Last night’s game against the Flames was for the Flyers, in many ways, a doozy. An uninspired effort from the skaters, which amounted to a meager 18 shots generated (and only nine between the first two periods) on the way to a 2-1 loss and resulted in some largely measured but still pretty pointed criticism from their head coach, the Flyers put together a game which was, it feels fair to say, probably their worst of the season. And on the other side of that, they had Aleksei Kolosov, up from the AHL and making his first start for the Flyers of the season.
And this start for him was a bit of a strange one, as well. Coming off of a sound showing, coming into Saturday’s game for most of the remaining third period against the Leafs and stopping all seven shots they threw at him, the hope was that he could continue to build up some meaningful momentum with a good start, but it didn’t go as smoothly for him as he might have hoped. Just as the Flyers were struggling to generate offense on their side, the Flames were running into similar struggles, and only managed to put up 21 shots on Kolosov over the course of the evening. But even in that low output, they were still able to get two goals by him, on quite similar looking plays, as they seemed to find some success in exploiting one of the areas of his game which is the most a work in progress.
The first goal of the night developed off of a rush play, in which the Flames were able to, while not moving with a ton of speed, get into the offensive zone with control, and with three players sort of drifting into Kolosov’s sightline on the puck carrier, they were able to beat him cleanly with a shot from Jonathan Huberdeau from up at the top of the left circle.
His second goal allowed on the night looked pretty remarkably similar, as it saw the Flames setting up in front of the net, two players screening Kolosov, and the shot getting by him after it was fired in from the point and deflected in off of Huberdeau’s stick in front.
Jonathan Huberrrrrrrrrrdeaupic.twitter.com/ukTPBeErKg
— Calgary Flames (@NHLFlames) November 3, 2025
Now, it is incumbent on the defensemen in front to make a better effort on those plays to box out the Flames players in front of the net and create a better line of vision for Kolosov, but it also remains that this level of effort needed goes both ways.
“There was a screen,” Kolosov told reporters through a translator, “but that does not have to do anything with the goals, [I have] to see the pucks and make the saves.”
It was a tough hiccup to see, as it seemed a bit of a backslide into one of the worse habits Kolosov had been falling into in his time down with the Phantoms. That is, one of the more concerning weak points in Kolosov’s game going back to the AHL preseason was his troubles in locating shots through traffic — he wasn’t getting himself completely square to shots, looking more like he was approximating and hoping, and he wasn’t being particularly aggressive in his efforts to look around traffic when it was developing in front of him, and seeming to rather hope his defensemen would be able to come up with a block, or else just eventually get out of his way. Of course, through a more focused work over a consistent set of reps in starts, he was able to make some good progress in this area, had looked much sharper until last night’s outing.
Now, these two goals given up to the Flames were not easy ones to work against, with double screens and one fluky deflection in front causing a redirection, but across the whole of the game, it was tough not to come away with the feeling that Kolosov could have done a bit more on an individual level to put himself in more advantageous spots.
All the same, though, this was a showing that was enough to earn him a positive enough endorsement from his head coach.
“He was fine,” said Tocchet postgame. “You know, I think he was solid. I think they had five or six 5-on-5 chances, it’s not like they had a lot of chances, they just scored on two by the net.”
The strangeness that was his first season in North America might lend some extra weight to this first start of the season in the NHL for Kolosov, but all of the extraneous baggage doesn’t really change the reality of the situation at hand. That is, Sam Ersson isn’t looking like he’s going to be out long-term and Kolosov is up as the shorter term stopgap until he’s ready to return. He isn’t being thrust into a full time NHL backup role with the same expectation of more or less immediate delivery, but rather there’s an understanding that there’s yet a good bit in his game which still needs fine-tuning, and he’ll be able to get back to the more concerted work towards that aim before long. All things considered, Kolosov has played pretty well through his first game and change up with the Flyers, and there’s reason for optimism that he can find an upward trajectory similar to the one he tapped into in the early part of the Phantoms’ season, but this game too was perhaps a good reminder that in spite of that hot start, Kolosov still isn’t yet a finished product. All the same, there’s some valuable learning experiences unfolding here, and he’s in a better position this time around to take those lessons and immediately apply them in more regular starts back down with the Phantoms, whenever he is returned to them. We’ll see before long how he’s able to build from here.
Source
It is the most obvious hole on the Philadelphia Flyers lineup and it’s something that general manager Danny Briere clearly wants to address, and now might be the perfect time to do so.
Scrolling down the lineup for the Flyers, their third defensive pairing on the blue line sticks out like the sorest of sore thumbs. Glowing red with the word “Yee-ouch!” animated over it, a rotating cast of characters like Noah Juulsen, Adam Ginning, Egor Zamula, and not until recently Emil Andrae, gives little hope that this team has a very solid blue line for the rest of the season. The top four is virtually locked in place with Cam York, Travis Sanheim, Nick Seeler, and Jamie Drysdale not being a problem whatsoever for this team, but there lacks stability beyond that.
Rasmus Ristolainen being hurt doesn’t help but the biggest takeaway from training camp and is that head coach Rick Tocchet and Briere were generally unimpressed and disappointed that no defenseman really stepped up to claim the opportunity. Players were sent down early and someone like Andrae was viewed as too short to really be one of the favorites for the front office and coaching staff. Just all around, not a good scene.
