Philadelphia Flyers winger (or hybrid center if the term still applies) Trevor Zegras has been a huge addition to the team this season, having stepped in immediately as their leader in both goals and points. But this month, Zegras hasn’t looked quite as efficient or consistent as he has in previous months. For example, heading into the Columbus game Wednesday night, Zegras sees himself sitting with just four goals and three helpers for seven points for the month. He still has three games in January to bump up his stats for the month, but given his current pace, he’ll be lucky to hit 10 points. It seems a noteworthy decline from the 15 points he had in December and the 12 points he had in each of the first two months of the season.
It could be just a lull of sorts for Zegras, given the condensed schedule and the grind that comes with squeezing in 82 games in an Olympic year. He has points in just four of the 12 games thus far in 2026, and points in just one Flyers victory this month when he had a pair of goals against his former team in Anaheim back on Jan. 6. So while it’s difficult to lay blame for the team’s woes at the feet of its leading point-getter and best playmaker all season, Trevor Zegras hasn’t really been visible the last few weeks. It’s no surprise that since Zegras has found himself in a bit of a funk, the Flyers have been struggling a lot more. On Monday night after the Flyers highly lackadaisical 4-0 shutout loss to the Islanders, Flyers head coach Rick Tocchet called out Zegras, stating his game has been “slipping” over the last couple of weeks and he wasn’t “pushing the pace.” As if that wasn’t enough, Tocchet criticized Zegras’s effort when coming back into the defensive zone and his coverage. If Zegras didn’t realize his game wasn’t quite stellar, he certainly knows now.
There could be a few reasons why Zegras has struggled recently. We’ll take a look at them in no particular order.
The fatigue factor
Zegras hasn’t missed a game all year, averaging 18:39 of ice time and being on the team’s most productive offense lines. That might not seem like a lot to handle for a forward, especially one who is turning 25 in March. However, barring a catastrophic season-ending injury (or Tocchet gluing his backside to the pressbox) Zegras will be playing his largest amount of games since 2021-22 when he played all but one game for Anaheim. So this will be his first season in the last three where he should see at least over 75 games played. Zegras played just 57 games last year, and just 31 games the previous year. That works out to just over one full season (88) out of 164 possible games.
While it would be wrong to directly compare the situation of two rather injury-plagued years to the problem Flyers captain Sean Couturier had being out for essentially two seasons, they could be a few similarities. Like Couturier in the first half of the 2023-24 season, Zegras seemed good in the first half of the season but has hit some bumps of late. Perhaps it’s due to the fact his body might not quite be used to the grind of an 82-game schedule. Granted, the Flyers travel schedule is generally far more friendly than teams like Anaheim and other Western Conference teams. It’s just that regardless of whatever training or off-season conditioning a player can do coming off not one but two injury-plagued seasons, nothing compares the body for an 82-game regular season other than playing most of the 82 games. When you haven’t done that the year before and the year before that, it’s not great. So perhaps Zegras’ body is hitting the skids somewhat. Not to the point of being completely banged up and injured. But just not quite seasoned enough to handle the season.
Of course, Zegras should get a huge lift when he, like a number of Flyers, can rest and recuperate for three weeks during the Winter Olympics. He should be ready with a full tank of gas when Philadelphia starts the second gauntlet beginning with Washington on Feb. 25. At least that’s the hope or best case scenario.
Shooting enough?
Some might argue Zegras would get out his slump simply by shooting the puck every chance he got. In October, Zegras started off slow with only 16 shots. November was a revelation as Zegras popped off with 39 shots that month while December was a bit slower with just 31 shots. However, January has been an eye-opener for all the wrong reasons. Thus far, heading into the Wednesday game against Columbus, Zegras has 25 shots. That wouldn’t seem bad except that seven of those 25 shots came against Buffalo on Jan. 14. So the winger has 18 shots in January outside of that Sabres tilt. He’s been held to under three shots in nine games since the start of 2026.
It seems like that dip has translated into how Zegras has done in the first three months versus what he’s done this month. Here’s a table showing the on-ice shooting percentage for seven Flyer forwards from October to December and what each of those seven have done using the same metric for January alone.
