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Flyers Playoff Hopes in Peril after Losing Two Straight Must-Win Games
After coming out unscathed from a grueling seven-game stretch, where they faced off against some of the top teams in the league, it seemed as though they would get a bit of a reprieve as the vast majority of their remaining games were to be against some of the leagues bottom-dwelling teams who had no hope of making the playoffs.
But much to the Flyers’ dismay, the team, for some reason, has been unable to come to the rink these past two games with the same tenacious attitude that allowed them to battle back in games against teams that, on paper, they had no business being on the same ice with. Instead, Philadelphia has been playing down to their opponent, underestimating them to the point that by the time they get down by two or three goals, they have looked as though they would be happy just to concede defeat and forgo even coming out for the third period.
Because of their lackadaisical approach to the last few games, the Flyers now find themselves removed from the comfort of their third-place standing in the Metropolitan Division by the likes of the Washington Capitals (who have two more games in hand) and are now being forced to fight for a Wildcard position.
Now, we all know that this kind of effort is not at all what their head coach, John Tortorella, comes to expect from his team, and changes will indeed be on the way. One area where you can expect to see those changes will be in net. Especially after Sam Ersson gave up five goals to the Blackhawks who have long been since eliminated from any hope of playoff contention. And are points-wise considered the second-worst team in the league, with only 49 points tallied on the season.
Not all is bad, though, as Flyers fans will now surely get the chance to see the long-awaited Ivan Fedotov in net. After seeing his KHL team booted from the playoffs, Fedotov quickly saw his contract terminated so that he could join the Flyers, who he should have been playing with all season if you go by IIHF rulings. But if you don’t know that story, I’m sure you will hear it told time and time again in future game broadcasts. The Flyers selected Ivan in the seventh round of the 2015 NHL Entry Draft, and at 27, he finally seems destined to get his first opportunity to start a game in the NHL tomorrow night against the New York Islanders.
But this is no ordinary rookie; this 6’7 goaltender has been playing professional hockey in Russia for parts of seven seasons! He even won the league championship (the Gagarin Cup) back in 21-22, along with awards for being viewed as the League’s Best Goalie.
So, with any hope, Ivan will be able to light a fire under the 19,537 Flyers faithful that will be attending the Wells Fargo Center for the game tomorrow night to the point that they “will” this team to victory.
Kolosov & Fedotov are both on their way over, But What can the Flyers Truly Expect of them?
With both the Flyers’ 2021 third-round pick goalie Alexei Kolosov’s team the, Dinamo Minsk, and their 2015 seventh-round pick goalie Ivan Fedotov’s CSKA Red Army Team being recently booted out of the KHL playoffs. We, the fans of the Philadelphia Flyers, received some inspiring and unexpected news recently when it broke that the team was working on getting both Alexei and Ivan over stateside to get some experience playing some North American-style hockey.
But as exciting as that news is, what can we expect from these two netminders this season? It’s no secret that Russian netminders are all the craze right now. It seems that if you want to be considered a true Stanley Cup contender, you must have one in between the pipes. Take, for instance, the Florida Panthers, who have Sergei Bobrovsky (who the Flyers should have never gotten rid of); the Tampa Bay Lightning, who have Andrei Vasilevskiy; the New York Rangers with Igor Shesterkin; the Colorado Avalanche with Alexander Georgiyev, to Carolina with Pyotr Kochetkov. So, it’s no surprise that struggling teams have tried to mimic those powerhouses by drafting Russian netminders of their own, like the Islanders who have Ilya Sorokin, and the Predators who drafted the young superstar in the making Yaroslav Askarov. That’s why, only recently, the Flyers put aside their antiquated ideas on what works in the net and decided to draft some of their own.
So, because of the war and everything else going on with Russia over the past couple of years. I know getting tape and information on these two has been challenging, to say the least, so let me let you know what to expect.
Ivan Fedotov
First, let’s start with the long-awaited 6’7 212 pound Ivan Fedotov. Getting this player stateside has been a chore. From being forced into military service upon signing with the Flyers to his KHL team, then failing to abide by IIHF rulings and sanctions, Russia was not willing to let this guy go, and for good reason.
This now 27-year-old netminder became a breakout star in the 2021-2022 season after being voted an All-Star and later being named the KHL’s Best Goalie that same year after posting a 2.00 goals-against-average (G.A.A.) in the regular season. He also carried his country to a Silver Medal at the Olympics that year and came back to the KHL after the Olympic break and was able to win 16 out of 22 games where he averaged an incredible 1.85 G.A.A. and a .937 save percentage to win his team the leagues championship the Gagarin Cup.