With that, the Flyers have been fairly open with possibly making a trade to address this issue and some recent reports have narrowed in on them looking for a young blueliner that can fit with the current long-term timeline for this team. That could mean a whole lot of things — whether it’s targeting a team’s prospect in a future move, or looking for someone a bit older that could at least supplement their blue line — but it’s clear that they at least know it’s a problem that they want to solve.
One of the avenues that the Flyers can stroll down is taking advantage of another team’s logjam on the blue line and that might be exactly what is happening for the Edmonton Oilers.
On Tuesday, the Oilers announced that defenseman Alec Regula has been activated from injured reserve. That would mean absolutely nothing over here unless it suddenly meant that Edmonton has eight healthy defensemen on their roster — someone who is a pretty decent blueliner is not even going to be able to get on the ice for a team hoping to compete for the Stanley Cup.
While the easiest answer might be for the Oilers to just send Troy Stecher down on waivers (who is very familiar with the waiver wire), they could end up making a deal and the Flyers should be all over it if one specific defenseman is getting thrown around on the trade market.
Ty Emberson could be trade target for Flyers
Ty Emberson is someone that the Flyers should be looking into, and it just so happens that according to Frank Seravalli, the Oilers might not go the easy route and send Stecher on waivers as Emberson could be a trade piece teams are interested in (like the Flyers should be).
With Zach Hyman coming back, the Oilers will have to make changes to fit him in the roster.
Troy Stetcher has been in trade rumors, but @frank_seravalli says to also keep an eye on Ty Embersonpic.twitter.com/Gz0qW1z7o7
— B/R Open Ice (@BR_OpenIce) November 3, 2025
Now, we would not blame anyone for having no idea who Ty Emberson is. Originally a third-round draft pick of the Arizona Coyotes in 2018, the 25-year-old defenseman has been bouncing around the league since then. Traded to the New York Rangers, claimed off waivers by the San Jose Sharks, and then traded again to the Oilers just over a year ago; Emberson has not really been able to find solid footing to ply his trade ever since he signed his first professional contract.
But now that he has been able to stay in one place for longer, his value as a depth defender on a good team is shining through and he’s starting to get noticed. The right-handed blueliner has played 90 games for the Oilers in the last two seasons and has been roughly fourth or fifth in the depth chart depending on who is healthy. During that time, he’s scored three goals and 16 points but it’s not production where Emberson is able to show his worth.
Emberson isn’t someone that lights the world on fire, but he’s just a stable force and has a couple attributes going for him. When he has been on the ice at 5-on-5 the last two seasons, the Oilers have 51.85 percent of the expected goals share, 50.64 percent of the shot attempt share, and 50.99 percent of the shot on goal share. He doesn’t have the most attractive numbers when it comes to actual goals — it’s just 46.12 percent of the goals share, but considering that Emberson rarely gets the opportunity to play with the actual stars of that Edmonton squad, that’s not bad.
The most common Oilers forwards that Emberson has been on the ice with through the past two seasons has been Adam Henrique, Mattias Janmark, Connor Brown, and Vasily Podkolzin. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins is the only player with some amount of skill when it comes to the top eight forwards that the 25-year-old defenders got to share the ice with. Of the 1,173 minutes that Emberson has played for Edmonton, 125 of those were shared with Connor McDavid (and he dominated in those minutes, too).
Beyond the on-ice metrics, Emberson has a very interesting toolkit. The 6-foot-2, right-handed defenseman isn’t necessarily some sluggish, do-nothing player. According to NHL EDGE statistics, Emberson is in the 79th percentile of skaters when it comes to maximum skating speed, the 81st percentile in speed bursts over 20 mile per hour, and has been in the 53rd percentile of skaters when it comes to total skating distance (which is impressive given his depth minutes). Basically, he’s a very good skater.
Additionally — just to add more fuel to the fire of desire — Emberson doesn’t shy away from contact. According to StatMuse, Emberson leads all Oilers defensemen with 5.5 hits per 60 minutes on a blue line that doesn’t tend to be very physical.
What adding Emberson could mean for Flyers
But what could this mean for the Flyers? Adding another defenseman isn’t a clear answer to a whole lot of problems, but it could at least provide them with a much more stable force on the back end. Given that he’s right-handed (although he has played on the left side before), Emberson will automatically be in the lineup as it currently stands, but when Ristolainen comes back it will only get messier.
But given his age of just 25 years old, and if things go well while Ristolainen remains off the ice, Emberson could certainly be considered a long-term replacement for the Finnish veteran. Maybe not as physically dominant as Ristolainen can be, but geared towards more of the high-pace game that the Flyers want to play with, the current Oilers blueliner is someone that can be an improvement for now and someone to just supplement the future blue line.
Do we all hope Oliver Bonk leaps over Emberson if this move is made? For sure. But having this sort of benchmark player for him to aim to be better than might only be a good thing. And if he’s not? Well, the Flyers then still get an above-average depth defender.
Depending on the cost (like every single trade in existence), it seems like a win-win for the Flyers to go out and grab Emberson. He doesn’t change much of their current plans but he would be such an improvement over who they currently have clogging up the bottom of the right side. Oh yeah, and Emberson is signed through next season at just $1.3-million AAV. Another big box ticked.
The Flyers clearly want to get better in this area and for the right balance of age, contract, availability, acquisition cost, and ability, it feels like no one in the entire NHL fits the mold as well as Emberson. If this happens, come back to this blog.
