Flyers avoid unwanted history; Sam Ersson ‘the best I’ve seen him play’ in 3-2 OT loss to Utah

SALT LAKE CITY ― There’s a stark reality facing the Flyers now.

After trading away two offensive players and slotting in four players from the team’s American Hockey League squad, the Flyers’ scoring issues have been amplified as they await the arrival of Jakob Pelletier and Andrei Kuzmenko.

Entering the night, the Flyers were riding a three-game goalless streak. It ended in a pretty special fashion, but the Flyers could not convert it into a win as they fell, 3-2, in overtime to the Utah Hockey Club.

“I’m not going to be hard on them,” coach John Tortorella said. “They’re trying. They’re playing hard. It’s a situation, we can’t get our traded guys in here. We lost a couple of offensive guys, and our injuries. I don’t want to complain about it, but I’m a realist, too. If I look at our lineup and match up against theirs, it’s a tough matchup. We have matchup problems. I’m not upset with our team. I’m not.”

Here are five quick hits from the overtime loss.

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The Flyers’ goalless drought came to a halt quickly on Tuesday. According to Tortorella, the team spoke about “playing simple and trying to get pucks to the net.” Mission accomplished. Rodrigo Ābols scored 2 minutes, 2 seconds into the first period to end the futility at 182:17, the second-longest drought in Flyers history. The longest was set between Jan. 24-30, 2003, when the Flyers didn’t score in 199:43 over a four-game span.

“I think it was nice to get it early. Kind of loosened us up a little bit,” the goal scorer said.

The goal by the 29-year-old Ābols — the Flyers’ first past a goalie in 219:13 — was also the first of his NHL career. Skating on a line with Jacob Gaucher and Nick Deslauriers, who set the perfect screen on goalie Karel Vejmelka, the Latvian just threw the puck on net from the half wall.

“Special obviously, better than I imagined,” he said. “Being here, it’s a huge privilege that I don’t take for granted, and waking up every day when you’re in the NHL, it’s a great day to start. So for me, I just come here, put my work boots on, and whether it’s for five, 10, or how many minutes they want me to be out there, I’ll do my best and try to help the team win.”

Speaking of Deslauriers, the Flyers enforcer played only 5:59, but he certainly left his mark. Skating in his first game since Nov. 9, he told NBC Sports Philadelphia that during the first period he “had a little bit of butterflies.” Makes sense as he had been on injured reserve since early December with an upper-body injury after being a healthy scratch for most of the season. Aside from helping to create the opening goal, Deslauriers also brought the thunder with his fists. He went blow-for-blow with Utah’s tough guy Liam O’Brien in the first period, with Deslauriers getting the upper hand.

“Had something to do with the first goal, gets into a good fight, good locker room guy, yeah, it’s good to have him back,” Tortorella said.

There’s no denying the Flyers’ second periods have been less than stellar this season — and that was the case again on Tuesday. According to Natural Stat Trick, Utah had a staggering 77.27% of the shot attempts in the middle frame, with a 72.97% advantage at five-on-five. Despite being shorthanded three times, the good news is the Flyers allowed only one goal on the 13 shots on net, with Mikhail Sergachev sending a one-timer past Sam Ersson at even strength.

“I think our Achilles' heel has been the second period the whole year where we kind of give too much to the other team,” said Ābols. “It’s not that they create anything, I think we shoot ourselves in the foot by having too many turnovers.”

Entering the game, the Flyers had been outscored 69-46 in the second, but Tyson Foerster did give the team a 2-1 lead with his 14th of the season and first in five games. Coming off the bench, Sean Couturier got the puck above the left circle and sent a shot-pass to Foerster at the backdoor just 57 seconds after Sergachev scored.

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The score could have been even more tilted out of the Flyers’ favor if not for the stellar play of Ersson between the pipes. Facing 42 shots, he stopped 39 of them, including several off odd-man rushes.

In the first period, he stopped a one-timer by Nick Schmaltz on a pass out of the corner; made a save on an O’Brien rebound off a dump-in that bounced on net; and absolutely robbed Nick Bjugstad on a two-on-none after he powered past Cam York with four seconds left in the frame.

That was just the beginning for Ersson, who had one of his better technical games as he continually robbed the young, high-flying Utah club.

In the second period, he stopped O’Brien all alone after a turnover with Philly up 2-1 before making a key save on Barrett Hayton atop the crease during a power play early in the third period. Later in the period, he again stoned O’Brien, this time on a shot from 11 feet out with his glove perfectly placed above his pad, and made a clutch save on Schmaltz as he tried to finish off a backdoor pass.

“We obviously had to defend quite a bit,” defenseman Travis Sanheim said. “Took some penalties. It wasn’t pretty, and in saying that, continued to battle, and we take it to overtime. It’s unfortunate how it ends.”

Dylan Guenther, in his first game in almost a month, scored the final two goals. His first was a sneaky shot halfway through the final period and his second was the game-winner with less than a second left in overtime.

Ersson stopped four of the five shots he faced in the extra session. According to Natural Stat Trick, he was a perfect 7-for-7 on high-danger chances and saw an eye-popping 22 from mid-danger, on which he made 20 saves.

“Since I’ve met Sam, that’s the best I’ve seen him play,” Tortorella said. “He was just incredible.”

The Flyers thought they took a 3-1 lead just over four minutes after Foerster scored on a goal by Travis Konecny. But Utah coach André Tourigny challenged for offside and it was determined that Emil Andrae was ahead of the play. ... Defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen did not play because of an upper-body injury sustained in Sunday’s loss to the Colorado Avalanche. He did not skate the final 22:32 of that game and was not on the bench for the third period.

The Flyers head home to take on Alexander Ovechkin and the Washington Capitals on Thursday at the Wells Fargo Center (7 p.m., NBCSP). Then they’ll close out the schedule before the two-week 4 Nations Face-Off break with a visit from Sidney Crosby and the Pittsburgh Penguins on Saturday (7 p.m., NBCSP).