John Tortorella spoke to the media after the Flyers’ 3-2 loss to the Maple Leafs.
VOORHEES, N.J. — With Samuel Ersson back in net, the Flyers don't want to change a whole lot.
They've liked their blueprint the past couple of games. They're just missing one important thing.
A win.
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"With players, they need to see the result to keep believing that it's working," John Tortorella said at morning skate.
He'll have the services of his No. 1 goaltender Thursday when the Flyers host the Stars (7 p.m. ET/NBCSP). The club was without Ersson for the last three games as he was plagued again by a lower-body injury.
The 25-year-old has been out three different times because of lower-body issues, missing 16 games in total.
"This is a guy that had no injuries for a couple of years and now he has gone bang, bang, bang," Tortorella said. "It certainly puts you into a pause as far as what's going on, but we're not going to overthink it. Sometimes it's circumstance, it's tough luck, whatever it may be. It's something we have to monitor as we build our goaltending back out again here."
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Over the last three games, the Flyers have gone 0-2-1. They're 17-19-5 at the halfway mark of the season. Their last two losses came to the Maple Leafs, a pair of 3-2 decisions. On Tuesday night, the Flyers outshot Toronto 32-17, but they left with no points.
After not being used for a month, Ivan Fedotov started both games against the Maple Leafs. In the team's final meeting before Tuesday night's puck drop, Tortorella's message was simple.
"We are going to play in front of Feds because of the hell of a spot I'm putting him in," the head coach said. "And they all did. I think it has helped our game even offensively, creating some chances off it. But we don't get the result. It's going to come at them tonight, we have Ers, who hasn't played in a bit. We have to play better in front of him. I'm just hoping some results come out of it so they see that this works. They know it works."
The Flyers also outshot Toronto 32-25 in the overtime loss Sunday night. So they outshot a talented Toronto team 64-42 combined in the two losses.
"That's the way we have to play to be successful," Nick Seeler said Thursday. "It doesn't matter who's in net, I think we have to play that style and that strong defensive game in order to be successful. I think it translates into more offense, as well.
"I thought we've had some really good games as of late defensively. We're staying patient, which is important to this group and just waiting for our chances. Hopefully the results come here soon."
The Flyers have dealt with instability in net ever since Carter Hart left the team almost a year ago because of the Hockey Canada sexual assault case. Last season, the Flyers were tied with the Senators for the NHL's worst save percentage at .884. This season, they're last with an .868 mark.
Since Hart's departure last January, the Flyers have a league-high 21 regulation losses when outshooting their opponent.
"If we're going to do this together, we need to help," Tortorella said. "We need to limit scoring chances until we get ourselves solidified in net."
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