Source
It was a great first period and a terrible second, but the Flyers rallied showed some character and defeated the host Montreal Canadiens 5-4 in a shootout Tuesday night.
The basics
First period: 1:56- Bobby Brink (Travis Sanheim, Cam York), 7:07- Cam York (Trevor Zegras, Travis Konecny) (PPG), 7:50- Bobby Brink (Noah Cates, Trevor Zegras) (PPG)
Second period: 3:11- Kirby Dach (Noah Dobson, Brendan Gallagher), 4:15- Nick Suzuki (Ivan Demidov, Cole Caulfield) (PPG), 13:28- Kirby Dach (Lane Hutson, Jayden Struble), 15:57- Ivan Demidov (Juraj Slafkovsky, Lane Hutson) (PPG)
Third period: 10:50- Nikita Grebenkin (Travis Konecny, Jamie Drysdale)
Overtime: No scoring
Shootout: Ivan Demidov- No goal, Trevor Zegras- Goal, Cole Caufield- No goal, Matvei Michkov- No Goal, Nick Suzuki- No goal.
SOG: 42 (PHI) – 20 (MON)
Some takeaways
Discipline discipline discipline
The Flyers had the top penalty killing unit. But you can’t give Montreal the opportunities that they did. Whether it was a foolish trip by Sean Couturier in the offensive zone, or a brain cramp by Bobby Brink (again in the offensive zone), Philadelphia played Russian roulette in the second period. With Canadiens’ rookie Ivan Demidov off to a good start, the Flyers caved in the second. A failed clear at the point ended up in the net for Demidov to put the Habs up 4-3 late in the middle frame.
A team with a 3-0 lead should be able to limit the infractions by playing tight defensively without crossing the line. But too many times the Flyers did just that, leaving Philadelphia up by three in one intermission, and down by one after the second intermission. The Flyers ended up two-for-four on the penalty kill, an off night against a rather dynamic opponent.
Shots shots shots
The Flyers weren’t getting many shots this season. They put that question to bed for at least one night Tuesday evening. The Flyers had 36 shots with roughly half a period of regulation left to play. The chances seemed bountiful, but too often Philadelphia couldn’t finish their chances. Fortunately, midway through period three, Nikita Grebenkin got his first National Hockey League goal, a great wrister that beat a stickless Sam Montembeault to tie the game 4-4.
Nikita Grebenkin scores his first career NHL goal to tie the game in the 3rdpic.twitter.com/OpyVVthKWU
— TSN (@TSN_Sports) November 5, 2025
Good pace to start
Unlike the sleepwalking pace the Flyers had during the Toronto and Calgary games, Philadelphia came out of the gate ready to go. The four lines all looked fresh and seemed to play with purpose early on. And that tempo rarely eased up throughout the opening period as the Flyers finished their checks, got pucks out quickly and were rarely hemmed in their own end. The fact Philadelphia were up 10-1 in shots on goal was proof that whatever message Tocchet was trying to deliver was received loud and clear. As perfect a road period you could envision. And this despite the Flyers being horrible on the faceoff dot, winning just five of 18 faceoffs (27.8 per cent) in the opening twenty minutes.
A potpourri of line combos
With Tyson Foerster out of the lineup, head coach Rick Tocchet threw a lot of different variations into the lines. Bobby Brink and Noah Cates were broken up for the first time this season as Cates found himself with Nikita Grebenkin and Travis Konecny. Meanwhile Brink saw himself bumped up somewhat being on a line with Matvei Michkov and Sean Couturier.
And Brink delivered right off the bat! Couturier sped down the ice to negate a possible icing. The puck went to Cam York who fed a cross-ice pass to Travis Sanheim. Sanheim hit Brink with a deflection that gave Philadelphia a quick (and important) 1-0 lead.
The lines for the most part worked well. However in the second period the Flyers began to bend a little bit. After Montreal got a fortunate bounce after the backboards that Kirby Dach buried behind Dan Vladar, Philadelphia took their second minor of the evening. It seemed to be an important kill for the top-ranked penalty killing unit in the league. And the faltered miserably. Some very nifty passing by the Canadiens quickly made it a 3-2 lead. It was almost the kind of bad start to a period that would cause Tocchet to call a timeout simply to calm things down. he didn’t.
It’s interesting to see the potential some of these lines have. For some reason Konecny didn’t quite look so bad with Grebenkin and Cates as his linemates. And Tippett nearly scored a breakaway goal midway through the second which could’ve given Philadelphia a little bit of insurance.
Michkov is coming
Whether it was a late hit in the second period which rankled some of Montreal’s feathers, or having an assist in the first, Matvei Michkov looked far better in this game than at any point in the season. After 40 minutes Michkov was 15-0 in terms of the share of shot attempts, second only to Couturier who was 18-0 after two period. And all of that for the Mad Russian in just 9:24 of ice time.
Fans would love to see more goals and assists by now. But knowing that Michkov is looking more like himself with each passing game is a saving grace in what has been a middling start to the season. The forward ended with a foiled shootout attempt but had three shots and was fantastic start to finish! Oh, his expected goals for percentage on the night was 91.81, second only to Tippett (92.26).
Deslauriers delivers
Nic Deslauriers had his fist attacked by Arber Xhekaj’s face a handful of times in the third period during a scrap. Deslauriers — who fought Arber’s brother in the exhibition schedule — rattled the defenseman. The trade off was advantageous for Philadelphia as Xhekaj being off for five minutes left the Canadiens with five defensemen.
