties in the first five minutes and four in the game. “And I’m not going to blame the guys on the penalties, but I really felt they grinded it out killing those penalties.”

4. Bobby Brink is a catalyst

Could Brink be the straw that stirs the Flyers’ drink? Brink missed six games and the Flyers lost them all. Brink returns on Monday, and the Flyers go 2-0-1. Coincidence?

Whether or not there is a correlation, Brink doesn’t just bring a balance to the forward lines; he brings speed, a dogged determination, and pressure that creates turnovers and puts the opposition on its heels.

“There’s a guy like Bobby Brink, I think the last couple of games, he adds a lot of speed,” Tocchet said following morning skate at Ball Arena. “If he gets the puck, you see him through the neutral zone, separating himself. Those are the things we’re teaching our players to do.

He notched yet another goal — he has two in three games since returning from a concussion — on Friday for a career-high 13 this season. It was a pivotal moment as it regained the Flyers’ lead 32 seconds after the Avalanche tied it up 2-2. It was his work ethic, alongside Noah Cates, that led to the goal.

Skating in on a two-on-one, Brink fed Cates, who didn’t get good wood on the pass. But the centerman stayed with it as he and Brink worked together down low and around the net before Brink used his feet to keep the puck loose. The 24-year-old winger got the puck atop the crease and roofed it.

5. Never give up on Ersson

It wasn’t an easy one to close out the road trip — as Ersson said, “You kind of get those flashbacks from the Utah game” as the Avalanche kept pressing. But while they may have bent slightly, the Flyers didn’t break — in large part because of their goaltender.

According to Natural Stat Trick, entering the week, Ersson had the worst save percentage (.854) among goalies with at least 1000 minutes played this season. His Goals Saved Above Average (-18.35) and high-danger save percentage (.750) were second-worst in the NHL, better than only Jordan Binnington of the St. Louis Blues.

With Dan Vladař injured and Aleksei Kolosov allowing three goals on three shots last Saturday to the New York Rangers, the net was Ersson’s. He took hold of it as he started three straight for the first time this season — and the first time since late March.

This past week, among the 37 goalies who played at least 60 minutes, every one of his stats rose. His save percentage was 24th (.897), his GSAA was 26th (-0.41), and his HDSV% was 18th (.846). Most impressive was that his high-dangers goals saved above average rose from -6.67 to 1.04. He tied Kevin Lankinen of the Vancouver Canucks, Tocchet’s old team, for the most high-danger shots faced this past week (26).

Ersson was modest postgame on Friday, saying it was “all about just making those timely saves,” but it’s clear he’s seeing the puck well. Always a goalie who likes to see shots early to get into the game, on Monday, he had his fifth first-period shutout of the season when he stopped 11 pucks by Vegas on the way to the win. On Friday, he made 17 saves — several of which were masterful as the Avalanche put quick snapshots and peppered him from the slot and in tight — for his sixth clean first period.

“Yeah, obviously, you get a lot of action early, and I think that helps to settle in,” he said. “Every game has its own challenges. And, you know this team is so good [that] they’re going to make a huge push to come back, and they did. And how we dealt with it in the team, [we] just kept believing in ourselves.”

Long known for his tough mental game and often praised for it by former coach John Tortorella, the turnaround was not unexpected from the Swede or his new coach.

“He was down in dumps, and he knew that he wanted to get his game going, but he worked at it. Spent a lot of time with [goaltending coach Kim Dillabaugh], with video, and I got to give him credit,” Tocchet said.

“He had a smile on his face there about three games ago — I didn’t see him kind of moping around — I like that. A lot of things were being tested, and some of the demons in him, and that’s where you got to face it, and I think he did. He was solid in net.”