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With Foerster down, likely for the season, the spotlight is on Matvei Michkov, Travis Konecny, Owen Tippett, and Bobby Brink to step up.
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Nick Tricome
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Flyers thoughts: Tyson Foerster’s surgery leaves a lot for other Philly forwards to make up for
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The Flyers are the NHL’s comeback kids, for better or worse
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The Flyers don’t score a lot. They fall behind a lot, too. But they’ve been resilient, and they’ve found ways to fight back.
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Nick Tricome
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Matvei Michkov scores again, but Flyers fall to Oilers in OT
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The seconds were ticking down, and Travis Konecny thought he had just tipped in the game-winner.
Then the officials took an extra look. They deemed that Owen Tippett was a step ahead of the play and entered the offensive zone too early on that pivotal possession.
The Flyers were offside, the goal was taken back, and Wednesday night against superstar Connor McDavid and a struggling Edmonton Oilers team went into overtime at Xfinity Mobile Arena.
Jack Roslovic scored the winner for the visitors a 1:19 into the extra frame, on a neutral-zone turnover and a quickly ensuing 2-on-0 that had goalie Dan Vladar caught in no-man’s land.
The Flyers lost, 2-1, still taking a point out of the contest, but dropping to 8-5-3 on the season.
Here’s how an up and down night played out…
Mich unleashed
Matvei Michkov has his legs again.
He was covering a lot of ice Wednesday night and getting after puck carriers, and you could tell just by his stride that he’s moving way more efficiently than he did at the start of the year – his knees are staying bent and he’s been laboring a lot less of late.
Michkov was moving well with the puck through the first period, and created a couple of decent looks for the Flyers’ energetic start, but then late into the second period, he broke through.
The Flyers went on their first power play of the night with a Jake Walman hook on Tippett.
Michkov’s unit got its setup established in the offensive zone, and after giving the puck to Cam York up by the point to take a scan, the defenseman fed it back to Michkov, who was given space along the wall by Edmonton’s penalty kill.
Michkov wheeled in around the top of the left faceoff circle, then rifled a shot to the right post just over Stuart Skinner’s glove for the power-play goal and a 1-1 tie.
Michkov had a slow start to the season, and by his own admission, an altered training regimen following his first year in the NHL and a struggle to focus out of the gate contributed to that.
But the 20-year-old has found a flow again.
Michkov now has a goal in each of his last three games and brought himself up to nine points through 16 games on the year.
The talented winger has star, face-of-the-franchise level potential, and the Flyers do believe he’ll reach it as a key part of their long-term future.
The hope now is that those early struggles and the prospect of a sophomore slump are falling behind him, and that he’ll start accelerating back toward his ceiling.
Because, for as much as the Flyers’ focus is still on tomorrow, a breakout from Michkov now can do a lot for a team that is playing much better today.
It just didn’t get them a win on Wednesday night.
Some jump through (most of) one
The Oilers came out wanting to play fast.
The Flyers were prepared to match.
Tippett made a clean zone entry and then a cut inside between Leon Draisaitl and Darnell Nurse to fire a shot that rang off the post; Matvei Michkov carried the puck up the ice and back into the zone, making his own move across to drop off a pass for Noah Juulsen to sneak in and take a healthy shot on; and even Cam York and Travis Sanheim jumped up from the defense to carry their own two-man rush to the Edmonton net, helped by a slick give-and-go pass from Travis Konecny through the neutral zone.
The Flyers had juice, were moving the puck pretty cleanly, and taking chances. That gave way to some good looks for McDavid and the Oilers, sure, but to the Flyers’ credit, they did well to keep their sticks in the way and on the puck…for a while, at least.
Energy did seem to taper off toward the end of the first, and that reflected in the 13-5 shot count in favor of Edmonton by the end of it.
So did McDavid wrapping around from behind the Philadelphia net to pick up a loose puck and set up Evan Bouchard with a clear shot in front while everyone in orange collapsed in.
Vladar, who was otherwise solid in goal through the opening period and for the whole game, couldn’t track that puck in time, allowing the Oilers to take a 1-0 lead.
The Flyers, meanwhile, would go into the intermission operating from behind, not irrecoverably so, but at a clear lack of shot volume and, as the period wore on, a noted struggle to generate effective scoring chances from inside.
It didn’t get much better in the second for a while. With about 7:30 left, they only had two shots all period that were relatively harmless, and were getting outshot 24-7 in total.
It wasn’t until the power play and Michkov’s ensuing goal a couple of minutes later that the Flyers finally started to break from it.
Back in the fray
Tyson Foerster returned from injury Wednesday night, and his line with Noah Cates and Bobby Brink was put back together.
And maybe to little surprise, they got back to being a key two-way line.
Cates as the center, especially, would play a major role in defending against McDavid, and past Edmonton’s first goal, he held up pretty well in doing so.
Toward the end of the second period in particular, Cates kept McDavid tied up against the boards while the Oilers’ superstar had the puck to suppress any last-second chances before the horn.
Cates did get tagged for a high stick on McDavid right off the draw to begin the third period, but just as important for the Flyers on Wednesday night was that their penalty kill held up and went a perfect 2-for-2 against the Oilers with a man-advantage.
Watch where you’re going
Vladar, once again, was stellar in net for the Flyers, cutting down angles with his big frame and keeping bounces and any chaos in front under control on the way to stopping 29 of 30 Edmonton shots through regulation.
He also got ran twice by the Oilers.
In the first period, Vladar reached out from the crease to cover a puck, and Curtis Lazar, charging in to try and pick it up, tripped over the goaltender and appeared to jam Vladar’s wrist in the process. Vladar got up, put his blocker back on, and stayed in.
Then in the third, Trent Frederic tried to chip at a pass to the inside, was short on space in front of the crease, and skated straight into Vladar, who was not happy after getting back up from the collision. None of his teammates were either.
A scrum broke out, Mattias Janmark, off to the side, drew Vladar’s ire and then a couple of jabs from Noah Juuslen.
Janmark got an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty, Frederic got goaltender interference for the charge at the net, and Vladar a roughing minor after the pile-up.
The Flyers left it with a late power play. Nothing came of it.
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Flyers thoughts: Owen Tippett turns it on with two goals vs. Kraken, keeps scoring streak going
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The Flyers made it two wins in a row for the first time this season, thanks to a 5-2 thrashing of the Seattle Kraken Monday night at Xfinity Mobile Arena.