Player On Ice Shooting Percentage (October to Dec. 31) Player On Ice Shooting Percentage (January) Christian Dvorak 12.93 Sean Couturier 11.54 Trevor Zegras 12.31 Owen Tippett 11.29 Travis Konecny 12.15 Travis Konecny 10.17 Noah Cates 10.50 Trevor Zegras 9.86 Owen Tippett 10.21 Matvei Michkov 9.80 Matvei Michkov 9.87 Christian Dvorak 9.68 Sean Couturier 9.61 Noah Cates 8.20
As you can see, for most of the season, Zegras has been solid when it comes to that statistic. Yet he’s dropped somewhat in January, roughly a 20 per cent decline this month versus the first three months of the season. Meanwhile you can see the rise in the same statistic in Sean Couturier and Owen Tippett in January, which is probably in no small part to the emergence of Denver Barkey, even if Barkey is having a tougher time of late. But simply put, Zegras isn’t doing as much now as he did previously.
As for the quantity of shots this season, Zegras finds himself ranked one-hundredth in the league heading into Tuesday’s schedule with 111. He’s third on the Flyers (Tippett and Konecny are ahead of him). Yet the quality of those 111 shots have been above-average. According to NHL Edge, Zegras ranks quite high in various metrics. He’s in the 85th percentile regarding shots on goal in total, and in the 86th percentile regarding the number of mid-range shots. But when it comes to high danger shots, Zegras has 31, which is good for the 71st percentile.
Regarding shooting percentage, Zegras in all locations is at 17.1 per cent, placing him in the 84th percentile. In the mid-range category, he’s at 18 per cent, good enough for the 85th percentile. But the high-danger range sees a drop somewhat at 25.8 per cent, which puts him in the 77th percentile. He’s still above average in shooting percentage in the high-danger areas, but it doesn’t quite measure up to the overall and the mid-range shooting percentiles.
Those overall, high-danger, and mid-range percentiles for goal scoring also tell a similar tale. With 19 goals in all locations, Zegras is in the 91st percentile. He’s in the 92nd percentile with mid-range goals. But when the high-danger zone is calculated, he’s in the 80th percentile. Again, it’s not a horrible thing to be in the top 20 per cent of the league for high-danger goals. But the high-danger area hasn’t been as kind to him as the numbers suggest it should be.
Time for new linemates?
As you are well aware, Zegras has found himself with Christian Dvorak and Travis Konecny for the majority of the season. Originally he found himself with Dvorak and Owen Tippett, but with Tyson Foerster’s injury throwing everything into a bit of a mess, Philadelphia changed things up. The line was stellar for several weeks after forming, and were carrying the load for a lot of victories in December.
Like anything else, it might be time for Tocchet to consider altering the lines again. Or at least strongly considering doing just that coming out of the Olympic break, particularly if the losses before Milano/Cortina begin adding up. Fans would love to see Zegras and Michkov together and see if both can somehow help the other find their game again. Michkov has been looking a little better of late. Perhaps he can light a fire under Zegras the rest of the way. However you slice it, Zegras could probably use a new line combination to see if some synergy can be found with two new linemates. It might not help two of the other three top Flyer lines who seem to be playing fine. But sometimes you have to get some of your key guys going any way you can.
So, can Zegras get out of this?
It appears Trevor Zegras is going to be a Philadelphia Flyer for a while to come — unless Flyers general manager Danny Briere can land one of the better top centers in the league through trading Zegras, he will be a Flyer for many years. Whether it’s from not playing a full season in about three years, or just hitting a wall that he needs to play his way through, Zegras should be happy to know the three-week break in the schedule should be more than enough to have him clear his head, reset, and be ready for the last roughly two dozen games. Ideally, Zegras would have a few multi-point games before the break and can go in on a bit of a confidence high. Right now a lot of things aren’t working for him. He is going to need to put in the work to right his ship. Otherwise the Flyers’ playoff chances will be sinking a lot quicker than they currently are.