Power play powerful
Despite the rather jumbled lines, the Flyers first power play (thanks to Montreal’s Mike Matheson tossing the puck over the glass) saw Jamie Drysdale, Zegras, Brink, Cates, and Tippett. That unit got a break when Noah Dobson crosschecked Brink from behind. The result was an extended five-on-three. This one started with Zegras, York, Couturier, Michkov, and Konency. Although they looked a bit deliberate in setting up, the Flyers struck gold when Cam York buried a great one-timer by Montreal’s Sam Montembeault for a 2-0 lead.
They weren’t done though! Not by a long shot. Less than a minute later, with the Flyers now on a five-on-four advantage, Zegras fed a pass in tight that Cates got a stick on before Brink buried it up high for his second of the evening for an impressive and early 3-0 lead.
The third power play saw another rush by Brink who nearly earned the hat trick. But Montreal’s Alexandre Carrier got a stick or his glove on the puck before Brink could do much with it. The same power play saw Montreal nearly tie it on a breakaway that hit the post after the Flyers had two great chances to take a two-goal lead. Although ending the night two-for-six, the two power play goals were proof they are getting better.
Vladar coming back down to earth but battled back
Dan Vladar wasn’t busy at all in the first. But a weak start to the second resulted in the keeper needing to keep the Flyers with their one-goal lead in period two. Vladar didn’t face a lot of shots, giving up two goals on six shots. Yet he kept the Flyers from getting into trouble after the Nick Suzuki power play tally. A nearly costly giveaway to Alex Newhook was stopped as the goalie slowly started to get busier and began settling in.
The third Montreal of the period was just bad, squeezing through a short-side hole that should’ve been sealed shut to the post. Unfortunately, it was a leaky goal at a time when the Flyers couldn’t afford to give one away. With five minutes left in the second the shots were 24-8 for Philadelphia. Yet the game was tied 3-3. Then Montreal’s go-ahead goal was the icing on an incredibly crappy 20-minute cake. The shots? Well, 30-11 after 40 minutes. And down a goal.
Give Vladar some credit in the end. He managed to deliver a great poke check in overtime before stopping Ivan Demidov and Cole Caulfield in the shootout. As for Nick Suzuki, well Suzuki sort of helped Vladar in making the save by missing the net. The goalie was at an .800 save percentage for the contest, but came through in the clutch.
Shoutout to Zegras in shootout
Trevor Zegras was the lone goal scorer in the shootout, but it was the difference in securing the Flyers two points and the W. Zegras continues to dazzle in the extra session, changing pace but the result rarely in doubt.
Shootout Results:
MTL – Ivan Demidov
PHI – Trevor Zegras
MTL – Cole Caufield
PHI – Matvei Michkov
MTL – Nick Suzuki
The Flyers win!
pic.twitter.com/51krkt9gua
— Andrew Coté (@acote_88) November 5, 2025
All stats courtesy of NaturalStatTrick
Source
Trevor Zegras once again played a big part in a Philadelphia Flyers victory on Tuesday night. He had two power-play assists in the first period to put the team up 3-0, and came through in the shootout to help secure the victory.
Zegras is now up to 15 points (4 goals, 11 assists) in his first 13 games with the Flyers, proving to be a great offseason addition for Danny Briere & Co.
The 24-year-old forward needed a change of scenery, and he’s making the most of it in Philadelphia.
Zegras wasn’t on the ice for the Flyers’ first goal, but it was exactly what head coach Rick Tocchet has been preaching.
“It’s hard to win in this league. If you want to play in April and March and May, you got to play hard hockey. And I think we’re finding easy ice,” Tocchet said after Sunday night’s loss. “A lot of guys, even some of our best players, they want to play in the easy ice and not the hard ice. That’s the bottom line.”
Sean Couturier led by example and won a battle in the corner, then got to the front of the net to take away a defender and the goalie’s eyes. Travis Sanheim found Bobby Brink, who deflected it home to open the scoring.
“The first goal was kind of what we’ve been trying to get better at,” Zegras told the media after the game. “Guys in front of the net with shots. Just got some good momentum going on the bench, and then obviously, we had the two quick power-play goals, which kind of gave us life.”
The Flyers’ first power-play goal of the game was a doozy. Zegras worked his way around the offensive zone and sent a behind-the-back pass to Cam York, who fired it home on the 5-on-3 advantage.
Ziggy and Yorky – what a duo.#PHIvsMTL | #LetsGoFlyers pic.twitter.com/sxnORoMjbR
— Philadelphia Flyers (@NHLFlyers) November 5, 2025
The dazzling assist was a glimpse into Zegras’ bag of tricks. It was also his 200th career point.
“It means more that it was to Cam, honestly,” Zegras said of the milestone. “One of my best buddies of all time, so that’s pretty cool. I didn’t know that.”
The boys kept buzzing on the 5-on-4 advantage, and it was once again Zegras who patiently set up a goal in front.
His first assist will be all over the highlights, but his second was almost just as impressive as he doubled back before sending the puck in front. That drew the attention to Zegras, who wasn’t surprised with how he was defended.
“There are things on the power play that I try to do to try and open things up, and that’s something that me and Caper have been working on,” he said. “And actually, something that we were working on this morning. So it was great to see one go in like that.”