Owen Tippett scored twice, Tyson Foerster and Noah Cates notched a goal each, Dan Vladar saved 21 of 23 shots to stay steady in net, and when push came to shove, Nikita Grebenkin and Travis Konecny weren’t shy about throwing any punches.
The Flyers are 3-2-1 still early into the season, but here’s what’s starting to click for them…
Tippett turns it on
Owen Tippett has been flying to begin the season, and especially throughout the last three games.
He’s been using his size and speed to bulldoze the puck through along the wall again, is finding those soft spots in the offensive zone ice, too, and with Monday night’s game against Seattle, he scored twice to make it four goals in the past three nights – first on a Nick Seeler redirect in the first period, then on a tough-angle shot just ahead of the goal line that slipped under Seattle goaltender Joey Daccord’s pads in the second.
Tippett has looked good. He looks more like that power forward who was scraping up against the 30-goal mark a couple of years ago, and that young piece the Flyers felt comfortable enough to put an eight-year contract into.
“He’s taking charge,” head coach Rick Tocchet said of Tippett after Monday’s morning skate. “I think whatever line I put him on, he’s really helped that line. He’s driving play.”
And it’s been adding up early.
Tippett was a noticeable presence throughout Monday night skating on a line with Sean Couturier and Travis Konecny.
He generated several other chances outside of his goal in the first period, including a high-danger one on a rush down the ice with Matvei Michkov late in the opening period, where Michkov had the puck along the wall and Tippett crashed the net looking for the pass inside.
Daccord just managed to fight the look away, but couldn’t way later on in the second, when a Couturier drop pass down low setup an unconventional shot that Tippett just went for and fired away. Daccord wasn’t ready and the Flyers went up, 5-2.
Tippett was one of the key Flyers in need of a bounce back year after taking a step back in what became former coach John Tortorella’s last.
He knew he needed it, too, as Tocchet noted the 26-year-old’s level of buy-in seemingly from Day 1 of his tenure behind the bench.
“He’s one of the guys, since the new crew got in here, the coaching staff, like he’s been really attentive,” Tocchet said. “Like I noticed that in camp. When you tell him something, sometimes players, they get the information and go ‘Okay, we get it,’ and they leave. But he hangs aorund, and he’s been aksing a lot of questions. I think he’s emotionally invested in this year, I’ve seen. There’s a long way to go, but I’ve felt that he’s really emotionally invested in the group, in the team.”
And so far, it’s been showing.
Tippett looks fast again. He looks powerful, and he’s finding the back of the net, in any which way.
“The fastest skater I’ve ever seen, it’s awesome,” Trevor Zegras said of Tippett with a sigh of disbelief after Saturday night’s 2-1 overtime win over Minnesota. “I’ve never played with a guy that has much speed. He does some wild stuff sometimes…Somebody so big that skates that fast, it’s fun to watch.”
And right now, adding up on the scoreboard.
The three-headed monster
Contuining to pile up just as much has been the production from Tyson Foerster, Noah Cates, and Bobby Brink.
“Three-headed monster, those three,” Zegras quipped of the line after Saturday night’s win.
And no kidding.
Cates scored the overtime winner to beat the Wild on Saturday night.
Foerster delivered the setup for it, then came back on Monday night against the Kraken to laser a goal home to the far post, which was followed by another Cates tally on a redirect through traffic later on. (And both on the power play!)
Entering Monday night, that entire line had a combined five goals and 11 points between them after five games.
Last season, they ended as the Flyer’s most consistent and relentlessly checking line. So far this season, they didn’t just pick up where they left off, they got better.
They’ve been all over the ice, and they’re putting up points, too.
Actually taking advantage
Staying with Cates, Foerster, and Brink, they contributed heavily to a pretty successful night on the power play for the Flyers, running with their specialty unit that also includes Zegras and then Cam York on the point.
With Foerster’s and Cates’ goals, they left the Flyers with a 2-for-4 night on the power play, with some considerably clean movement and exectuion, especially on the latter goal – that went from initially being credited to Cates, then to Foerster, then back to Cates on the official scoresheet:
Moreover, York got a better look on the power play after only getting 39 seconds to skate on it Saturday night against Minnesota.
York got 1:28 of power play time on Monday night, and the defenseman’s shot from up top on Cates’ goal in the second period threaded it’s way through traffic to set up for the redirect.
York has been waiting for an outlet to produce more points – he ended up with three assists for Monday nigh alone – and the Flyers have been waiting for their man-advantages to actually be advantages after years of toiling in the league’s basement of that category.
They might just be inching toward both now.
Grebenkin the gladiator
Garnet Hathaway got decked along the boards pushing late into the first period by Seattle defenseman Cale Fleury.
Nikita Grebenkin, who checked back into the lienup and slotted onto the fourth line as Hathaway’s opposite winger, made a beeline straight to Fleury and started throwing punches as he tackled him to the ice.
Grebenkin got a two-minute penalty for instigating, five for fighting, and a ten-minute misconduct.
It did take him out of the picture for a bit, but the act definitely won him points among his teammates and the Flyers faithful for sticking up for his guy.
Grebenkin later got a clean look right between the hashmarks that he just missed wide on with the shot, but when the Flyers had already built up their lead.
The winger made the team out of camp, but doesn’t have a steady spot just yet. His skill was the highlight as the prospect coming over from last year’s Scott Laughton trade with Toronto, but he showed Monday night that he can be plenty tough, too.
TK fire
Travis Konecny showed Monday night that he cetainly hasn’t lost any fire either.
He scored his first goal of the season early into the second period on a slick setup by Michkov and defenseman Egor Zamula that gave the Flyers a 3-1 lead:
Then, in the third period, he got into it after the Kraken took a run at Tippett and left Seattle’s Ryan Lindgren with a bloodied up visor:
Yeah, Flyers hockey is back.
“We’re trying to create a culture of sticking together,” Tocchet said after Monday night’s win.
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Flyers thoughts: Tyson Foerster, Noah Cates, Bobby Brink never missed a beat, remain their best line
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Three games in, and the line of Tyson Foerster, Noah Cates, and Bobby Brink has remained as the Flyers’ best.
