Ersson makes 25 saves, stops all 4 shootout attempts in Flyers' win over Islanders
NEW YORK — Samuel Ersson made 25 saves in regulation and overtime and stopped four more attempts in a shootout, Tyson Foerster scored in the fourth round of the tiebreaker and the Philadelphia Flyers outlasted the New York Islanders 1-0 on Saturday night.
Ersson had his first shutout of the season and second in the NHL. He stopped Bo Horvat, Oliver Wahlstrom, Mathew Barzal and Kyle Palmieri in the shootout to help the Flyers snap a two-game skid.
Ilya Sorokin made 40 saves for the Islanders for this second shutout of the season.
In the shootout, Foerster skated in with speed and fired a shot past Sorokin on the glove side.
"Usually after practice I mess around with (Carter Hart) and I do that move quite a bit," Foerster said. "I was going with that move no matter what."
The Islanders had a scoring chance early on in the 3-on-3 when Simon Holmstrom was left alone in the slot, but the winger fired a wrist shot wide of the net. The Flyers best chance came after a chaotic sequence that resulted in Travis Konecny's breakaway that Sorokin turned aside.
"It wasn't necessarily pretty at times, but I thought we gutted it out," Islanders coach Lane Lambert said. "We had the game on our stick a few times could have won the hockey game."
Horvat and Mathew Barzal each had a scoring chance in the second half of overtime, but Ersson denied both attempts.
"Its a big part of the game as a goalie, you definitely have a chance to come up big," Ersson said. "You really enjoy those moments and feel it when you have a chance to be a game changer."
Islanders defenseman Noah Dobson had a great scoring opportunity in the final seconds of the third period when Brock Nelson won a faceoff and Ryan Pulock slid the puck over to Dobson, but Ersson was up to the task once again.
"I coached differently because we sucked last night (Friday) away from the puck," Flyers coach John Tortorella said. "We have changed our style this year in wanted to be more offensive and wanting to take more chances. Not being afraid to give up odd-man rushes when we are aggressive offensively. ... We tried to change our game to be good away from the puck without disturbing our transition on offense."
Rasmus Ristolainen made his season debut after the Flyers activated the defenseman from long-term injured reserve prior to the game. The Finnish blueliner sustained an undisclosed injury that kept him sidelined since early on in training camp
UP NEXT:
Flyers: Host Carolina on Tuesday night.
Islanders: At New Jersey on Tuesday night.