Ivan Fedotov earns first NHL win in Flyers’ shootout victory in Tampa
Mark LoMoglio/NHLI via Getty Images
They finally did it.
The Philadelphia Flyers have won a game in 2024 with a goalie not named Samuel Ersson in net. They took down the Tampa Bay Lightning in a 2-1 shootout victory behind Ivan Fedotov’s goaltending. This game had all the hallmarks of a John Tortorella win: low-scoring, scrappy, and defensive.
The biggest Flyers news of the day happened not during the game, but before. Tortorella announced earlier today that the reigning Rookie of the Month winner Matvei Michkov would sit out the game as a healthy scratch. This came after Michkov had been playing a reduced number of minutes over the last few games.
This should not be a cause for concern. Tortorella has reiterated several times that he will not hold Michkov up as the savior of the Philadelphia Flyers. This is a 19-year-old kid who has an insane amount of talent, but even he can’t carry the weight of an entire franchise right now. Torts knows this, and this benching gives Michkov a chance to slow everything down.
Once the game did get underway though, the offensive firepower that a player like Michkov brings was sorely missed. It seemed like the first period would end without either team managing a goal, but Nikita Kucherov had other plans. The Lightning’s captain took the puck the length of the ice before scoring a wrap-around goal with less than a minute left to play. This goal was good for Kucherov’s 11th of the season.
Amazingly, this would be the only goal scored by the Lightning all game, as the combination of blocking and excellent net-minding from Ivan Fedotov kept Tampa from lighting the lamp again. The Flyer’s defense allowed only 23 total shots, of which Fedotov saved 22, which is even more impressive when you remember that he hasn’t played a game with the Flyers since October 23rd.
After a scoreless second period, the Flyers would get on the board five minutes into the third, when Owen Tippett was able to sneak the puck past the shoulder of Andrei Vasilevskiy. Tippett started the year off struggling to find the back of the net, hitting the post so many times that you’d think he was aiming for it, but these last few games it’s started to come together for him. This was his third goal of the season.
After the clock struck zero on regulation, not even overtime would be enough to decide this game. Once the game entered shootouts, the previously unbeatable Vasilevskiy finally cracked, while Fedotov remained a brick wall. Fedotov was two for two on saves against both Gage Goncalves and Victor Hedman. On the other side, Travis Konecny netted the first attempt while Owen Tippett fittingly called the game, beating Vasilevskiy again and giving the Flyers one of their toughest wins of the year.
The Flyers have shown flashes of great talent like what was on display tonight. The job of John Tortorella and the Philadelphia coaching staff is to turn these flashes into consistent streaks. If they can do that, we’ll have a pretty good hockey team on our hands.
The Flyers will stay in Florida for their next game on Saturday against the reigning Stanley Cup Champion Panthers at 6:00 pm EST. The game can be watched on NBC Sports Philadelphia.
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Bo Lynett
Bo has been a fan of Philly sports his whole life and has spent the entirety of his four years at Colgate University working to start a career in sports media. Double majoring in Economics and Film & Media Studies gave him the opportunity to study both the financial/ analytical and broadcasting/ production sides of the sports world. Outside of the classroom, he’s worked as a director and producer for Colgate’s athletic events streamed on ESPN+ and a writer for the Colgate Athletic Website. Through all of this, however, it was his love of Philly sports that drove him to this career.