Those two assists got Zegras back on the scoresheet after seeing his four-game point streak end on Sunday night.
Of course, Zegras is also one of the best shootout performers in the league.
He makes it look almost too easy sometimes, and he’s always confident in the one-on-one situation.
“Pretty confident. I feel like you have to be. I don’t know, it’s just something that I grew up that, something that I was drawn to. I was a big Patrick Kane fan and he was always really good in the shootout, so it’s something that I definitely practiced a lot. It’s been going good.”
Zegras doesn’t look confident just in the shootout, but on the whole as a player both offensively and defensively.
“I feel like it’s easy to be confident when you come to the rink and all these guys are bringing such good energy and life to the room and the team,” he said. “I feel right at home here, and it’s been a lot of fun.”
He certainly looks right at home as he’s enjoying one of the best stretches of his career.
The last time that Zegras had more than 15 points in 13 games came in the 2022-23 season, in which he put up 65 points (23 goals, 42 assists) in total. He had 16 points in 13 games from December 28, 2022, to January 24, 2023.
Zegras will look to keep it going as it appears he has built some chemistry with Christian Dvorak in a hybrid-center role, and Owen Tippett replacing Matvei Michkov on that line. Tippett can provide some speed and shooting ability for Zegras’ fancy playmaking.
It’s only 13 games, and less than a month, but Zegras is bringing exactly what the Flyers needed offensively.
Source
In the Flyers’ first 13 games, the goaltending generally hasn’t been the crux of the team’s woes. The tandem of Dan Vladar and Sam Ersson (and now Aleksei Kolosov) have been holding Philadelphia in games for the most part. There have been a few clunkers but, generally, they have held up their end of the bargain.
Prior to Wednesday’s slate of games, Vladar finds himself sixth in the league in goals against average (2.33) but has fallen to 15th now in terms of save percentage (.912), since two consecutive average to subpar appearances can drop him down the list in some statistics, particularly early in the season.
However both Ersson and Vladar can’t be guilty of not battling their way through some tough stretches during games. Rarely has the opponent scored and you’ve seen either Vladar or Ersson shrug their shoulders, shake their heads, or give death stares to defensemen or forwards for either screening them, or deflecting the puck accidentally. And neither goalie has thrown his teammates under the bus after the game, nor has the coach or players thrown the goalie under the same bus for a blown save or leaky goal.
Vladar’s last two games
In the Toronto loss over the weekend, Vladar basically had a below average performance. He ended up with 15 saves on 19 shots for a .789 save percentage but was pulled after the first two periods, the first time that happened this year to the netminder who signed a two-year contract in the summer. It wasn’t a great outing. A few shots that looked stoppable weren’t, and he showed that he wasn’t a robot.
The follow-up game Tuesday night in Montreal saw the Flyers jump out to a commanding 3-0 lead before the game was 10 minutes old. But that command slipped through the team’s and Vladar’s hands in the second period as Montreal put four consecutive goals behind him. Vladar had no chance on a few of them, but the third Canadiens goal which tied the game was one he would’ve love to have back. A short-side shot that found its way through Vladar who wasn’t quite square to the post. As for the fourth goal, it looked back but considering the shooter, he probably didn’t have much of a chance either.
Darth Vladar was clutch again.#PHIvsMTL | @BankofAmerica pic.twitter.com/PPS1dJwtDW
— Philadelphia Flyers (@NHLFlyers) November 5, 2025
But, rather than give Vladar the hook like he did against the Maple Leafs, Tocchet decided to stick with him. Perhaps he realized just how solid he’s played so far at a position where an .880 save percentage last season was seen as trending upwards. Or he decided he needed to stick with Vladar and hope that the Flyers found the reset button for the third. They did just that, with Nikita Grebenkin scoring the tying goal. Meanwhile Vladar was more than fine the rest of the way. In the overtime he used a brilliant poke check to deny a sure game-winning goal by Montreal. Then in the shootout session he denied both golden boy Ivan Demidov and Cole Caufield before Nick Suzuki whiffed on his attempt. The Flyers sort of escaped with two points despite the tremendous edge in shots on goal (42 to 20).
“You’ve got nothing to lose,” Vladar said post-game. “It’s kind of a mental game after and obviously the guys played a very good game in front of me and they bailed me out. I for sure owe them one.” When asked about his shootout strategy, Vladar was very straightforward. “There’s no secret, you just compete, and you’re just trying to out-will the other guy. You just got to want it more than the other guy.
“It was a tough, tough game for a goaltender. I didn’t see a lot of action and if I did it went in. So, you know, we just got to reset and that’s what I did after the second. I just kind of played it through and focused on the next one. I just wanted to leave it all out there and just look in the mirror at the end of the game and just tell myself I did everything. I’m glad it worked out because as I said the guys bailed me out.”
After the game, Tocchet praised Vladar and the team for their character. Despite having several chances to blow the game wide open or at least keep a three-goal lead in the second, they didn’t crater like they might have in previous years. “Even when I talked in the third some of the players were saying, ‘We got this, we got this,'” Tocchet said following the game. “You could see guys were confident going into this game. The goalie, that was good by Vladdy to come up big for us. I mean, like i said, he could’ve folded. Four goals, the crowd’s freaking out, going crazy. It could go two ways. He held us in. He showed resolve. Good for him.”
