PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA - DECEMBER 16: Cam York #8 of the Philadelphia Flyers and Austin Czarnik #21 of the Detroit Red Wings challenge for the puck during the first period at the Wells Fargo Center on December 16, 2023 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvan … ((Photo by Tim Nwachukwu/Getty Images))
PHILADELPHIA - Samuel Ersson stopped 34 shots for his third career shutout and Cam York scored to lead the Philadelphia Flyers to a 1-0 win over the Detroit Red Wings on Saturday night.
Ersson was in net with starting goalie Carter Hart out with an illness. The 24-year-old goalie from Sweden had 12 saves in the second period for the suddenly streaking Flyers and held strong at the end when the Red Wings used an extra attacker.
Seemingly poised for a long rebuild — general manager Danny Briere had been open about the potential rough rebuild ahead toward becoming a contender — the Flyers instead have won six of seven. The hot streak hasn’t been a fluke, either. Under second-year coach John Tortorella, the Flyers now have 17 wins and 37 points in 30 games. They have a point in a season-best eight straight games, certainly good enough to stick them in the Eastern Conference playoff standings.
Sure, it’s only December. But fans and critics — perhaps even those inside the organization — waited for the Flyers to crash back to reality at the end of October and November, too. Yet here they are, a franchise that missed the playoffs each of the past three seasons has a team playing hard, playing tough, and playing like one that might actually be pretty good.
York beat Alex Lyon for his fifth goal of the season early in the first period and — not surprisingly for this season’s Flyers — was enough for the win.
The Flyers improved to 15-1-0 when scoring first and are now 11-2-0 when leading after the first period.
From there, the Flyers simply counted down the minutes until their latest win was final. Well, actually public address announcer Lou Nolan counted down the minutes after a wonky scoreboard clock failed to keep accurate time. The clock was frozen at one time for long spurts over the final two periods, then would jump, making the game clock useless.
Lyon stopped 14 shots in 15 attempts before he left in the second period with an unspecified injury. Lyon blocked a shot, stumbled out of the crease and awkwardly fell backward. He was replaced by Ville Husso.
Detroit's injury woes continued in the third when forward Robby Fabbri took a stick to the face and skated off hunched over with blood dripping on the ice.