BOSTON – After Sunday night’s loss to Montreal, the buzzword around the Flyers’ locker room was “disconnect.”
Following Tuesday night’s 2-0 win at Boston, the new operative title was ”cohesive.”
Coach John Tortorella has been trying to hammer home the idea of better five-man units. No gaps. Tighter spacing. Everybody on the same page and skating in sync.
And it certainly looked like that during the spirited contest at TD Garden where the Flyers have had more than their share of problems over the years.
In fact, the Flyers’ last previous shutout at TD Garden was Jan. 2, 2006.
This was probably the Flyers’ best effort of the season.
Goaltender Samuel Ersson looked as sharp as he’s been all season in recording the shutout. The Flyers raised their record to 3-6-1.
Tyson Foerster’s goal at 5:32 of the second period gave the Flyers a 1-0 lead that held up to the end. The Flyers added an empty-net goal with 22 seconds to play on a shot by Joel Farabee.
Matvei Michkov triggered the Foerster goal by securing the puck along the left boards. He spotted Foerster stationed at the top of the slot and the right wing beat goaltender Joonas Korpisalo with a low shot.
The Flyers blocked a total of 28 shots and showed their coach that they’re willing to make a big commitment to get the job done.
“It’s a tough building to come into,” Scott Laughton said. “I thought ‘Ers’ (Ersson) was really good. The PK (penalty kill) was good again. We played a strong game. We needed a win like that at this time of the year when we can’t get much going, 1-nothing late in the game and we found a way.
“We had better sticks. We closed out on plays better. It feels good.”
Ersson liked the way the players laid it on the line in front of him.
“This is how we should play,” he said. “We fight, we grind, we come into a really tough building and played a great road game. We showed in the third period, we basically didn’t give them anything. A lot of good things to build off of.”
Those 28 blocks can make a goalie’s job a lot easier.
“This is what gives us success,” Ersson said. “It’s tough to play like this but we have to do it if we want to win games. This is kind of how we build chemistry.”
Defense was the name of the game for the Flyers in the middle period.
Farabee made a great block of a point shot which could have led to trouble. Later Owen Tippett caught Brad Marchand on a hustling backcheck to break up a potentially two-on-one rush.
Actually, the Flyers did some of their best defensive work during Boston’s five-on-three power play early in the first period which lasted 1:37. Travis Sanheim followed Laughton into the penalty box and Ersson had to be at his best as the Bruins swarmed the net.
Boston stayed on the attack for much of the two-man advantage but the Flyers managed to keep the Bruins pretty much on the perimeter.
“The five-on-three was unbelievable,” Laughton said, who praised the work of Nick Seeler, Noah Cates and Garnet Hathaway. “These guys were laying their bodies on the line. ‘Seels’ and ‘Risto’ (Rasmus Ristolainen) blocked two in a row. And they’re out there for the full two minutes. It’s impressive and you feed off that.”
Tortorella put his seal of approval on this one.
“I think we went the right direction as far as contesting pucks, just a little bit more determination,” the coach said.
The shot block total did catch the coach’e eye.
“That’s the way we play,” he said. “We play a type of defense where we expect everyone to block shots. I think it creates a camaraderie within the group. For us to stay afloat in the league, that’s how we have to play as a team. That’s a huge part of the foundation of playing as a team. Tonight we took a good step in the right direction.”
>Couturier line intact
Tortorella kept the Sean Couturier-Michkov-Travis Konecny line intact. The coach switched Morgan Frost back to the second line with Owen Tippett and Foerster. Scott Laughton and Ryan Poehling were the other two centers with Noah Cates moving back to wing.
>Andrae calm under pressure
Rookie defenseman Emil Andrae, called up from Lehigh Valley after the injury to Cam York, looked cool under pressure in a very high intensity game.
“I feel like I was pretty comfortable,” he said after playing in his first NHL game since last season. “I was a little more confident. I know the guys better now. It’s huge if you feel comfortable off the ice and feel comfortable on it. It’s a good group to be a part of.”
Andrae picked up his first NHL point when he assisted on Foerster’s goal.
>Short shots
The Flyers resume action on Thursday when they play host to the St. Louis Blues. . .Defenseman Egor Zamula was scratched as Phantoms callup Andrae played again and was paired with Erik Johnson.