All stats courtesy ESPN, Natural Stat Trick and NHL Edge
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Travis Konecny scored a hat trick, and Dan Vladar made some great saves to keep Philadelphia in it, but in the end the Flyers had too many passengers on this night in a 5-3 loss to host Columbus on Wednesday evening.
The basics
First period: 0:38 – Charlie Coyle (Mathieu Olivier, Zach Werenski), 9:03 – Travis Konecny (Cam York, Noah Juulsen), 19:40 – Kirill Marchenko (Zach Werenski, Adam Fantilli)
Second period: 1:58 – Erik Gudbranson (Cole Sillinger, Charlie Coyle)
Third period: 4:08 – Travis Konecny (Christian Dvorak, Jamie Drysdale), 15:14 – Travis Konecny (Travis Sanheim, Christian Dvorak), 16:32 – Sean Monahan (Damon Severson, Kent Johnson), 18:54 – Mathieu Olivier (Cole Sillinger) (ENG)
SOG: 25 (PHI) – 31 (CBJ)
Some takeaways
Vladar back on the radar
Flyers goaltender Dan Vladar made his first start since leaving two weeks ago after one period against Buffalo. And with five games left before the Olympic break, it was imperative he help steer the Flyers back closer to a playoff spot. Well, the Flyers looked as foolish starting off as they did against the Islanders on Monday. A bad giveaway along the boards by Trevor Zegras resulted in a quick turnover. Charlie Coyle took a short pass and simply beat Vladar who didn’t have much of a chance. Another game, another occasion the opposition opened the scoring.
Vladar settled the team down somewhat after that, making a good stop on a shot by defenseman Damon Severson. But late in the first the Flyers got outworked when Owen Tippett was tossed off the puck and lost his stick. The result was a two-on-one that Vladar again had very little chance on as Kirill Marchenko drove it home on the one-timer. And Columbus struck again early in the second as they did in the first, as this time defenseman Erik Gudbranson blasted one from the point that Vladar couldn’t see through some bodies until it was too late.
Also in the second, Vladar had his mask knocked off but the play continued. Fortunately a shot from a bad angle was low enough to not do any damage, though it irked the Flyers who weren’t happy with the shot. On the whole it wasn’t a great return for the netminder. Then again, the skaters in front of him didn’t really offer a lot of support.
Vladar’s biggest save of the evening was early in the third when he stretched across and got an incredible glove save on Adam Fantilli, robbing him of a goal. Officials reviewed the play to see if it crossed the line but replays indicated Vladar’s glove crossed the line. Vladar made another remarkable save minutes later to keep the game within reach, this time stoning Boone Jenner.
The Great#PHIvsCBJ | #LetsGoFlyers pic.twitter.com/sV46L7Kz5h
— Philadelphia Flyers (@NHLFlyers) January 29, 2026
Some push back, but not enough
The line of Zegras, Christian Dvorak, and Travis Konecny were called out by head coach Rick Tocchet this week. Tocchet said the trio were cheating for offense and, as a result, were beginning to get burned more and more. After another bad giveaway early, the line redeemed themselves somewhat midway through the first. Travis Konecny wristed a shot through Columbus goalie Elvis Merzlikins to tie things 1-1.
The line kept looking for more, but late in the first, a bad turnover in the offensive zone ended up being a two-on-one the other way. Travis Sanheim took a hooking penalty to prevent what looked like a likely goal. The Flyers were able to kill it successfully. And after killing it, the line went to work again, nearly taking the lead when, on the power play, the unit featuring Konecny and Zegras had prime chances with Merzlikins essentially on his back. But neither time could they put it home.
Following the third Columbus goal, the Flyers had another chance courtesy of Sean Couturier and Tippett. But Couturier’s shot from the side was stopped by Merzlikins with a high pad save. Overall it epitomized most of January for the Flyers, with opportunities staring them in the face but them being simply unable to score.
New defensive combos
With the news that defenseman Emil Andrae wasn’t going to be in the lineup against Columbus, the pairings got mixed up slightly. Noah Juulsen was Andrae’s replacement and got on the scoresheet early, getting a secondary assist on Konecny’s opening goal. It marked the 18th goal for Konecny against Columbus in 31 career games. And his 19th of the season!
