BUFFALO — Samuel Ersson made 28 saves for his first NHL shutout, and the Philadelphia Flyers defeated the Buffalo Sabers 4-0 at KeyBank Center on Monday.
“Obviously, it feels great, the first one,” the 23-year-old said. “It’s special, but the win is what matters, and that’s what you’ve got to take with you moving forward.”
Ersson, who made his NHL debut on Dec. 23, is 4-0-0 in five games. He’s allowed six goals in his past four starts after giving up five in his debut, a 6-5 loss to the Carolina Hurricanes.
“I got three games there in a row, so it’s nice. I kind of got a feel of things and got into a little flow,” he said. “Now taking a couple of games rest here, so it’s a little bit different, but it feels good. You always want to help the team win games and contribute.”
Video: PHI@BUF: Ersson makes 28 saves to blank Sabres
Joel Farabee had a goal and an assist, and Travis Konecny had two assists for the Flyers (16-18-7), who have won five of their past six games.
“[The Sabres] have got talented forwards, good group of ‘D’ that joined up in the play,” Philadelphia forward Scott Laughton said. “I thought we did a good job of coming back through the middle, trying to limit their chances and make a lot of plays, but ‘Erssy’ was back there and made a couple of big saves for us.”
Craig Anderson made 34 saves for the Sabers (20-16-2), who were shut out for the first time this season.
“We didn’t come out the way we wanted to,” the Buffalo forward Tyson Jost said. “We didn’t start well. Saturday night (a 6-5 overtime win against the Minnesota Wild) there was obviously a lot of energy in the building, and we were excited for that game. I think that’s just part of our learning process. .
“We have to know that every single game is an important game and it matters. Every team in this league is an elite team, and anyone can beat anyone on any given night. We need to learn from this, for sure.”
Zack MacEwen gave the Flyers a 1-0 lead at 2:04 of the first period. Patrick Brown sent a pass from the right corner to MacEwen on the doorstep, where he pushed it short side on Anderson.
Farabee made it 2-0 at 13:31. The puck hopped over the stick of Buffalo defenseman Owen Power inside the Sabres’ blue line to Farabee, who scored blocker side from the right circle.
Video: PHI@BUF: Farabee nets 9th goal of the season in 1st
Noah Cates got to the rebound of a Konecny shot at the edge of the crease to push it to 3-0 at 14:58.
The Flyers outshot the Sabers 16-5 in the first period.
“Our first 20 minutes was … it was probably the worst period we’ve played all year,” Buffalo captain Kyle Okposo said. “You try and learn from it. We try and get going in the second and third. I just think the emotional toll of that first period was a little bit too much for us to come back from. Just disappointing with how we’ve been playing. Just a little bit of immaturity on our part, I think.”
Wade Allison extended it to 4-0 at 1:56 of the third period when he tapped in a pass from Kevin Hayes at the front of the net.
“Last night (a 6-2 loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs) was disappointing, but I think we all tried to handle it the right way,” Flyers coach John Tortorella said. “It hasn’t happened that much during the year, just our intensity defensively, just how hard we play. We haven’t had too many nights that we’ve taken off, so I think the most important thing is it didn’t happen two nights in a row. So that’s the most important thing that comes out of tonight’s game.”
NOTES: Ersson is the fourth goalie in Flyers history to win each of his first four NHL decisions. … Konecny has 17 points (nine goals, eight assists) during an NHL career-high nine-game point streak. … Prior to the game, the Sabers activated the goalie Eric Comrie from injured reserve and loaned Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen to Rochester of the American Hockey League.
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