Flyers finally win a normal one, cruise to 5-2 victory over Sabres

PHILADELPHIA — The Philadelphia Flyers didn’t have to sweat this one out.

Coming off their oddest victory of the season — a 5-4 overtime win over the Ottawa Senators on Thursday in which they were thoroughly outplayed yet still found a way to nab two points — the Flyers delivered one of their most complete efforts of the young season on Saturday against the Buffalo Sabres, cruising to a 5-2 final score.

Tyson Foerster opened the scoring with a first period power play goal, while Travis Konecny continued his hot start to the season with two goals (and an assist) of his own. Egor Zamula and Travis Sanheim chipped in with tallies as well, while Anthony Richard and Matvei Michkov both finished with two assists.

Goalie Ivan Fedotov nearly nabbed his first NHL shutout, but two late goals forced him to settle for a solid 23-save performance. Devon Levi took the loss in net for the Sabres, making 27 stops on 31 shots.

Flyers with a welcome normal victory

Over the past three weeks, the Flyers have been winning more games — six of their last nine, in fact. But all of their wins have been, in one way or another, odd.

There was the wild 7-5 thriller versus the… Wild. There were the back-to-back wins against Boston and St. Louis that saw the Flyers average under 20 shots on goal. There was the tight 2-1 shootout win over the Lightning that doubled as Matvei Michkov’s first healthy scratch game. A 4-3 shootout win over the Sharks that included a blown 3-0 lead to one of the worst teams in hockey. And then, just two nights ago, an unlikely 5-4 win over the Senators despite barely touching the puck for the first 40 minutes.

They were winning, yes. But they seemingly could only win weird.

At least until Saturday’s game against the Sabres.

This was about as normal as it gets. Playing an opponent known for maddening inconsistency, the Flyers made sure that it was the bad version of Buffalo who took this ice on this night. From the start, the Flyers had jump, and were all over the Sabres, peppering Devon Levi with shots and setting up shop in the offensive zone. And with all of those shots and time of possession, the Flyers did the normal thing: they scored. A lot. By the end of first period, it was 2-0; the second period concluded with the Flyers up 4-0. They outshot the Sabres. They outchanced the Sabres.

It was the epitome of a ho-hum solid win.

“The biggest thing is that we’re playing in fives,” Tortorella said after the game. “We’ve steadied ourselves, but there’s still a little ways to go here.”

Just as important as the win, Saturday’s performance put the Flyers’ play back on the upward trajectory that it appeared to be on before their oddly ineffective performance in Ottawa. Sure, they found a way to win that game. But if Tortorella’s 90-second postgame presser was any indication, he made sure they knew that they didn’t play well. On Saturday against the Sabres, they very much did.

And they needed to get back on that trajectory, given the fact that the Colorado Avalanche and Carolina Hurricanes are coming to town next week. The Flyers can’t bank on winning against those teams with under 20 shots on goal. Or by only playing one good period. Or by scoring just one goal. They’ll need to play complete hockey games with consistent pressure and a fair amount of goals.

You know, like the game they played on Saturday.

Erik Johnson reaches 1,000 NHL games played

Erik Johnson may no longer be an impact player on the ice. He’ll be the first to admit that.

But don’t take that to mean he hasn’t had an impact on this Philadelphia Flyers team. From taking in Jett Luchanko during his brief time with the big club, to sticking up for Matvei Michkov just this week when San Jose tough guy Givani Smith tried to bully him off a faceoff, Johnson has rightfully become one of the locker room’s most beloved characters.

And on Saturday night, that locker room had the opportunity to honor Johnson for his 1,000th NHL game.

“He has his ups and downs on the ice, as he should at this stage of his career, with some of the speed in today’s game, but he’s such a good pro,” John Tortorella said on Saturday morning. “He’s just a good person.”

Against the Sabres, Johnson didn’t especially stand out — there was no storybook, highlight-reel goal for him on his big night. But he didn’t hurt the Flyers in his 12:51 of ice time, and helped his partner Egor Zamula (one goal, one assist) to maybe his best game of the season.

But Saturday night wasn’t just about this game for Johnson. It was about a long career that includes thousands of quality minutes, over 1700 blocked shots, multiple gruesome injuries, and a Stanley Cup ring. And in the end, though he’s only been a Philadelphia Flyer for a short period of time, he expressed his satisfaction that this milestone came for him with this particular club.

“This is one of my favorite places, if not the most favorite place I’ve played,” Johnson said after the game came to an end. “I love being a Flyer, and coming to the rink every day, and being with these guys. How they supported me tonight was awesome.”

Sanheim playing his best hockey yet

Cale Makar leads all NHL defensemen in goals with six. That makes sense.

Travis Sanheim ranking second in the entire league with five, though? That makes far less sense — at least, for those who haven’t watched him play this season. Those who have watched, on the other hand, understand the leap that Sanheim appears to be taking.