Making big saves in key moments
While it might not be the highest of praise for Vladar given the second period he had, it should be a huge confidence boost to Vladar moving forward. And it also showed a side of Vladar fans hadn’t seen before: his mental toughness. As Tocchet said, a 3-0 lead that results in a 4-3 deficit could’ve ended up being an 8-4 or 7-3 laugher with Vladar’s confidence shot either way. Keep him in to mop up or pull him for the second consecutive game. Neither option is productive. Instead by keeping him in, Vladar showed he can battle despite some hiccups. And, just like Sam Ersson has in the shootout, simply shut down the opposition.
Vladar’s other partner, Sam Ersson, had far more average performances this year prior to his injury. He rarely looked great from start to finish in any one game. Nor did he look like he’d stone the opposition at any point in regulation. However, Ersson has stepped up huge after 60 minutes of regulation in a few games. He has been money in overtime more often than not, making huge game-saving stops against some of the league’s best. Meanwhile, in the shootout, he has stopped 37 of 47 shots in his career, which is a very high percentage for a rather beleaguered and badgered goaltender the last few seasons.
Heading into Wednesday’s games, Philadelphia has had nine shots against them in the shootouts. That puts them in a three-way tie for fourth most with Dallas and Nashville (Los Angeles leads the NHL with 18 shootout attempts against). And for teams with a minimum of nine shootout attempts against them, the tandem of Vladar and Ersson has stopped all but two of those shots for a .778 save percentage which is tops in the NHL. That might not seem like a huge deal, particularly considering shootouts aren’t part of playoff hockey. Yet those wins and extra point can be the difference between squeezing into the wildcard spot and being on the outside looking in for a possible sixth consecutive season.
Dan’s diversion tactics
Back in 2021, when Vladar was with Calgary, he would reportedly binge-watch Netflix programs to take his mind off a bad game or poor performance. He also decided he would ignore social media and post-game shows to see what was being said about him or his play. “I’d always watch hockey and watch whatever, my stats and stuff like that. And three or four years ago, I was like, ‘Stop,’” Vladar told a Calgary newspaper at the time. “I was like, ‘No social media.’ I’m trying to stay away from those things, literally just trying not to think about anything else but my performance and our team performance. It’s easy to get distracted by social media, TV. Or when you see the studio and what they’re talking about, then you start thinking.
“Obviously, it’s hard. You can do whatever you want, but sometimes you still lay in bed and close your eyes and you have all those thoughts from the game. It’s hard. But as I’m getting older, I’m getting better at not thinking about hockey once you leave the rink, because then it can get tiring. You just really need to have your head on the right spot.”
If Vladar has managed to maintain that mindset in the years since, it’s also quite probable that he’s able to simply move on from a bad goal or tough bounce. And that’s exactly what seemed to be the case Tuesday night in Montreal. Rather than letting it get the best of him, Vladar simply shook the middle period off and regrouped for a stellar performance in the remaining 25 minutes and shootout. It’s that type of character and mental toughness which can boost not just the goaltender but the team. Besides, the league has yet to overturn a bad goal allowed based on a goaltender’s overt or demonstrative self-pity. If clunkers come along, which they will, the hope is Ersson and Vladar are able to simply move on and focus on what’s in front of them. Dwelling on them does nothing positive.
In the end, it appears that both Ersson and Vladar have the mental toughness to weather some hiccups over the season. It might not be smooth sailing throughout 2025-26, but it’s good to know that neither goaltender will be kicking themselves for days or weeks after allowing a bad goal at a bad time during a game. As well, so far, it appears that Tocchet has the trust and confidence in both goaltenders (and probably Aleksei Kolosov to boot). That seems to be a far different situation than the previous three seasons where John Tortorella’s disdain for poor goaltending was visible both behind the bench and in front of the microphone, not just kept privately in the locker room.
Source
The Philadelphia Flyers are coming off one of the most exciting games of their young season after winning and losing and then winning again against the Montreal Canadiens at the Bell Centre. And because of that powerful performance, head coach Rick Tocchet is going with the same lineup — an untouched roster to hopefully get another two points over the Nashville Predators.
The last time these two teams met in this season was just a week ago and the Flyers earned a 4-1 win thanks to two goals and an assist coming from Trevor Zegras. Could we see something similar tonight?
Puck drop: 8:00 p.m.
How to watch/listen:
: NBCSP
: 97.5 The Fanatic
Pregame reading
- Denver Barkey just had most likely the best game of his professional career so far as he proved a whole lot of doubters wrong for the Lehigh Valley Phantoms. [BSH]
- After the Flyers’ win in Montreal, Zegras expressed just how comfortable and “at home” he is with his new team. [BSH]
- Dan Vladar and Sam Ersson are showing a whole lot of mental toughness during this early Flyers season. Bouncing back after tough games or dealing with a couple of bad goals — both netminders are holding their own. [BSH]
Pregame watching
By the numbers
Philadelphia Flyers – 7-5-1 (5th in Metro)
Goals: Bobby Brink/Owen Tippett (5)
Assists: Trevor Zegras (11)
Points: Trevor Zegras (15)
Nashville Predators – 5-6-4 (6th in Central)
Goals: Filip Forsberg (6)
Assists: Luke Evangelista (7)
Points: Filip Forsberg (11)
Projected lineups
Philadelphia Flyers
Trevor Zegras — Christian Dvorak — Owen Tippett
Matvei Michkov — Sean Couturier — Bobby Brink
Nikita Grebenkin — Noah Cates — Travis Konecny
Nic Deslauriers — Jacob Gaucher — Garnet Hathaway
Cam York — Travis Sanheim
Nick Seeler — Jamie Drysdale
Emil Andrae — Noah Juulsen
Dan Vladar
(Aleksei Kolosov)
Nashville Predators
Filip Forsberg — Ryan O’Reilly — Luke Evangelista
Steven Stamkos — Erik Haula — Jonathan Marchessault
Michael Bunting — Fedor Svechkov — Matthew Wood
Tyson Jost — Michael McCarron — Ozzy Weisblatt
Brady Skjei — Nick Perbix
Nic Hague — Nick Blankenberg
Spencer Stastney — Justin Barron
Juuse Saros
(Justus Annunen)
Storylines to watch
Same lineup, hopefully same result
Head coach Rick Tocchet saw nothing was wrong with what the team did in Montreal — or, at least nothing needed changing so badly that one of the extra players waiting up in the press box would make that much of a difference if they were on the ice instead. Which should generally be a good sign after he dove into the blender and came out with this combination for the game against the Canadiens.