Cates crashed the crease and scored the Flyers’ lone goal in Game 1 down in Florida on a perfectly executed offensive zone faceoff.
Brink stepped in toward the faceoff circle from off the wall and fired a shot home in Game 2 against Carolina, and had the would-be winner in overtime later on had goaltender interference not waved it away.
Then in the home opener on Monday night, back up against Florida, Foerster notched the first goal from drifting down to support Sean Couturier, who slipped him the puck to send him skating in toward the net for a clean shot that made it through.
At every turn, that combo has made an impact.
They haven’t missed a beat coming back from last season – might’ve even gained a step, too – and for a team that’s under a new head coach in Rick Tocchet and still very much trying to iron out the early kinks elsewhere, that’s been huge.
Foerster and Cates each have a goal so far, Brink has two, they all have three points and plus ratings, and as a line together, they’ve skated with a 56.25 high-danger chances for percentage, per Natural Stat Trick.
They haven’t missed a beat, especially so for Foerster, who suffered an infection in his elbow over the summer and wasn’t even sure ahead of training camp if he’d be ready in time to start the season.
But he made it, and picked up right where he left off.
“Just do the same stuff,” Foerster said. “Just do the same stuff we did last year. Defense first and offense is going to come with the way we play. Dump it in, we get on the forecheck, we have a good forecheck, and we get the puck back. Make plays, and we take it to the net.”
Sometimes it’s just that simple, but hey, it’s working.
A few other thoughts on the Flyers…
Michkov’s minutes
There’s been an early focus on Matvei Michkov, but not because he’s been putting up highlights.
It’s been the opposite, actually. He’s been quiet, a bit concerningly so, and moreover, he’s been sitting as the initial games have pushed later and later in.
Michkov didn’t touch the ice in the overtime loss to Carolina on Saturday, and with Monday night’s home opener against the Panthers still tied pressing further into the third period, the 20-year-old sat tight on the bench.
He has no goals or points so far, has taken a penalty in each of the first three games, hasn’t skated above 15 minutes in either of them, and has only three registered shots.
Tocchet acknowledged earlier in the week that Michkov suffered an offseason ankle injury that hampered his training and left him needing to catch up on his conditioning as a result.
Michkov spoke after practice on Wednesday in Voorhees, alongside his usual translator Slava Kuznetsov, and had no interest in using the injury as an excuse.
“That I’m not scoring or making any assists in the last three games, it’s not anyhow connected with the injury,” Michkov said via Kuznetsov.
But there have been lapses, too.
![Matvei-Michkov-Flyers-Hurricanes-Bench-NHL-2025.jpg]()
James Guillory/Imagn Images
Matvei Michkov has had a slow start to the season.
On Monday night, for example, Florida was skating down with the puck into the Flyers’ zone within the final minute of the second period.
Michkov chased down to backcheck, trying to help take Gustav Forsling away as the passing option on the initial rush, but as soon as the first shot was stopped, he took a wide turn to start trailing up toward center ice, all while the Panthers still had control of the puck.
Sam Reinhart scored on a scramble around the goal line seconds later to get the Panthers on the board.
“He’s just gotta differentiate when is the time to take off and when it’s the time we need him to hang in there,” Tocchet said of Michkov, who did qualify that he believes his game is improving. “That’s the one thing he’s gotta figure out.
“I get it. He wants to be an offensive player, but you can’t take off when we don’t have the puck.”
It’s a learning process, Tocchet continued, and for the whole team.
“We’re trying to create a culture,” the coach said. “It’s not about one player.
But for Michkov…
“He is obviously a player that is a special guy,” Tocchet said. “We gotta hone his talents, but it’s gotta be somewhat in a team game, and he’s willing to do it because I think his last two practices have been great.
“He did video again today. He came up for us and goes, ‘Coach, I need video,’ and he talked about some other stuff where he felt his legs felt better the last couple days, which is good.”
So maybe chalk it up to a slow start for now.
As for the defensive part, though…
“Should play more in the offensive zone and be more offensive,” Michkov joked. “Then you don’t have to defend as much.”
That is one way to do it.
Built to handle it
Travis Sanheim has skated some incredibly heavy minutes to begin the year, from 25 minutes at minimum to nearly a half-hour in the case of Saturday night’s overtime loss to Carolina.
It’s a lot, but Tocchet has been a fan of Sanheim going back to when they were on Team Canada together in the 4 Nations Face Off last February and trusted him to be able to handle it.
Sanheim has answered the call without issue.
“He works out, he does the right things off the ice, that’s why he can play 30 minutes,” Tocchet said. “The guy came in in unbelievable shape for us. It goes hand in hand. He’s a professional, and that’s why he can play big minutes.”
That said, neither Tocchet nor the rest of the organization are looking to throw that much at Sanheim from game to game.
His usage has been a consequence of the Flyers having such thin defensive depth to begin the season, which wasn’t helped by Cam York going on Injured Reserve when they had to submit their opening night roster.
Until they can get York back – Rasmus Ristolainen, too – the Flyers are going to need to find a way to get more out of Jamie Drysdale, Adam Ginning, and Emil Andrae, at least to get by.
“We gotta develop some guys here to get more minutes off of,” Tocchet said. “We’re in the business of winning, but we’re also in the business of maximizing some players.”
![Travis-Sanheim-Flyers-Goal-Carolina-2025-NHL.jpg]()
James Guillory/Imagn Images
Travis Sanheim has racked up a ton of ice time in the early going.
Speaking of…
York just might be ready to come back, though, for the Flyers’ next game at home Thursday night against the Winnipeg Jets.
He skated through practice in the standard black jersey, and after the Flyers left the ice, Andrae’s name was removed from the roster to indicate that he’s reporting to Lehigh Valley in the AHL, which opens up a roster spot.
“It’s day-to-day,” Tocchet maintained of York’s status. “He’s a possibility. We haven’t penciled him in yet.”
But the signs are lining up.
It’s a big year for York, who is looking to bounce back after a rough 2024-25 season and then some after signing a five-year contract extension in the summer.
It’s just starting on a bit of a delay.
Just fire away
Jett Luchanko has appeared in two games so far, Saturday night in Carolina and Monday night against Florida, skating in a limited 8:49 and then 7:40 of ice time.
Just like last season, the 2024 first-round center has a nine-game trial run before the Flyers have to decide between keeping him as a full-time NHLer or sending him back to juniors in Guelph.