Sanheim took a major step forward in Year 2 under John Tortorella last season, increasing his offensive and puck-carrying assertiveness in particular. But this version of Sanheim has been even better. He might not be lugging the puck up ice quite as much as he did in 2023-24, but he’s as consistently engaged defensively as he’s ever been, and the offensive production remains. Sanheim’s strategically picking his spots offensively now, and he’s even better for it.

Tortorella has clearly noticed. He’s heaped the ice time onto Sanheim, giving him over 28 minutes in four straight games heading in Saturday (including two 30-minute workloads) and handed him 27:38 against the Sabres, in an attempt to overcome the absence of Cam York. They have survived it — in large part because of Sanheim’s efforts. He’s driving the bus for the entire Philadelphia defense right now.

“He’s taken off. He’s got a level of confidence that is just outstanding,” Tortorella marveled.

That was very much the case on Saturday as well. From the start, Sanheim was flying, erasing transition rushes with his speed and lugging the puck around the offensive zone with characteristic aplomb. By the end of the first period, he had already been rewarded for his efforts.

From Sanheim’s perspective, this is the best he’s felt about his play over his eight-year NHL career.

“Yeah, I think so,” Sanheim responded. “I think just overall, when I’ve got the puck, I feel like I can make plays — whether it’s offense or defense.”

It’s not just that Sanheim is playing well. It’s that this is the Travis Sanheim that was promised way back when he was a top prospect — a smooth-skating, assertive, two-way force of a blueline. It just happened at age 28 and not 24.

“I hope Hockey Canada is watching,” Tortorella said after the game, regarding their looming roster decision for February’s Four Nations tournament. “Because if that guy isn’t on that team… he’s just been so impressive.”

Fedotov putting it together?

A little over weeks ago, it was legitimately possible that Ivan Fedotov’s NHL career was going to end as quickly as it began.

Fedotov’s first three starts of the season had gone about as poorly as possible, with Fedotov losing all three games and producing a ghastly 0.820 save percentage in the process. Aleksei Kolosov was called up, and at least looked remotely passable, jumping Fedotov on the depth chart in the process. He was the one dressing as the team’s backup behind Sam Ersson during that final week of October, not Fedotov. There was chatter of an AHL conditioning stint or even a demotion via waivers — and in the case of the latter, there would be no guarantee Fedotov would even return to his start-of-season role.

Then, Ersson went down with injury two Saturdays ago. Five days later, Kolosov suffered a minor injury in morning skate. Fedotov suddenly had a new lease on NHL life, a chance against the Tampa Bay Lightning to change the narrative and prove he belonged.

That’s exactly what Fedotov did. And it’s what he continued to do on Saturday against the Sabres.

It’s never going to look crisp and smooth with Fedotov; that tends to be the case when a goalie stands nearly 6’8. But ugly or not, Fedotov is now stopping pucks. He excelled head-to-head against fellow countryman Andrei Vasilevskiy, allowing just one goal. He held down the fort against Ottawa while his skaters flailed for the game’s first 40 minutes. And against the Sabres, he delivered his steadiest performance yet, making 23 saves in an encouragingly uneventful victory.

Now, Fedotov is clearly ahead of Kolosov on the depth chart (Kolosov backed up Fedotov for the second straight game). And if the Flyers do need to make a roster move to clear up space once players like Ersson, Cam York and Jamie Drysdale are healthy, it no longer looks like Fedotov will be the one to give way. He’s earned the right to be viewed as the team’s primary backup.

That’s a sentence that would have seemed unbelievable just 14 days ago. Now, it’s undeniable.

Richard making his case to stay, too

Another player who the Flyers will find it very difficult to reassign to the minors in the coming days and weeks? 27-year old Anthony Richard.

Now, has Richard dominated on all of his shifts, or even most of them? Nah. But it’s difficult to argue with the results — namely, the fact that he now has six points in five games.

The best way to describe Richard’s play has been opportunistic. He may go relatively unnoticed for long stretches, even periods at a time. But then, he’ll be presented with an opportunity, and largely via his speed, he’s pounced.

On Thursday, he was the first Flyer to truly grasp just how uncomfortable Linus Ullmark looked in goal, and just start peppering him with shots. On Saturday, he picked up his first assist simply by being a part of the generalized chaos surrounding Devon Levi leading up to Tyson Foerster’s goal, and then nabbed a second with a high-octane controlled zone entry and pass up to Egor Zamula just prior to good-luck-bounce goal.

Richard will likely crash back to earth. Very few of his points are coming on high-skill plays that he’ll be able to repeat on a regular basis. Instead, they’ve been the result of Richard making smart, simple plays and getting rewarded for them with points — lots of them.

That said, the Flyers need players who can make smart, simple plays — especially given how disjointed they’ve looked at 5-on-5 for much of the season. And even if the point production likely isn’t sustainable over the long term, Richard’s speed in a depth role very much should be.

And finally, there’s the simple fact that the front office will find it very difficult to justify returning a point-per-game player to the AHL. Like Fedotov, he’s earned his spot, at least for now.