Breaking up Brink and Cates, putting Michkov back with Couturier, Konecny with Cates and Grebenkin; these combinations are different than we’ve ever seen and it proved to be pretty powerful during the somewhat stressful but entertaining win on Tuesday.
Is this the game Michkov comes alive for?
Speaking of line combinations and potential chemistry, during Michkov’s reunion with Couturier and next to the red-hot Bobby Brink, there were some true signs of him re-finding his form. The 20-year-old winger may have only had three shots on goal but he did have the second-most shot attempts with nine and second-most scoring chances with six. He’s discovering his nose for the net once more with five of those attempts coming in that “home plate” zone in front of the net.
It may be nothing, or just a general trend of Michkov trying to breakout this season — or, it could be a sign of things to potentially come and all he needs to do is dominate against one of the NHL’s worst teams (like the Nashville Predators).
Stamkos might be wanting to prove something
In a similar vein, Steven Stamkos is trying to prove that he still has it and if anything, is worth a contending team to pay up to get him out of Nashville. He is slowly finding his footing once more though. To send the Predators to overtime against the Minnesota Wild earlier this week, with 0.3 seconds left on the clock we got to see some vintage Steven Stamkos absolutely wire the puck into the back of the net in heroic fashion.
Now, we’re suddenly worried that he might do that once again and become the ever-dangerous player that he was down in Tampa.
Source
The Philadelphia Flyers have an uncanny ability to make every single game a roller coaster ride. That remained true Saturday afternoon in their matinee tilt against the Ottawa Senators at Xfinity Mobile Arena.
After a rough start, the Flyers battled back to force overtime, but ultimately fell to the Senators by a score of 3-2 in OT.
The Basics
First period: 5:14 — Tim Stützle (David Perron, Ridly Greig), 6:19 — Michael Amadio (Claude Giroux, Shane Pinto)
Second period: 11:23 — Matvei Michkov (Christian Dvorak, Travis Konecny)
Third period: 9:55 — Jamie Drysdale (Dvorak, Trevor Zegras)
Overtime: 3:19 — Stützle (Drake Batherson, Thomas Chabot)
SOG: 22 (PHI), 13 (OTT)
Takeaways
Another slow start
Aside from their furious three-goal first period against the Montreal Canadiens on Tuesday, the Flyers have struggled mightily to start games off hot. They were outplayed in the first period Thursday night against the Nashville Predators, falling into an early 1-0 hole, and that trend continued Saturday against Ottawa.
The Flyers were held to just four shots in the first period and allowed a pair of Ottawa goals, separated by just 1:05, to end the frame trailing by two. It took until the final minute of the period for the Flyers to finally generate a high-danger scoring chance, when Bobby Brink forced a turnover at center ice and fed Owen Tippett for a laser that Ottawa netminder Linus Ullmark turned aside with his glove.
Perhaps it was the 1 p.m. start time that had the Flyers looking sluggish, but overall, the inauspicious starts have become standard for this club, which isn’t exactly conducive to winning hockey games.
Two in two for Michkov
Matvei Michkov’s slow start has been one of the top headlines in the season’s early going. After logging 26 goals as a rookie last season, he managed just one goal in the Flyers’ first 13 games of the 2025-26 campaign.
It appears the tides may be turning, though. Michkov lit the lamp Thursday night against Nashville, and against the Senators, he found the back of the net again with an outstanding individual effort to fend off Ottawa defenseman Jake Sanderson and find some open ice in the slot.
Matvei Michkov muscles his way in to score a goalpic.twitter.com/isEmF2JzlN
— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) November 8, 2025
It’s clear Michkov hasn’t been playing his best hockey, but at the very least, goals in back-to-back games is an encouraging sign for the prized 20-year-old winger. He was noticeably more dynamic Saturday afternoon, and even though his play-driving numbers weren’t spectacular, he’s beginning to look more like the player who regularly wowed the Flyers fan base a year ago.
Drysdale comes up clutch
Jamie Drysdale is unquestionably one of the success stories of the season thus far. His play improved in the second half of the 2024-25 season, and the upward trajectory seems to be continuing into the new season.
Granted, he was far from perfect against the Senators. He was on the ice for both Ottawa goals in the first period, but he also contributed to both of the Flyers’ goals — he even took matters into his own hands and potted one of his own to tie the game midway through the third frame.