They have seven more games to make a call.
Tocchet said Wednesday that he likes Luchanko’s speed, yet still, he needs to see the 19-year-old shoot, and not hesitate to do it.
“He has to start shooting the puck,” Tocchet said. “That’s one thing if he’s gonna get more ice time. I mean, there’s times he has the puck in the middle of the ice and he’s passing the puck at the front of the net. That’s a mental block for him right now…If he would shoot the puck, it’ll actually make him look faster.”
![Jett-Luchanko-Puck-Flyers-Canes-2025.jpg]()
James Guillory/Imagn Images
The Flyers are still deciding what’s best for Jett Luchanko’s development.
The Flyers are caught between a bit of a rock and a hard place with Luchanko when it comes to his development.
He’s too young still to go straight to the AHL, where he could get valuable and consistent pro minutes, but might not be fully ready yet to stick in the NHL, all while having outgrown juniors.
Sending Luchanko back to Guelph wouldn’t hurt, but it isn’t ideal either. Keeping him up full time with the Flyers, though, but at the cost of sitting him constantly or only giving him limited minutes unless he suddenly breaks out, that could.
“We’ll evaluate as it goes on,” Tocchet said. “I don’t think it’s gonna hurt him for a week or two, but you start talking months and months, yeah, it could hurt the development of a player, 100 percent.”
They have to be careful here.
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Sean Couturier scores twice, Flyers get first win of Rick Tocchet era in home opener
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The Flyers have their first win, and so does Rick Tocchet as their head coach.
Sean Couturier scored twice, with the latter serving as the winner, Trevor Zegras made a clutch play late to get it to him, and the Flyers piled on a couple of empty netters soon after to put away the defending champion Florida Panthers, 5-2, in their home opener at Xfinity Mobile Arena.
They’re 1-1-1 after an initial road trip full of some early rough patches to start. But maybe they’re on their way now.
Here are the highlights from Monday night in South Philly…
Big Z
Couturier lasered home the winning goal, but Zegras had his “Welcome to Philly” moment in setting him up for it.
Handling the puck behind the Florida net as a late power play from a Sam Bennett slash expired, Zegras saw the pressure closing in, but he didn’t shy away from it.
Two checkers came crashing down on him. Somehow, he stayed upright and bodied both of them away, then wired the puck out to the front of the net with a wide-open Sean Couturier, who already had one goal on the night, there to receive it.
The Flyers’ captain quickly made it two with a pinpoint shot over Florida goalie Daniil Tarasov’s outstretched glove for the 3-2 lead.
But it all started with Zegras, who the Flyers took a calculated risk trading for over the summer in the hopes that he could still prove a top-six center and a skater who could add a bit more punch to the power play.
He made his first mark Monday night, getting the Flyers to their first win as two empty-netters from Bobby Brink and then Christian Dvorak followed soon after to ice it.
Seriously, though, how did Zegras stay on his feet from that hit?
“I don’t know,” he said in the locker room postgame. “I really don’t know. My neck’s f***ed up.”
“It’s a big moment, right?” Tocchet said of the play. “He got hit, too. That’s what I like. You know you’re gonna get hit, and you’re willing to take a hit to make a play. It’s a high-level play, and obviously, Coots buried it.”
Captain’s orders
Couturier produced a couple of vintage looks through the first period, dropped a hammer in the second, then had his winner in the third.
The veteran center knocked the puck away from Anton Lundell up by the point, and with the angle, he got the jump to turn it the other way for an early breakaway scoring chance that was turned away at the last second.
Then, with Florida trying to get the puck out from their zone along the wall midway through the frame, Couturier cut across and put his stick in the way of an attempted pass from Uvis Balinskis that turned possession over to him.
Couturier kicked the puck out to Tyson Foerster, who had dropped down in support, and the winger was free to cut in toward the hashmarks and drag a shot across his body. It beat Panthers goalie Dannil Tarasov for the 1-0 Flyers lead.
Couturier was called for a hook in front of the Florida net later in the second period, but was otherwise pretty controlling and brought it back later on, when he broke out over center ice from a turnover that flipped from Travis Sanheim to Travis Konecny and then to him to be left all alone with Tarasov again.
He picked his corner and didn’t miss, sending the Flyers up 2-0 and the crowd on its feet chanting “Coooots!”
The Flyers are getting younger, and they’re still in need of a true high-end center and just higher quality depth down the middle in general. But Couturier, as the captain and even at 32, still very much has a role here.
If he can sustain as their main shutdown center, and even find a bit of offense as he did Monday night, calling back to his Selke form, he can get the Flyers by as they are right now as the defensively responsible forward presence that lets the more offensive parts like Matvei Michkov and Travis Konecny go to work.
“I don’t think he wants to prove anybody wrong. I mean, the guy’s a good hockey player,” Tocchet said of Couturier postgame. “He plays a 200-foot game, and he cares”
And Monday night, the captain made all the difference.
Power play pressure
The Flyers’ power play didn’t score on their five power play tries Monday night, which isn’t great…
But it can move the puck around, and it can get some decent-looking shots on the net while keeping the puck rolling downhill.
The top power-play unit of Konecny, Owen Tippett, Michkov, Trevor Zegras, and Jamie Drysdale had Florida on its heels during the second period, working a constant, efficient cycle that opened up lanes and tired the Panthers’ penalty killers out for a string of several chances in quick succession.
They kept the pressure on, Florida couldn’t get out, and it was continuous up until the power play clock hit zero.
There was no goal, but the effort alone was enough for fans to applaud it.
The power play, after years of being one of the league’s worst, actually looks kind of decent now – at least on Monday night it did. It also ended up a factor in the lead-up to Couturier’s winner, as the Flyers kept the puck down in the offensive zone while on the man advantage until the lane opened up for Zegras only after the timer ran out – and after he took that vicious hit.
Vladar volatiliy
Dan Vladar got the nod Monday night for his second start of the season and looked good through two periods.
He kept the net looking small using his size, approach, and mechanics to take away space, much like he did on Thursday against the Panthers down in Sunrise.
Then the third period happened, mainly that shift where the Panthers kept the puck down in the Flyers’ end for two minutes straight without a stoppage and a delayed Tippett tripping penalty.
