Flyers takeaways vs. Red Wings: Sam Ersson steady again; Couturier line clicks in OT win

The Flyers are rocking and rolling.

With their latest win, a 2-1 overtime victory against the Detroit Red Wings on Tuesday, Philly’s hockey club has achieved a season-high six-game point streak, which includes five wins.

Here are three things to take away from the win.

» READ MORE: Rasmus Ristolainen’s goal gives the Flyers a 2-1 win over the Detroit Red Wings in OT

Quickly, the trio of Sean Couturier, Joel Farabee, and rookie Matvei Michkov is ascending to the top of the Flyers' forward line chain. On Tuesday, they skated together for the sixth time and once again got on the board.

This time, it was Farabee with the marker as he ended a seven-game goal drought — which doesn’t include the three games he was a healthy scratch. He took a pass from Couturier and buried a backhander past his former teammate, Alex Lyon, as he crossed the crease to give the Flyers a 1-0 lead.

“He’s played great,” Couturier said of Farabee. “He’s a really smart player. When he has his confidence, he can make plays and creates a lot out there. Yeah, it seems to be clicking. We’ve had chemistry in the past and we’ve seemed to find that again lately.”

According to Natural Stat Trick, Couturier’s line had several chances throughout the game at five-on-five, with 12 shot attempts for and nine against; it was the only Flyers line with more shot attempts than against. Of their chances, they had six high-danger chances and held Detroit to a goose egg.

“I think Coots is really responsible and I kind of know exactly where he’s going to be, and Mich is a bit of a wild card but he makes so many good little plays,” Farabee said. “... I think, as the season’s gone on here, we’ve just kind of built a little chemistry. For us, right now, I think it’s just cleaning up the D-zone.”

Farabee also played a big role in the game-winner, sending a leading pass to a streaking Owen Tippett before he and Rasmus Ristolainen crashed the net to jam the puck fully over the line; the Finnish blueliner ended up being the goal scorer. The Upstate New Yorker now has four points in three games since being scratched.

“It’s not a crazy change in my game, but just little areas where I feel like I have the puck, I feel like I have a little bit more confidence right now to make that little play,” Farabee said.

Rodrigo Ābols had more excitement than nerves for his NHL debut. After all, it was a long time coming for the center who was drafted in 2016 by the Vancouver Canucks. The 29-year-old joked after the game it’s not often a first-timer has a wife and 3-year-old in the stands.

“You try to stay in the moment, not drift away too much,” said Ābols, who noted that he looks to Pierre-Édouard Bellemare as inspiration. Bellemare also debuted at 29, also with the Flyers, after a career in Sweden, finishing with 700 NHL games.

“But then once you get out on the ice and get that first shift in, [and] after the first period, that’s kind of the safe space for a hockey player. That’s where you feel the most comfortable.”

The 6-foot-4, 206-pound pivot — although his linemate Olle Lycksell joked earlier in the day that he thinks he’s a lot bigger than that — certainly looked comfortable throughout the game.

In 10 minutes, 39 seconds of ice time, he had one hit, one blocked shot, and four shot attempts, including two on goal. His four shot attempts ranked behind only Travis Konecny and Noah Cates among the Flyers.

According to Natural Stat Trick, he had two scoring chances and one rebound attempt. His individual expected goals ranked fourth (0.34), trailing just Michkov, Cates, and Couturier.

Although Ābols thought they struggled a bit in the second period, his line with Lycksell and Garnet Hathaway found their game in the third period. Hathaway came close to scoring and they pinned the Red Wings in at times. The trust was obviously there from coach John Tortorella as the Latvian played 4 minutes, 8 seconds in the third, more than any other period.

“I liked him, I liked him,” Tortorella said. “I think he understands the game. Big guy. I think we need to get bigger as a team as we move along here. [He] asked the right questions. I thought he handled himself really well.”

That’s nice that the coach was happy, but Ābols did not have a chance to go through all his messages before speaking postgame, so no update on what his grandmother thinks. And that’s all that matters.

» READ MORE: Rodrigo Ābols set to make debut at 29 with grandmother, family watching from Latvia

Speaking to the media on Tuesday, Flyers general manager Danny Brière said he thinks Sam Ersson “strikes me as a goalie, that when he starts to feel it, when he starts to feel comfortable, he gets better and better.”

Seems like the second-year GM hit that one on the head.

Making his third straight start and sixth in the last seven games, the Swedish netminder continued to look cool, calm, and steady between the pipes. The game marked his fifth straight win, compared to just one loss since the holiday break.

Ersson is tied with Dallas Stars goalie Jake Oettinger for the third-highest total of wins (seven), despite playing two fewer games, since Dec. 25. Among goalies with at least five games since the holiday break, he ranks fifth in goals-against average (1.56) and save percentage (.935).

“You want to play a lot. That’s what you want as a goalie,” Ersson said. “I think you get into more of a rhythm and it doesn’t take as much mental energy to kind of get engaged into the games. I think it comes a little bit more natural when you play a lot.”

It probably doesn’t hurt that in that same stretch, he is tied for 29th in shots faced (185) with Los Angeles Kings goalie Darcy Kuemper. Although Tuesday night’s game had low energy to start, it picked up in the final 20 minutes and by the end of the night he saw 28 shots. According to Natural Stat Trick, 17 were from low-danger spots and just four from high danger, stopping all 21 shots; he saved six of the seven from midrange.

» READ MORE: Flyers GM Danny Brière discusses Aleksei Kolosov’s future and potentially trading Rasmus Ristolainen and Scott Laughton

Ersson faced six shots in the first period and eight more in the second. In the third, he saw 13, including several chances from in tight by the Red Wings. And it was one save in the final moments of regulation that truly showed where Ersson’s game is today.

With 35 seconds left, Red Wings forward Andrew Copp started gliding down the left side of the ice while play was happening in the right corner. His teammate Lucas Raymond sent a pass to the crashing Copp and Ersson aggressively came out to make the save.

Ersson said he didn’t see him but was trying to anticipate it, noting that Raymond was looking to make a play. Tortorella appreciated that he was aggressive at the right time but doesn’t want to jinx his goalie.

“Erss has steadied himself and looked so much more confident. He’s not busy,” the coach said. “When I evaluate Erss in my mind, just watching him play, when he’s not busy and the puck’s hitting him, you can tell he’s there and he’s given us some opportunities [to win].”