The Philadelphia Flyers had no business leaving Canadian Tire Centre with a point Thursday night, let alone two points.
The Ottawa Senators drove play with ease and more than doubled the Flyers in shot attempts (62-29). Ottawa’s power play capitalized on two of its six chances, giving the club a stellar 29.6 conversion percentage on the man advantage through 16 games. The Flyers? They went 0-for-2 on their attempts on the power play, marking the third game out of four in which they failed to score with an extra skater on the ice. And on top of all that, the Flyers didn’t even have team captain Sean Couturier in the lineup as he tended to a minor injury.
Still, the Flyers managed to score five goals on 19 total shots — including a glorious game-winner in overtime by Matvei Michkov from a nearly impossible angle — to pull a 5-4 victory from the jaws of defeat.
The game was an enigma, and Flyers head coach John Tortorella couldn’t deny it.
“I have no idea. It’s the National Hockey League at its best. Play as bad as we did and then come out a winner, I just have no idea,” he told the media after the win.
How exactly did the Flyers pull off this unlikely victory? Puck luck, for one. But they also had the advantage in net even despite Sam Ersson being held out of action due to a lower-body injury.
Against Ottawa’s Linus Ullmark — a goalie just a couple years removed from a Vezina-winning campaign — Ivan Fedotov gave the Flyers a chance to win, and the team followed through.
“I thought he was awesome. Probably the main reason we win tonight,” said defenseman Travis Sanheim after the game. “You look at the shot differential, we didn’t deserve to be in the game, and he gave us a chance. I’m happy that the guys found a way to win the hockey game for him because of how well he did play back there for us.”
Fedotov had his work cut out for him. The Senators’ high-powered offense peppered him with 37 shots on the night, and until the third period, the pressure was unrelenting. He faced 28 shots in the first two periods alone before the Flyers gradually found life in the final frame of regulation.
He particularly stood out in overtime, when he made a sliding pad save to rob Senators center Shane Pinto on a one-timed blast. He made another massive stop soon after, getting in the way of a puck that redirected off the stick of Josh Norris in the slot. With tired teammates on the ice, Fedotov somehow managed to gather the small rebound and freeze the puck in order to get fresh legs on the ice.
Fedotov was arguably the Flyers’ best player on the ice in Ottawa, and he rose to the occasion during the game’s most crucial moments.
“It was so important for me and for the team as well,” said Fedotov. “Tonight was a tough game for us. We played first half of the game not very good, but we keep fighting. Everybody stopped the puck, like making blocked shots, and played in some moments simple but smart and scored in some important moments. A couple really good scores, and then we got some confidence.”
With victories in back-to-back starts, the narrative surrounding Fedotov may be changing. Prior to last week’s 2-1 victory over the Tampa Bay Lightning, he was averaging a whopping 5.63 goals against per game while sporting a downright atrocious .820 save percentage. He lacked confidence, and it was obvious. And for a soon-to-be 28-year-old rookie making $3.275 million per year, the subpar results were unacceptable.
But since the threat of relinquishing the Flyers’ backup goalie job to Aleksei Kolosov presented itself, Fedotov has taken his game to another level.
Not that he had much of a choice. His NHL future depended on it.
Fedotov acknowledged how critical his last two performances have been for his confidence. Confidence can be contagious, and with two wins now under his belt, there’s hope that his newfound poise can propel him back into the good graces of the fan base.
Fedotov will man the crease Saturday night when the Flyers take on the Buffalo Sabres at Wells Fargo Center. With a solid performance, perhaps he’ll take another step toward selling the Flyers — and himself — on his long-term potential.
Statistics courtesy of NHL.com and Natural Stat Trick.