The Panthers went on the power play and carried the puck down. Vladar got crossed up and lost track of the puck behind the net before realizing it had slipped back up to Sam Bennett with a lot of net to shoot at.
There was nothing he could do as Bennett fired it in for the 2-2 tie.
Still, he ultimately did hold off the final rush until Couturier’s deciding goal came through, going on to stop 24 of 26 shots in total.
He has his first win as a Flyer, too.
A moment for No. 1
The Flyers were introduced Monday night, then they needed a moment to acknowledge Bernie Parent.
The iconic goalie, who was a central figure to the Broad Street Bullies and the back-to-back Stanley Cups, passed away last month at 80 years old.
But Parent was always more than that. He was someone who stayed in Philadelphia after he retired, someone who gave back, and was always willing to talk to anyone with the biggest smile on his face. He was a friend.
In the dark of Xfinity Mobile Arena, with Parent’s No. 1 sewn on to the left shoulder of every Flyer’s jersey and painted on the ice behind the nets as the spotlights focused on them, public address announcer Lou Nolan read off a tribute to the Flyers legend, then asked the crowd to stand up and give a standing ovation in his honor rather than a somber moment of silence.
They obliged and echoed chants of “BERNIE!” one more time.
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Flyers thoughts: About that overturned goal, Sanheim’s minutes, and no Michkov in OT
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The Flyers are 0-1-1 to start the year after Saturday night’s 4-3 loss to Carolina in overtime, but not without some early controversy.
See, the Flyers won initially, or at least they thought.
Just within the final minute of OT, Trevor Zegras carried the puck into the offensive zone, made a move, then slipped a pass to Travis Sanheim crashing in.
Sanheim, with speed, took the puck and cut around the Carolina defenders across the top of the crease. Goaltender Frederik Andersen pushed up to disrupt Sanheim, but as he did, the puck rolled straight to the stick of Bobby Brink, who took an extra glide across and fired home the winner.
Andersen took issue with the sequence, though, and after review, the officials sided with him. They waved off the goal for goaltender interference on Sanheim. The Hurricanes took it the other way and scored for the win soon after.
It’s what it is.
“It’s in the situation room. At that point, you usually don’t get an explanation,” Flyers head coach Rick Tocchet said postgame. “It’s a tough call. Yeah, been on the right side of those and the wrong side of them, so I really don’t have a comment on it.”
But here’s the other way it looks: There is contact between Sanheim, as the puck carrier, and Andersen at the top of the crease, which starts the goaltender interference conversation. However, Andersen appears to initiate the contact by punching his glove out to disrupt Sanheim, and commits to playing him while not registering where the puck actually is until it’s too late, as this replay captured by Nasty Knuckles producer Travis Ballinghoff shows:
The NHL Situation Room explanation on the play and its ruling to disallow the goal, per NHL.com’s Adam Kimelman:
That seems like a lot of onus on Sanheim when it’s pretty plain to see that Andersen made a decision on a move that pulled him out of his crease.
Even if he wasn’t touched, his slide carried him to the left post as Brink was striding across to the right. Andersen never would’ve had a chance at stopping that shot in any scenario.
But hey, it’s the call the league made, and it’s two games into the season. It’s what it is.
“Just trying to make a play to net,” Sanheim said. “I guess incidental contact. Felt like he kind of pushed his arms out, too. It was kind of ‘I have to make a play’ as well, and when I see it, I don’t think he was ever getting back, even if I don’t touch him. So tough call.
“Obviously, it’s not the refs, it’s the league that decided that, so it’s unfortunate and we have to live with it.”
It’s what it is.
A few other quick thoughts on the Flyers…
Here’s a Tipp
The Flyers opened the scoring Saturday night in the first period’s final seconds, and while on the power play.
Travis Konecny fired a shot that ricocheted off the glass behind the Carolina net that took a perfect bounce right back to the front for Owen Tippett to pot home.
The Flyers took a 1-0 lead into the intermission, Tippett had his first goal of the year, and the Flyers had their first power play goal of the year.
And those latter two facts might be key.
The power play has been abysmal the past few years, but in the sequence shown in the clip above, it moved pretty fluidly with Trevor Zegras handling the puck in the middle of the Flyers’ setup and drawing attention. It left Konecny alone at the wall with plenty of space to move in and pick his spot.
The bounce to Tippett is a bit of luck, but you do need to be in the right place, right time to score more often than not, and he was right where he needed to be.
The Flyers need to be better this year on the man advantage, no ifs, ands, or buts about it, and they could really use Tippett getting back to scraping up against or even breaking the 30-goal mark after struggling through long droughts of inconsistency last season.
Saturday night was only one case, but a promising one for both.
A lot of skating for Sanheim
The Flyers had to submit their opening night roster with Cam York and Rasmus Ristolainen both sidelined, and right away, their defense looked concerningly thin without them.
So far, it’s easy to see the strain. You just have to look at Travis Sanheim’s minutes.
Thursday night against Florida, he skated 27:15, and then Saturday night with the overtime period, he totaled 29:34 with 38 shifts taken.
The Flyers have been leaning heavily on their top defenseman in the early going. He’s handled it, and scored the tying goal to push Saturday night into overtime, but they still have 80 more games.
They need some defensive depth to balance themselves out.
Never miss a beat
It’s early, and the Flyers have the benefit of a grace period to fully get acclimated with new head coach Rick Tocchet.
The rough patches have been there through the first two games, but the line of Noah Cates, Tyson Foerster, and Bobby Brink? That trio hasn’t seemed to miss a beat.
They put together the sequence that led to the Flyers’ lone goal in the loss to Florida on Thursday night, and Saturday night, they were all over the ice.
Brink scored in the second period off some strong play along the wall from him, Cates, and Nikita Grebenkin before the latter winger hopped off for a change:
Then in overtime, Brink had the puck, the space, and the extra step inside for the OT winner before it was overturned, while throughout the night, it felt like if a Hurricane had the puck, Cates was instantly bearing down on them.
There’s no quit in that line, and out of the gate, they’ve been chaos for the opposition. Pretty safe to say they’re staying together.
Where was Matvei?
When the Flyers went into OT, Matvei Michkov didn’t see the ice.
Last season, through all the ups and downs for the rookie, it was clear immediately that he can fly with the extra ice available to him at 3-on-3, and rise to the occasion, too, with three overtime winners.
