Flyers' Samuel Ersson's NHL Debut Sure Did Not Go As Planned

Just before the Flyers headed out to start the Christmas/Disney On Ice Road Trip, Felix Sandström fell ill and could not make the trip with his teammates for the first two games of the trip, which just so happened to also be a back-to-back set. Kim Dillabaugh doesn't like to play his goalies back-to-back if he can avoid it, so Samuel Ersson was given a chance to make his NHL debut against the Carolina Hurricanes. He quickly found out why the NHL is the worlds top league. On just the first shot the Hurricanes managed to fire toward the Flyers net, Ersson allowed his first NHL goal against. He did make some saves, one on a Hurricane's grade-A mini breakaway, right after that, but the Hurricanes still had a 3-1 lead headed into the second period.

It didn't get any better for him from there. The rookie allowed two more goals pretty quickly in the second period and unfortunately was slated to end his first career game on the bench, replaced by Carter Hart. As has been the trend for much of this season, the rookie was hung out to dry on more than one occasion by his defense. It was clear Hart knew his pain as he clearly had a few words of encouragement for his younger counter part as he swapped places with him.

Unfortunately for the Flyers, their injury whoas have now struck the crease as Ersson was brought back in shortly after the goalie swap as Hart was injured on a dumb play near the Flyers crease by Rasmus Ristolainen and Seth Jarvis. Ersson settled down fairly nicely after the short break right before the Hart injury forced him back onto the ice, where he stopped 8 shots in the final period, proving that he's close to NHL-ready, but he's not quite there yet.

It's clear that Ersson definitely has work to do before he'll be fully NHL-ready. His rebound control is a main key that needs some work. He gave up a couple of juicy rebounds in this one. He was never actually burned on any of the rebound issues, but they do need to be cleaned up in order for a goalie to succeed at the top level.

He was also very animated in goal. Much more animated than I can ever remember seeing him be before. After allowing the first goal, he threw his head back and after the Hurricane's second goal, he threw his arms up. There was another time after he made a save he thought he was interfered with and he got a little mouthy with the Hurricane who had bumped him when the ref didn't make the call.(The call wasn't made because he was outside the blue paint when the contact was initiated.) He'll likely want to tone down the body language down a bit at the NHL level, if for no other reason than to not let the other team know they're getting to him.

While his debut did not go quite as was planned, Ersson now knows exactly what his short comings are and exactly what he needs to work on. He'll likely return to the Phantoms with the idea of strengthening his game even more and preparing for his next NHL chance. The next time we see the young goalie it's a good bet he'll be much better and much different regardless of what kind of defense is before him.