Sam Ersson takes advantage of 4 Nations Face-Off opportunity and shines for Sweden

Sam Ersson stood on the green faux soccer field at the CN Sports Complex in Brossard, Quebec.

The Flyers goalie was doing his off-ice warmup before Sweden’s first practice at 4 Nations Face-Off on Feb. 10. From the ear-to-ear grin on his face, you wouldn’t have known he had to cancel a vacation and some much-deserved R&R. So it was not shocking when he was first on the ice for the practice, sporting yellow and blue equipment, a gray jersey with three crowns, and a shiny new mask.

“Yeah,” he chuckled when speaking to The Inquirer afterward. “Snuck out there. ... You’re excited. You want to get out there right away.”

Ersson was added to Sweden’s roster on Jan. 29 after countryman Jacob Markström suffered an injury while playing for the New Jersey Devils. Skating alongside the game’s best, Ersson was soaking things up the whole week despite the expectation he would not suit up for a game.

Then Monday night happened.

With Linus Ullmark and Filip Gustavsson both under the weather, Ersson got the nod to get between the pipes. The result? One of the best goaltending performances of the week as Sweden defeated the United States, 2-1.

“We just didn’t have an answer for Ersson,” forward Dylan Larkin told reporters.

» READ MORE: Canada handles Finland, 5-3, setting up a rematch with the United States in the 4 Nations Face-Off title game

Was he facing a slightly depleted U.S. lineup with Matthew Tkachuk and Charlie McAvoy out? Yes. But it was still an undefeated team that had smoked Finland, 6-1, and, after three fights in the first 9 seconds, handed Canada a 3-1 loss.

The Americans came to win. As Tkachuk said on Saturday, ”We want it to be our time.”

But so did Ersson.

After allowing a rebound goal to Chris Kreider, who was left alone as he crashed the left post — sounds familiar, no? — he did not allow another to get past him. Ersson stopped 31 of 32 shots, including all six the Americans put on net across three power plays. Some would say he also got some help as they put five shots off the post and one off the crossbar, but a few of those came after he played the shot perfectly, giving the shooter little room to work with.

“Their goalie played awesome,” forward Matt Boldy told reporters. “We had chances, he made saves.”

Cool, calm, and collected has always been a trademark of Ersson’s and it was on display for the hockey world on Monday. A tactician in the blue paint — like another famous No. 30 for Sweden, Henrik Lundqvist — his tracking and reflexes were once again spot-on.

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, it should not come as a surprise how Ersson has played, especially of late.

After dealing with several stints on the sideline due to lower-body injuries, the Swedish netminder has been one of the NHL’s top goalies since the holiday break — and that comes with him missing a few at the start of January. In 14 games, he is 9-4-1 with the 10th-best save percentage (.920) and goals-against average (2.26) among NHL goalies with at least 10 games.

» READ MORE: Sam Ersson's 4 Nation's Face-Off mask sports an 'iconic logo' and a new number

“I obviously feel bad for Jacob not being here, but to have Sammy who’s been phenomenal for Philly the whole season, you look at our roster from goalies to forwards, it’s just tremendous to see how much talent we have,” Swedish defenseman Victor Hedman said earlier in the week.

Indeed. Ersson’s last two games for the Flyers were more phenomenal. Taking on the upstart Utah Hockey Club on Feb. 4, he was masterful despite being on the losing end of a 3-2 overtime defeat. Ersson made 39 saves on 42 shots, with several coming off odd-man rushes.

“He walked on the bus, it was the first time I saw him after the game, and I told him, ‘Probably one of the best goaltending performances I’ve seen, and is,‘” Flyers coach John Tortorella said two days later. “I mean, 30-plus chances; never seen anything like it, how many chances [that] were on Sam.

“It’s the best I’ve seen him play, by far, and probably one of the best ones I’ve seen in my career.”

He then was the key in net to the Flyers ending a five-game losing streak with a 3-2 win against archrival Pittsburgh on the Saturday before the 4 Nations break. Ersson was also the key to the Flyers taking a 3-1 lead when he was the only one who noticed a delayed penalty on the Penguins; Travis Konecny hopped over the boards and scored the eventual game-winner.

“That was pretty good, too,” Tortorella said. “He made some incredible saves. We were out-chanced pretty good.”

According to Natural Stat Trick, the Swedes were out-chanced pretty good, too. The Americans had 66 shot attempts, with 17 coming from high-danger spots, and 33 scoring chances. Their expected goals for was well above Sweden’s but the reality was just one.

Sitting on that metal bench at the CN Sports Complex, after he got done skating in Sweden’s first practice on Feb. 10, Ersson was reflective — and almost prophetic.

“It’s special,” he told The Inquirer. “That is what it is. You don’t know how many chances you will get, having a best-on-best tournament like this, and to get to be a part of that, I think you need to kind of remind yourself how rare this could be.

“So you really want to make the most of it and enjoy it.”

Check both those boxes off.