But Tocchet didn’t send him out. Why?
“Just wanted the guys I thought were skating,” Tocchet said.
Michkov has been mostly quiet through the first two games, which maybe lends to Tocchet’s point – though the winger did get scrappy with the Hurricanes after a hit on Konecny with his back turned.
Even so, the counterargument is that you want your best offensive skaters out there in OT, so Michkov’s usage under Tocchet might be an early point to monitor.
Granted, we’re still only two games in.
For now, it’s what it is.
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Nick Tricome
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Flyers 2024-25 Season Preview: Bottom 6 Forwards – Philadelphia Sports Nation
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With only a few weeks remaining before regular season hockey, let’s take a look at the Flyers, likely bottom 6 forwards to start , in no particular order.
Matvei Michkov
Let’s start with the biggest story of the Flyers offseason. The Flyers were about to ice likely the same roster from last year, then word began to circulate that Michkov would be released from his KHL contract in order to come to the NHL. Michkov was selected # 7 overall by the Flyers in the 2023 draft, with perhaps some teams shying away simply with the uncertainty of his ability to be allowed to play in North America. We recently reviewed the challenges his countryman, Ivan Fedotov, had to endure to make it to the Flyers.
Last year, Michkov posted 19 goals and 22 assists for 41 points in 47 games. During the 2023-24 season, Michkov flirted with breaking the KHL record for points by a teenaged rookie.
Despite his youth, Expectations will be high for the talented young player; with possible early Calder talk.
Brent Flahr, Flyers assistant GM, had this to say at the timing of his signing:
“Matvei’s been a world class player since he came on the scene a number of years ago. He wants to be the best. We are excited for him to be a Flyer”
The big question is not how talented, rather, how will the Flyers use him. Torts is well known to be a disciplinarian that historically has some difficulties with young players, or any players for that matter, i.e. Sean Courtier. Talented players need ice time and opportunities. I included Michkov on the bottom 6 list as it seemed unfair to immediately rank him above some of the experienced and talented veterans. It would not be surprising to see the Michkov get significant power play and top 6 minutes this year.
Who knows, Michkov could be so impactful he forces the Flyers to start a young top line of Foerster, Frost and Michkov. All we do know is we should be in for a few more flashy thrills compared with the team the Flyers iced last year.
Nic Deslauriers
(Last Season: 60GP 1G 3A 4P 89PIM -7 +/- 8:09TOI)
At the Michkov press conference announcing Michkov, Flyers GM Briere joked:
“On that, we also showed him the video of the fight of Nic in the Rangers game last year,” Brière quipped. “We told him he’s his [Michkov’s] new best friend.”
Toughness and being a good teammate are never things that are questioned with Delauriers game. Last year, Delauriers played in 60 games for the Flyers putting up 1 goal and 3 assists to go along with 89 PIMs. Delauriers could find it a bit harder to crack the lineup once Michkov gets going. With the Flyers icing essentially the same team with the addition of Michkov and younger players needing time, will we see Delaurier crack 60 games again in a season for the Flyers? Deslauriers has 2 years remaining on this deal with a $1.75MM cap hit.
Garnet Hathaway
(Last Season: 82GP 7G 10A 17PTS 132PIM -7 +/- 12:29TOI)
Garnet Hathaway, along with Delauriers, will be vital in helping Michkov learn the locker room and with learning how to be a pro in the NHL.
Hathaway played all 82 games for the Flyers last year notching 7 goals and 10 assists to go along with 132 PIMs. Like Delauriers, Hathaway is a guy who might get squeezed for ice time as the season rolls along, especially if some of the Flyers youth starts pushing for ice time with the big club. Hathaway in on the last year of his deal carrying a $2.4MM cap hit.
Ryan Poehling
(Last Season: 77GP 11G 17A 28P 6PIM -11 +/- 15:00 TOI)
Poehling signed a two-year extension with the Flyers in January 2024 which kicks in this season pays him $1.9MM AAV, a 500k pay increase from his one-year $1.4MM contract he signed in July 2023.
At the time of his extension signing, Briere said
“Torts has really enjoyed him, likes that he can use him on the PK, for faceoffs. His speed and size combination helps us because of having a few smaller-sized wingers.
Poehling’s 28 points was a slight increase in his points per game average from earlier in his career. The 25-year-old will look to build upon last year and continue to grow and thrive with the Flyers.
Noah Cates
(Last Season: 59GP 6G 12A 18P 0PIM -8 +/- 13:48 TOI)
Frankly, it was impressive to see Cates play 59 games averaging 13:48 TOI and he took zero penalties. I needed to double check that stat, and it was correct, and I don’t know about you, dear reader, but I for one find that impressive. I mean, not once do you misplace your stick and a guy accidentally trips over it. Kudos to Cates. Looking deeper, Cates has only 16 PIM in 157 games with the Flyers, contributing 65 points in his parts of 3 years with the Flyers. That might be a particular skill on a team with Delauriers and Hathaway.
Cates, who will turn 26 in February, is on year 2 of his bridge deal carrying a $2.7MM cap hit. Unfortunately, Cates will have to turn around his slumping points-per-game average which currently sits at 0.3 points per game compared to his 0.5 points per game average in his first 98 games with the Orange & Black. This would be the right year for Cates to get back on track if he wants to be in the Flyers long-term future or if he wants to secure a nice deal in free agency.
Scott Laughton
(Last Season: 82GP 13G 26A 39P 69PIM -9 +/- 15:39 TOI)
Laughton was a likely trade candidate last year and not much is expected to change, as Laughton should remain a top trade target this year.
Laughton, now entering, parts of his 11th NHL season, all with the Flyers. in 2012-13 he played 5 games and in 2016-17 he played 2 games. In his career to date, Laughton has 95 goals and 143 points in 601 games.
As a veteran leader who can play up and down the line-up and offer secondary scoring to go along with a modest $3MM cap hit, he’s a valuable player for the Flyers or a number of other teams. As we saw last season, it will likely take the right offer for the Flyers to move on, especially with two years remaining on this deal.
Tyson Foerster
(Last Season: 77 GP 20G 13A 33P 32PIM 0 +/- 17:16 TOI)
Foerster set new career highs in goals (20), assists (13) and points (33) last year. Now, his goal will be to build off his breakout year in 2024-25.
