Samuel Ersson stopped 20 shots, and Travis Konecny scored a short-handed breakaway goal to lift the Philadelphia Flyers to a 1-0 victory over the New Jersey Devils on Saturday night, keeping their slim playoff hopes alive.
“We’re not going to look at the scoreboard,” said Flyers coach John Tortorella. “Maybe some people do. I’m not.”
The Flyers needed to win their final two games and hope Pittsburgh, Washington, and Detroit falter in their remaining matches to secure the last wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference.
Ersson, who isn’t planning to watch other games, focused solely on Tuesday’s Flyers’ last regular season match against Washington. “You want to look,” he said with a laugh, “But I think it’s better to just focus on what we’re doing and what we can control here.”
Konecny’s league-leading sixth short-handed goal came in the second period, breaking the deadlock and ensuring the Flyers stayed in the playoff hunt.
“It was just getting back to believing,” Konecny said. “We know where we’re at. We talk in the room about as long as we go home after the last three and say we gave it our best shot; it’s all you can do. You can feel it in the room right now. Guys want to prove we should be in the spot we’re at.”
The Flyers stayed competitive despite a season marred by challenges, including the loss of top goalie Carter Hart and the controversy surrounding Cutter Gauthier’s trade. Tortorella has extracted maximum effort from his players, pushing them into playoff contention against the odds.
The Flyers have faced difficulties in recent years, missing the playoffs for the last three seasons and not hosting a home playoff game since 2018. Their last Stanley Cup win dates back to 1975. The Flyers fell short this season during an eight-game losing streak, but Tortorella sees promise in his team’s fight.
“I know the record thinks we just fell off the map, but we were playing well,” Tortorella said. “We just couldn’t keep the puck out of that, and we couldn’t score.”
Tortorella acknowledged Ersson’s heavy workload as the Swedish goalie played his 50th game of the season, despite initial plans for him to play no more than 20 games. “We have struggled in the net. And it’s not the persons, it’s the goaltending situation that knocked us down,” Tortorella said. “I think we’re 90-plus (points) if the goaltending situation didn’t happen the way it did. It caught up to us. And I’m not apologizing to anybody for playing Ers as much as I did. I’d do it again.”
Flyers GM Danny Briere and team president Keith Jones face a crucial offseason. They are tasked with building on this season’s positives while addressing the team’s late-season struggles to guide the franchise back to success.
UP NEXT
- Devils: Host the Islanders on Monday.
- Flyers: Host the Capitals on Tuesday.