Returning to competition this season after having to take a year off to play soldier, Ivan was in net for 44 games for the Red Army, posting a 2.37 G.A.A. and a .914 SV% and earning four shutouts along the way. But he was a below .500 goalie with a record of 21-22-1 and won just one of five games played in the KHL playoffs this year. Now, talk about competition. Those regular season numbers were good enough to rank him 9th in wins, 21st in the league in G.A.A., and 35th in SV%.
Fedotov is holding a press conference with Danny Briere today at 11 am and is expected to join the Flyers to aid Sam Ersson as the team is gearing up for a playoff push.
Alexei Kolosov
Next up is the much younger 22-year-old Alexei Kolosov. Alexei is signed by the Flyers through the 25-26 season and stands at a more common 6’0 185 pounds. Now, while he plays in the KHL, Kolosov is actually from Belarus. And while Fedotov’s game may focus on using his size to take up as much net as possible. Alexei depends on being a bit more agile, where he uses his silky smooth skating abilities to get from one side of the net to the other with lightning-quick speed.
While playing for the Minsk this year, he saw 47 games of action during the regular season, where he was able to win 22 of them while averaging a 2.39 G.A.A. and a .907 SV%. He posted four shutouts during the season and was also able to see some post-season hockey, where he was able to win just two of six games, posting a very respectable 2.21 G.A.A. and .925 SV%. Alexei ranked seventh in the KHL in wins this season, 22nd in G.A.A., and 43rd in SV%.
Briere has gone on record saying that he thinks that Kolosov will join the Phantoms when he arrives, but they are trying to work through a bit of work visa troubles with him right now. So, they don’t exactly know when to expect his arrival just yet.
Now, for a bit of reality, while most say that the KHL is one of the best leagues in the world, I don’t know if its players would even be on the same level as those in the NCAA right now. Case in point. Some of the KHL’s top scores this year were Reid Boucher and former Flyer Jordan Weal. Both of them were career call-up guys who spent most of their time in the States, bouncing from the AHL to the NHL and back down to the AHL.
And as far as netminders go, one of the best goalies in the KHL this year has been Canada’s 28-year-old Zachary Fucale. Who after being drafted in the second round of the 2013 NHL draft by the Montreal Canadiens, he has spent most of his North American career going from the ECHL to the AHL. In fact, this goalie who had so much hype around him before being drafted to date has only managed to play in just four NHL games.
So, I say that to say this: while I and all of you hope that these two KHL goaltending stars of the Flyers system will be able to transition flawlessly to the North American game, don’t be surprised if it takes a little bit for them to get accustomed to both the speed of the game played on a much smaller rink than they are used to, and the level of talent in which they will now be forced to have to face.
The Flyers Resiliency is helping them to Weather the Storm
It’s no secret that the Philadelphia Flyers have had to endure a lot this season. Some might even have said they were cursed when they lost their number one goaltender, Carter Hart, and had their most promising NHL-ready prospect, Cutter Gauthier, ask for a trade in the same year. But that didn’t stop them. However, with the team having successfully bypassed that hurdle, fate has managed to throw them yet another challenge by way of having to suit up a revolving door of defenders, thanks to the club having to ship out impending free agent Sean Walker at the deadline (for fear of losing him later for nothing) and having blue liners Rasmus Ristolainen, Jamie Drysdale, and Nick Seeler all out on the mend.
With all that being said, you would think that this rebuilding club that is now full of call-ups would have faltered over the last two weeks with them being forced to play all of the NHL’s top teams night in and night out.
But Tortorella’s questionable tactics (like healthy scratching their captain Sean Couturier) somehow managed to work out as this rag-tag bunch of misfits (who ESPN correspondents went on record saying that they didn’t even expect them to win a single game over the course of this grueling stretch) have managed to defy all odds by pulling out wins against Florida on March 7th, and Toronto on March 19th. Not to mention going out and earning a point against Carolina on March 21st and, most recently, winning a bout against Boston yesterday.
With this latest showing of resiliency, the Flyers have proven to their doubters (myself included) that no matter what type of siege is to come from their opposition, they have no intentions of ever surrendering the stronghold that they have built around that third-place spot in the Metropolitan Division.
So even though they may not be out of the woods just yet, with the likes of the Panthers coming to town tonight and them having to go up to the Big Apple on Tuesday to face the Rangers, I think it would be wise for fans to go ahead and put in for those overtime hours in an effort to start to save up for some playoff hockey tickets. Because once these next two games are over, Philadelphia will only have to face off against one team of playoff caliber during their remaining nine regular season games.
POSTSEASON HOCKEY HERE WE COME!