Once again, Drysdale posted stellar 5-on-5 play-driving numbers, including a 69.70 Corsi For percentage and a 67.57 Expected Goals For percentage, and while his defensive play is still a work in progress, it’s hard not to be pleased with the strides he’s made to start the year.
Ersson decent in return
Sam Ersson spent exactly one week on injured reserve with a lower-body injury before being activated Thursday evening, and in his first game back, he looked … just fine. He allowed three goals on just 13 Ottawa shots on net, which, on paper, is horrendous. But after the rough 1:05 in the first period that had the Flyers trailing by two early, he settled in nicely. He also faced just one shot in the third period, which can make it difficult for goalies to remain focused without being involved in the flow of the game. Tim Stützle’s game-winning goal in overtime can’t really be pinned on Ersson — it was indecisiveness by Trevor Zegras in the neutral zone that led to Stützle tapping in the easy tally.
As has been the case for a good portion of Ersson’s career, his overall play was better than the numbers indicate. But at some point, the luck will need to even out for him.
The penalty kill is so, so good
A silver lining to this loss is the play of the Flyers’ penalty kill. They killed off both of the Senators’ power plays with ease, giving them fits on zone entries and rarely allowing dangerous shooting lanes. Since October 23, the Flyers have been shorthanded 27 times and have allowed a grand total of two(!) power-play goals — both of which came against the Canadiens Tuesday night.
As things currently stand, the Flyers’ PK ranks fifth in the entire NHL with a success rate of 88.2%. It may not be as exciting as the “power kill” from the John Tortorella era, but Rick Tocchet and assistant coach Todd Reirden have this unit firing on all cylinders.
Statistics courtesy of Natural Stat Trick and NHL.com.
Source
The Philadelphia Flyers are relying heavily on Matvei Michkov panning out to be a very good player that could even flirt with stardom and be the best player on their team going forward. But unfortunately to start this season, he has played extremely poorly. Concerns about a sophomore slump has only been accented as the season has gone on and we’ve been trying to look for signs of last year’s rookie sensation still on the ice.
Michkov looked slow and not just in his skating but thinking the game slower too. It let to a lack of production as the 20-year-old winger had just five points through his first 10 games and started the season on a three-game drought. All throughout that opening stretch too, he barely shot the puck or even made a play — he appeared to just be out there and that let new head coach Rick Tocchet to limiting his minutes, which of course caused some stir amongst the Flyers fan base.
Thankfully, Michkov has started to turn his season around. Saturday afternoon, he scored his second goal in as many games and while he’s still barely over half a point per game, he looked so much more like the crazy Russian winger we’ve come to love last season. Especially on his goal against the Ottawa Senators, where he managed to battle through contact from Jake Sanderson, sees a route right to the slot through the faceoff circle and wires it past Linus Ullmark.
A little Michkov Magic.#OTTvsPHI | #LetsGoFlyers pic.twitter.com/eKHQojvV16
— Philadelphia Flyers (@NHLFlyers) November 8, 2025
That’s something we haven’t seen at all this season from Michkov — the poise and confidence to pull something off like this, let alone just attempt it, is something that has been missing from the first dozen or so games.
And now that we have caught this glimpse and while the concerns aren’t totally gone but we can at least think that we will see regular Michkov during every game in the coming weeks, Michkov felt free to share more about his disastrous offseason training, or lack thereof.
Matvei Michkov took almost the entire summer off from hockey
As Michkov started his season poorly, within the first few days, head coach Rick Tocchet revealed that the young winger dealt with an ankle injury through the summer and that caused a setback to his training and it will take him some time to get to full speed. It made sense — it was something to point at as the reason why Michkov was playing so poorly.
But now that there is at least some improvement and return to what we’ve come to know as the status quo, Michkov felt comfortable sharing more details about his summer after answering a question about how he’s feeling currently.
“Every game, I feel better and better. Hard start of the game, like mostly ever game — hard work, it’s all going to come soon,” Michkov told the media after Saturday afternoon’s 3-2 overtime loss to the Senators.
“Truly, I was rested for four months, no hockey. Training was not the same. In the beginning of the season, I lost concentration but with every game, I’m feeling better and better.”
On its face, a player saying that he took four months off of hockey during his summer, even while nursing an injury during part of that, looks bad. A player giving the reason of taking the entire summer off as to why he played poorly for the first 12 or so games of the season is not something you really want to hear coming from the star youngster, in which the future of your team somewhat relies on.
While other players were maybe taking a couple weeks off and then getting right back to work in preparation for the new NHL season, it sure sounds like Michkov was just kicking back and waiting until the latter part of the summer to kick his training off — and then his ankle injury happened. The possibility of that being the case and then tie in his quasi scandal of being involved in a car accident in Dubai over the summer and it doesn’t paint a great picture. That would be the nightmare scenario but it most likely isn’t the truth.
Due to the language barrier, Michkov couldn’t expand further into what he meant by taking four months off of hockey, but we can at least theorize and give him the benefit of the doubt. Michkov has only ever done training on the ice — every offseason growing up and through his developing years he would be working doing hockey-related activities.
So, instead of doing that again, Michkov “took four months off” of that aspect of training and instead spent the vast majority of his time in the gym to gain some mass before the season began. That is most likely what he meant by taking the four months off.
Michkov probably didn’t just completely let his summer go to waste but maybe he could have framed it just a little bit better.
Source
