It has been a rough opening stretch for the Philadelphia Flyers over the first eleven games of the season. Questionable defense and problematic goaltending have been the main downfalls of a 4-7-1 start with a seat in the basement of the 2024-25 Metropolitan Division standings.
Things were looking promising heading into Saturday afternoon before a 3-0 shutout loss to the Boston Bruins. Philadelphia had won 3-out-of-4 games with starting goalie Sam Ersson leading the way. Unfortunately, a lower-body injury pulled the highest-performing goalie for the Flyers organization off the ice after 8 first-period saves. The extent of his injury is still unknown, leaving two unproven KHL-trained goalies to stop pucks in the NHL for Philly, Aleksei Kolosov and Ivan Fedotov.
Tortorella Impressed by Kolosov’s Competitiveness
Flyers goaltender Ivan Fedotov’s disastrous early season in 2024 can be classified as not good enough. The evidence is the early call-up of Kolosov with a healthy Ersson available to participate creating a goalie carousel in Philadelphia. Unprompted following Kolosov’s first start in a 4-3 loss to Montreal, John Tortorella’s first comments in the post-game press meeting concerned the untested 22-year-old goalie. “I thought our goalie played good,” Tortorella said. “I thought he made some really good saves.”
Following the most recent 3-0 loss to Boston, Tortorella gave kudos to the young goalie entering a difficult situation. “I thought he fought,” the bench boss answered. “It’s a hell of a spot to put him in.” The spot Philly’s head coach is referring to is mid-game with no warm-up with over half of the period of hockey action to be played. Later, Philly’s head coach stated, “I thought we played hard in front of him (Kolosov). I don’t think there’s going to be a problem there at all. He’s got some personality to his game. He fights.”
Based on the eye test alone, Aleksei Kolosov has looked more comfortable in the smaller space and faster speed of the NHL than Fedotov has to date. Each goalie should get a chance at picking up his first NHL win on the upcoming road trip.
Ryan Poehling Misses Three Game Road Trip
According to a report from Charlie O’Connor on Tuesday Morning, John Tortorella told media members center Ryan Poehling is not with the team on the road swing that starts tonight in North Carolina. Poehling is dealing with minor hockey injuries and stayed home from the two-state adventure. Nick Deslariers will replace Poehling for tonight’s contest against the Hurricanes.
Philadelphia will miss the important center in the lineup even though his 5 points on the season wouldn’t be dazzling. On a team that has allowed a ton of goals this season, Ryan Poheling (+2) and linemate Garnet Hathaway (+1) are the only players to have a positive plus-minus rating, having competed in all 12 games for Philly this season.
Six Straight Wins for the Hurricanes
The Carolina Hurricanes have been one of the top teams in the Eastern Conference through the first ten games of the season. Carolina features an 8-2-0 record, placing it near the top of the 2024-25 Metropolitan Division standings alongside New Jersey, the New York Rangers, and Washington. The Hurricanes enter tonight’s matchup with the Flyers upbeat in the last six games, with only one loss in their last nine games.
Philadelphia will need a strong effort from expected starter Aleksei Kolosov against a Hurricanes that is averaging 4.5 goals per game over this winning stretch. Philadelphia has averaged 2.5 goals a game to open the season, which is a number boosted heavily by the 7-goal outburst against Minnesota. The Flyers have scored once in their last two games.
The Philadelphia Flyers (4-7-1) compete for their fifth win of the NHL season against the Carolina Hurricanes (8-2-0) at Lenovo Center tonight. The puck drop is scheduled for 7:00 PM EST.
