The Flyers lose the shutout to the Bruins and lose Sam Ersson to injury

The Flyers lost Saturday's game to the Bruins 3-0, but they may have a bigger problem now.

Sam Ersson left the game midway through the first period after firing a shot from the top and did not return. Aleksei Kolosov took on the role of backup goalkeeper and made 20 of 22 saves in relief, while the admittedly defensive-minded Flyers team continued to falter offensively.

With Saturday's defeat they are back in first place after securing and fighting for two straight wins this week for the first time all season, but now they may be doing so without their No. 1 goalkeeper who has given them at least a chance in each of his starts for a while.

Head coach John Tortorella has stressed that the Flyers need to sort out their backup goalie situation between Kolosov and Ivan Fedotov as November begins, but that's likely far from what the team envisioned.

And now things could get tough, especially with a road trip to Carolina against a Hurricanes team that beat those same Bruins 8-2 on Thursday night.

“I’m not going to go too far with Sam because I really don’t know,” Tortorella said after the game.

“I thought we played hard in front of him, Koly,” Tortorella later added of Kolosov. “I don't think there will be a problem at all. He has a certain personality to his game. He fights.”

Ersson kicked out with his right leg to parry Boston defenseman Nikita Zadorov's shot when the puck bounced off his toe and knocked the blade off his skate.

Ersson stayed down at halftime to get a trainer to put the blade back in, but during the ensuing TV timeout he ran to the Flyers' bench to talk to head athletic trainer Tommy Alva and pointed to his right foot. Ersson went down the tunnel shortly after while Kolosov went onto the ice to warm up.

Ersson did not return and there were few details during the game and its immediate aftermath, although NBC Sports Philadelphia's broadcast said that Ersson had an injury and that Fedotov was dressed as a substitute, according to 97.3 ESPN's Kevin Durso.

After the game, the Flyers gave Ersson lower-body injury status.

Kolosov was quickly tested when Pavel Zacha's shot from the slot found its way to the front of the net and was lost in a scramble after the Bruins' Justin Brazeau attempted to sink the rebound. Kolosov kept an eye throughout to prevent the Flyers from getting into trouble and keeping the game scoreless for the time being.

But after a Travis Sanheim scoring chance fell short after a rush sparked by a stretch pass from Rasmus Ristolainen to the far blue line and a patient Matvei Michkov waiting to transfer the feed to the inrushing Flyers defender , Boston turned things around the other way and scored when Matthew Poitras picked up another rebound and managed to slot it through Kolosov's pads, leaving the game tied with under seven minutes left.

After halftime, the Bruins struck again in the second period when Justin Brazeau fired a shot from the right circle behind the Philadelphia goal after a push by Boston captain Brad Marchand.

Kolosov couldn't understand it and the Flyers had no answer at 0-2.

Boston maintained a 21-12 shots advantage through two periods, and the chances the Flyers were able to muster were either forced into difficult angles from the outside or snuffed out due to their predictable tendency to look for the pass on the rush. Bruins goaltender Joonas Korpisalo, who made 20 saves in the shutout, and the Boston skaters in front of him quickly recognized this pattern.