Foerster’s a guy who, like Michkov could end up playing top 6 minutes. In addition to having already eclipsed the famed NHL 20-goal mark, Foerster’s got a wicked shot and surprisingly put up 102 hits last year, showing he can handle the physicality of the NHL, a concern as a prospect. With Foerster on year 3 of his ELC, the Flyers are going to want to figure out if he is complimentary to their long-term plans and Foerster will want to perform to get paid on his next deal.
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Five thoughts: Flyers thrash Jets, are remembering ‘how good they can be’
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Yeah, the Flyers really needed the All-Star break.
Following up Tuesday night’s big win over the Florida Panthers and making the return home, Philadelphia took off from the word go and had the visiting Winnipeg Jets out of time and out of options by Thursday night’s halfway point.
Tyson Foerster notched the opening tally, Travis Konecny registered a Gordie Howe hat trick, and Ryan Poehling sniped yet another shorthanded goal as the Flyers thrashed the Jets, 4-1, for their second straight victory and a season sweep of a pretty fierce Western Conference opponent.
They’re 27-19-6 now, still third in the Metro division with 60 points, and appear back to playing some solid hockey. Well, for the most part.
Here are five thoughts from Thursday night’s effort…
How good they can be
Coming back from an All-Star break that they had already ridden a five-game losing streak into, the Flyers returned to the ice against Florida Tuesday night and looked completely flat.
They were passive and skating cautious. “Safe” was the word head coach John Tortorella would go on to use, but then they came out for the second period and it was like a switch flipped. They got aggressive, they controlled the puck, they committed to their checking away from it, and shut a good Panthers team down the rest of the way.
They looked like the team that absolutely dismantled the Dallas Stars a few weeks ago, and the team that for much of this season, has caught everyone off guard and put themselves into a playoff spot two-thirds of the way through.
Then they kept it going right from puck drop Thursday night back at home against the Jets.
Poehling and Foerster flew down the ice to complete a one-time play just shy of four minutes in for the 1-0 lead – Foerster’s 10th goal of the season – checks got thrown by orange sweaters with purpose, and Winnipeg in general just spent the bulk of the opening frame pinned down in their own zone until Konecny and Morgan Frost broke the wall down themselves to make it 3-0.
The Flyers floored it on the gas. And the Jets, like the Panthers a couple of nights before, didn’t know what to do.
“I think for our athletes we need to get some sort of swagger back, some confidence, and they should feel really good about it,” Tortorella said after Tuesday night’s 2-1 win down in Florida. “I went in there after the second period and I said ‘Are you s****in’ me? That’s how we play! Do you understand how good we can be when we play that way?’ Hopefully they gained some confidence and just be consistent. The key for us is to try – in games, within the game and then game to game – is to sustain our personality.
“That’s our battle. It’s gonna be our battle all through here. We’re gonna keep working at it.”
So far so good after Thursday night, though it’s worth noting too that Tortorella had markedly shorter answers in his postgame press conference following the Jets win and that Konecny noted that the last two periods – when the Flyers arguably let up a bit – needed to be improved on.
“We made a point of coming at them right away and trying to get a lead,” Konecny said from the locker room. “I think we really need to – not even look back on the first period. We need to assess the last two and really make sure we stay on top of things.”
Pionk poked the bear
Or the beehive. Either way, Konecny made sure he regretted it.
Right after Foerster’s opening goal, Konecny had the puck in the offensive zone and chipped it away with the Jets’ Neal Pionk right in front of him and nowhere else to go. Pionk moved in for the check and threw his hands up high, catching Konecny’s face.
Konecny took exception, shoves were exchanged, and then the gloves flew off.
Now, Konecny and Pionk don’t particularly stand out as fighters – as much of an agitator as Konecny can be – but they’ve been in a few before. Konecny had the edge in this one with a takedown that had the crowd roaring.
Then he really poured salt in the wound late in the period when he shot a loose puck off Pionk in front of the net and in.
“Just get it to the net,” Konecny said of what he was looking for in the sequence. “It was kinda rolling, I wanted to one-touch it to the far side. Lucky bounce.”
To top it off: an assist on Frost’s goal from another scramble in front to complete the Gordie Howe hat trick before the first was even over.
An angry Travis Konecny is a dangerous Travis Konecny, and with the way this season has been going for him – he’s now up to 24 goals and 45 points for the year – he will make you pay.
Pionk found out quick.
“I wasn’t trying to fight for any reason, it just kinda happened,” Konecny said. “I mean it is what it is. Maybe it sparked us, I’m not sure.”
Another shorty
Konecny got called for a hook early into the second period, and so came an opportunity for the Jets to try and get themselves back into this.
Then Ryan Poehling got the puck thanks to a major Winnpeg miscue off the defensive zone draw and it was off to the races.
Beautiful shot, the Flyers’ 11th shorthanded goal on the season – tying them for the league lead – and Poehling’s second for himself on the year.
The power play is still in the basement – 31st in the league entering Thursday night at 13.2 percent – but the Flyers’ penalty kill? The NHL’s second-best unit at an 85.4 percent success rate, and one that can and will punish you.
They did it again to the Jets Thursday night, which almost begs the question of who the man advantage is really for.
Ersson’s net
Samuel Ersson is the No. 1 goalie now.
Carter Hart has been effectively wiped from the team now that he’s confirmed to be facing a sexual assault charge tied to the 2018 Hockey Canada scandal. Officially, he’s still on his indefinite leave of absence, but his locker stall is gone at the Flyers’ training center in Voorhees, PHLY’s Charlie O’Connor noted earlier Thursday, and so is his nameplate within the locker room at the Wells Fargo Center. He has also been cut out of the team’s home intro video.
The matter is serious, highly sensitive, and one that hockey has to be a far secondary to.
But the Flyers still have to go out and play, and they’re going to be counting on Ersson from here on out to take the bulk of the starts.
He was stellar after the first goal allowed Tuesday night in Florida, and was big again Thursday night against Winnipeg with some major saves throughout – 28 in total – aside from Kyle Connor’s goal late.
“Thank goodness we had him tonight,” Konecny said postgame. “I’m not sure if it was the lead that early that kind of shut us down, but if it wasn’t for him, I think they claw back in it there. We gotta fix that.”
At this point, it seems pretty clear that the Flyers needed the All-Star break badly, but Ersson just as much.