With the Flyers left with just five defenseman so early in the first (more on that below), obviously the pairings got tossed out the window and were made on the fly for the rest of the way. It also certainly didn’t help that the quintet would be used more on the front end of a back-to-back with the Bruins waiting for them tomorrow night. Drysdale led all Flyers blueliners with a rather mammoth 26:46 while both Travis Sanheim and Cam York logged over 23 minutes each.
Denver Barkey, Matvei Michkov meh
The Flyers first decent chance of the night took place moments after Coyle’s goal. Winger Denver Barkey didn’t get the pass from Owen Tippett to put it behind Blue Jackets keeper Elvis Merzlikins. Merzlikins then proceeded to push Barkey away from him without taking a penalty. Meanwhile minutes later Matvei Michkov came in on a breakaway but was one-upped by Merzlikins. The Mad Russian showed some fight midway through the game when he got into a minor scuffle with Adam Fantilli after a whistle.
The Russian winger also nearly cut the deficit in half late in the second on a power play. But Michkov’s low shot was kicked out by Merlikins’ pad. Like most of the Flyers opportunities on this night, close but no cigar.
Too many passengers, not enough TKs
Although the Flyers weren’t exactly scoreboard watching during the game, they had to have known just how important this game was. With the Islanders romping the Rangers, Philadelphia needed a big effort to at least get the two points. But after two periods of play, there were three players who were over 40 per cent regarding Corsi For percentage: Zegras, Konecny, and Michkov. The same trio were responsible for six of the 13 shots the Flyers had over two periods. Seven different players were under 25 per cent heading into the second intermission. In short, there wasn’t a lot of help from a vast majority of players despite knowing wins are required.
Speaking of Konecny, he scored again in the third to make it a 3-2 game four minutes into the third.
The winger, who took a shot off the leg late in the second and was hobbling to the bench, then ended up tying the game with his third of the night. Getting his stick for a tip-in with under five minutes to go, Konecny willed the team back into the game to tie it at three goals apiece.
Have a DAY, TK.#PHIvsCBJ | #LetsGoFlyers pic.twitter.com/AxVR7TzMNX
— Philadelphia Flyers (@NHLFlyers) January 29, 2026
Konecny and Vladar deserved much better outcomes on this night. But two players don’t make a team. Sadly, the Blue Jackets minutes later ended up going ahead. This time for good.
Breaking news! Rasmus Ristolainen is hurt
Stop me if you heard this before. Defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen wasn’t on the bench just five minutes into the game. Ristolainen took a shift but then went down the hallway. Given his knack for dealing with recurring injuries, it didn’t seem all that surprising he would be hurt. When asked during a stoppage what happened, Tocchet said Ristolainen fell but didn’t elaborate further. Ristolainen fell awkwardly behind the Flyers’ net seconds into the contest and looked to be favoring something. He left the game after having just 1:01 of ice time.
The Flyers made the news official prior to the start of the second period that he wouldn’t return after suffering a lower-body injury. The notion Ristolainen would be possibly trade fodder at the deadline was a long shot to begin with. Now it appears to be a non-starter.
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The Flyers went into Boston looking for redemption after heroics from Travis Konecny and Dan Vladar were wasted in last night’s loss to Columbus, and well, they didn’t find it. Rick Tocchet also shuffled the lines, finally giving Trevor Zegras a look at center, which didn’t go too well. Despite injury scares, both Konecny and Rasmus Ristolainen remained in the Flyers’ lineup, but they lost yet another player mid-game.
