It’s been a while since the Philadelphia Flyers won three straight games — since their first three games of the campaign, in fact. But Monday night against the Anaheim Ducks, they earned a third-straight victory for just the second time all season. And, of course, they did it on a road trip that’s historically been a struggle for them in recent years.
This team sure is something.
After beating the San Jose Sharks in overtime and taking down a Los Angeles Kings team riding a seven-game point streak, the Flyers defeated the Ducks 4-1 at Honda Center to sweep their post-Christmas Pacific road trip. And in doing so, rookie goaltender Samuel Ersson also earned his third straight win as the starter in net.
After a rough NHL debut against the Carolina Hurricanes last month, Ersson has been stellar ever since. The 23-year-old Swede, making his fourth straight start Monday night with Carter Hart out of action due to concussion protocol, stopped 28 Anaheim shots in the tilt. He even came just 39.6 seconds away from logging his first NHL shutout, but Ducks forward Ryan Strome managed to find the back of the net in garbage time.
This performance follows a 25-save outing in San Jose and a stellar 27-save showing in Los Angeles.
“He’s super impressive,” said forward Travis Konecny. “You guys see it. He looks so calm in there. He looks like he’s been playing here for a while. He’s doing a great job. And he works hard too in practice, so it’s nice to see it paying off for him.”
Meanwhile, Konecny continued to dazzle as the Flyers’ top point producer. With a goal and an assist on the night, Konecny now has five multi-point outings in his last six games. He’s also riding a four-game goal streak and six-game point streak.
Konecny’s goal came just three minutes into the second period when he and Kevin Hayes entered the Anaheim zone on an odd-man rush. Thanks to some horrendous play by the Ducks’ defenders, Hayes easily found Konecny for a one-timed blast that beat Anaheim goalie John Gibson.
Travis Konecny is on another planet right now. The point streak continues. pic.twitter.com/QBrFuEh4Im
— Ryan Quigley (@ryanquigz) January 3, 2023
Young forward Morgan Frost put together a strong performance of his own. After a slow start to the season, Frost, 23, netted his eighth goal of the season with a snipe on the rush that doubled the Flyers’ early lead. Frost has now registered nine points (five goals, four assists) in his last 10 games.
“I’m not trying to overthink it too much. I’m just trying to keep playing,” said Frost. “Still a lot of things that I need to work on and a lot of mistakes I make out there, but I think I’m creating more than I was maybe in past seasons or at the start of the year. I just want to keep building on that and then clean up some of the defensive stuff.
“I still feel confident, so we’re gonna keep growing with that.”
This marks the first time the Flyers have ever earned a sweep on their California road trip. With the victory, the Flyers usurped the Montreal Canadiens in the league standings for 26th overall. However, they still sit nine points behind the Pittsburgh Penguins for a playoff spot with a little over half the season remaining.
The Flyers will return to Wells Fargo Center for a tilt against the Arizona Coyotes Thursday night before opening a back-to-back set Sunday at home against the Toronto Maple Leafs and wrapping up Monday night on the road against the Buffalo Sabres.