He’s looked much sharper compared to a couple of weeks ago when the gauntlet of the schedule the team had looked like it was catching up with everyone, and like a netminder now braced for carrying the workload the rest of the way.
“I think everybody maybe needed a little bit of a mental break from hockey,” Ersson said.
There’s still a lot of season left, sure, and Cal Petersen is going to have to take a few starts down the stretch eventually. But hopefully, Ersson is back to the level of play that had earned him a 50-50 share of the starts by January, and that he can sustain it.
“We knew how important this part of the season is,” Ersson added. “Everything steps up another notch. We have to do it as well if we want to be a part of the playoff picture.”
Cates’ case
Noah Cates had the secondary assist on Foerster’s opening goal with a quick touch pass along the defensive half boards that sprung Foerster and Poehling up the ice.
It was a solid play that followed up his game-winning goal Tuesday night against the Panthers, and hopefully, it’s something that is building toward a much better home stretch for the two-way forward who has struggled with inconsistency this season.
Cates established himself as a regular NHLer last season thanks to being a dependable middle-bottom six center in the faceoff circle and relentless commitment to checking that eventually contributed to a good bit of offensive production too.
But this season, the results haven’t been the same. He wasn’t as effective on draws, he could only manage a single goal that came in late October, and a broken foot robbed him of some significant time, including all the time it took to get his feet fully back under him.
But coming back from the break, he has looked solid taking the wing on the third line with Poehling and Foerster, and just missed on a juicy scoring chance midway through the third to pile on Thursday night.
After Tuesday’s win against Florida, Cates acknowledged that he needed time and a bit of a mental reset from the All-Star break to wipe the slate clean.
Now the games are in playoff mode as he described it, and he wants to factor into the Flyers seeing this last push through.
“I want to be a part of that,” Cates said. “I want to be a part of helping this team.”
Flyers prospects: Oliver Bonk, Denver Barkey are surging for London
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Flyers crushed by Bruins, take five-game skid into All-Star break
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The Flyers looked out of gas, out of sorts, and way out of their depth.
Already on a skid from a grueling stretch ahead of the All-Star Break, the best-in-the-East Boston Bruins came into the Wells Fargo Center on Saturday and put a painful bow on it, embarrassing the Flyers in a 6-2 blowout that was over by the first intermission.
That’ll make it five straight losses for Philadelphia to counterbalance the five-game win streak that had them looking like one of the best teams in the NHL only a week ago, and a 1-5-0 record in the six games in nine days stretch that consisted of some of the league’s fiercest juggernauts.
The Flyers have come a long way already, and have done so to many’s surprise, but these past few games have been a brutal reminder of just how far they’ve yet to go.
“I like our team,” head coach John Tortorella said postgame of his club now that it’s the end of January. “When we played Dallas, it’s probably the best game I’ve seen a team play under me in a number of years. We’ve lost ourselves a little bit here.
“I think we’ve lost confidence offensively, although I thought we generated some offense today. It’s how the league works sometimes. You have some good weeks and you have some struggles. We’re having some struggles now. We just gotta try to put our head down, see if we can solve some problems, and get better.”
They’re already a lot better from what they were this time last year, and they’re still in the playoff picture heading into February even with the losing streak, but up against the league’s elite like Colorado, Tampa Bay, and then, of course, Boston – they don’t hold a candle to them. Not right now.
The experience isn’t there. The structure and discipline, though slowly but surely getting better, isn’t there yet either. And the game-changing, superstar-level talent in the way of a Nathan MacKinnon or a Nikita Kucherov or a David Pastrnak, it’s going to be a while before they have that, and it’s going to be a grind until then.
And with all due credit – a lot considering where the team has put itself at the outset of a clearly stated rebuild – the players have done well for the most part of staying with that grind and pulling off a good number of tough wins.
But it finally caught up to them this past week, and especially on Saturday with the Bruins looking faster, smarter, and far more talented.
The All-Star break, and the nine days off coming with it, couldn’t get here soon enough.
“I think we just gotta continue to do what we’re doing,” winger Travis Konecny, who has gone cold offensively of late, said. “Remind ourselves every day that we’ve put ourselves in a great spot as of where we are right now in the season and what we’ve done as far as in the standings.
“No one believed in us that we’d be here. So maybe it’s a good time for a break. Regroup, get some energy, enjoy some time with your family and friends, and then get back here.”
Pastrnak lit the lamp twice in the first period to reach 33 goals on the season, first with an uncontested snipe that he threaded right through the legs of Travis Sanheim and over the blocker of Samuel Ersson to the far side post and in, and then with a loose rebound put home after cycling out from behind the net.
Pavel Zacha retrieved the puck in the corner then slipped a cross-crease pass by everyone in orange to an unmarked Charlie McAvoy who snuck down low to complete the play, and Brandon Carlo threw a shot on from the point that deflected off the sticks of Nick Seeler and then teammate Danton Heinen in front to send the puck flying into the twine over the shoulder of Ersson.
The Flyer fell into a 4-0 hole all within the last six minutes of the opening frame, looking defensively lethargic on each surrendered tally, and leaving the ice to a chorus of boos from maybe the biggest crowd the arena has seen for a hockey game all season once the horn sound to signal the first intermission.
Ersson, who’s now getting his look as the No. 1 goaltender, gave up those four goals on just 14 shots and was pulled for Cal Petersen coming back out for the second. Going back to last Saturday against Colorado, when he checked in for a yanked Carter Hart, Ersson has gone 0-4-0 with 16 allowed goals after standing tall for much of November onward.
Old friend James van Riemsdyk cleaned up on another rebound soon after the switch to make it a 5-0 game, and aside from Tyson Foerster’s two goals late in the second and midway through the third, Boston pretty much cruised from there.
The Flyers, meanwhile, crumbled into aggravating penalties and defensive miscues that culminated in a final blunder from Sanheim that let Charlie Coyle score and pretty much summed up the entire day.
Yup.
“It’ll be behind most of us within the hour here,” Konecny said. “Just forget it. Burn the tape and move on.”
Konecny will travel to Toronto for the All-Star Game festivities next week, while the Flyers on the whole will get nine days off to process their recent struggles, rest, and reset – which will also hopefully be enough time to get Owen Tippett back healthy.
They’ll return to play on February 6 in Florida.
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