The first home preseason game for the Flyers could have been previewed as the first showing of the Matvei Michkov show, and that was certainly true on Thursday night. But one of his teammates equally stole the show.
Sam Ersson made his first start of the preseason and was outstanding, stopping all 37 shots he faced in a 2-0 shutout win over the New York Islanders at Wells Fargo Center.
Ersson was the star of the first period for the Flyers. He stopped all 15 shots that he faced in the opening 20 minutes, also helping the Flyers kill off a penalty. The Flyers managed 12 shots in a scoreless first period.
The Islanders opened the second period with the first six shots on goal. The Flyers eventually narrowed that margin to two, a 10-8 Islanders advantage in the middle period. Ersson again stopped all shots fired his way, and both teams killed off penalties in another scoreless period.
Through 40 minutes, shots were 25-20 Islanders.
The Flyers finally broke the ice at 4:36 of the third period. Michkov set up Cam York for a scoring chance. York’s shot was blocked, but Erik Johnson was on the doorstep to clean it up.
With the net empty in the final two minutes of the game, Michkov got his first goal of the preseason to cap off the win.
Michkov finished with two points for his second straight preseason appearance. Ersson finished with 37 saves in the shutout win. Marcus Hogberg made 24 saves on 25 shots in the loss.
Box Score
| 1 | 2 | 3 | T | |
| Islanders | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Flyers | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
Scoring Summary
1st Period
- No Scoring
2nd Period
- No Scoring
3rd Period
- PHI Erik Johnson (1) (Cam York, Matvei Michkov) 4:36
- PHI Michkov (1) EN (Unassisted) 18:57
Game Statistics
| Islanders | Flyers | |
| Shots | 37 | 26 |
| Power Play | 0/2 | 0/1 |
| Hits | 17 | 15 |
| Faceoff % | 48.9% | 51.1% |
| Giveaways | 19 | 27 |
| Takeaways | 12 | 12 |
| Blocked Shots | 10 | 17 |
| Penalty Minutes | 2 | 4 |