The basics
First period: 9:49 – Viktor Arvidsson (Casey Mittelstadt, Frasier Minten), 10:30 – Pavel Zacha (Morgan Geekie, Jonathan Aspirot)
Second period: 2:27 – Fraser Minten (Casey Mittelstadt), 3:16 – Travis Konecny (Unassisted), 16:12 – Casey Mittelstadt (Andrew Peeke, Fraser Minten), 18:40 – Tanner Jeannot (Andrew Peeke, Sean Kuraly), 19:05 – Nikita Grebenkin (Travis Konecny)
Third period: 16:30 – Marat Khusnutdinov (Charlie McAvoy, Jonathan Aspirot) (EN), 18:19 – Matvei Michkov (Denver Barkey, Owen Tippett)
SOG: 36 (PHI) – 27 (BOS)
Grebenkin pops in increased role
Let’s start with a positive. With Zegras moving to center, a spot opened alongside Christian Dvorak and Travis Konecny on what has been the Flyers’ top line this season. Enter Nikita Grebenkin. Grebenkin has bounced in and out of the lineup, spending most of his time in fourth-line minutes with occasional spot duty higher up. On this night, however, he was given a big opportunity with better linemates to work around.
After the Flyers fell behind 2–0, it briefly appeared that Dvorak had pulled them within one following Grebenkin’s hard drive to the net, however the play was waved off due to goaltender interference. Grebenkin stayed aggressive, though, creating another chance by driving the net again and drawing a penalty on Hampus Lindholm. It was a welcome change to see a Flyers forward consistently get pucks on goal, especially after a handful of early odd-man rushes failed to even produce a shot.
Grebenkin’s impact carried into the middle frame. He helped set up the Flyers’ first goal by firing a shot off the rush and crashing in on the forecheck. With support from Dvorak, the pressure forced a Bruins turnover that Konecny buried. Then, with under a minute remaining in the period, Grebenkin was rewarded with a goal of his own, finishing the rebound of a Konecny breakaway to cut Boston’s lead to three.
Grebs is there to clean it up.#PHIvsBOS | #LetsGoFlyers pic.twitter.com/g2W1o6PD7g
— Philadelphia Flyers (@NHLFlyers) January 30, 2026Another blowout
A rough stretch for the Flyers continues. For much of the season, a frequently cited stat was how well the Flyers responded after losses, but that trend has flipped. In January, they have allowed five goals against in half of their games, and after suffering a six-game losing streak earlier in the month, their current skid now sits at three. The bounce-back ability that defined the early part of the season has disappeared, and it is starting to bury them in the standings.
The Flyers have been outscored 15-6 (with some empty net goals) this week and are losing in embarrassing fashion. These embarrassing, blowout losses and long losing streaks were supposed to be an area of improvement under the Tortorella years, and was a driving force behind the decision to bring Rick Tocchet in. Instead, the same issues have continued to resurface. The defensive breakdowns continue to plague this team, and the stifled offense is only exacerbating the team’s issues.
Checking in on Z at C
Perhaps the most intriguing storyline surrounding this game was the decision to play Trevor Zegras at center. There had been plenty of questions about whether he would ever get game reps down the middle, and amid a cold stretch, he was finally given that opportunity. Centering Matvei Michkov and Bobby Brink, the line was underwhelming at best. They logged the fewest five-on-five minutes, were clearly outplayed, and finished with a 22 percent Corsi-For rating. They were on the ice for a goal against and owned just 12.9 percent of the expected goals generated in their minutes. They were by far the Flyers’ least effective line tonight.
It is worth noting that this came in the second half of a back-to-back, and Zegras is also in the midst of a lull, so the circumstances were far from ideal. Still, he did not show much in this outing, and the trend is becoming increasingly concerning. Perhaps the Olympic break will provide a reset for Zegras, who, along with Dan Vladar, had been a major driver of the Flyers’ winning record earlier in the season. With Tyson Foerster out of the lineup and Michkov’s sophomore slump, a dip in Zegras’ offensive output led to Konecny having to carry the team on his back offensively.
It will be interesting to see whether Tocchet gives Zegras another look at center after how poorly this experiment went, but with the Flyers in need of answers down the middle, letting it play out a bit may not be the worst option. It is not as if Zegras, or the team, had been playing particularly well with him on the wing of late anyway.
Konecny continues to put on a one-man show
Following his hat-trick in a losing effort against the Blue Jackets, Konecny continued his hot streak by opening the scoring in this one. Konecny found open space and the puck found him after solid work along the boards from Grebenkin and Dvorak.
TK’s red hot.#PHIvsBOS | #LetsGoFlyers pic.twitter.com/DxZA6jqXiK
— Philadelphia Flyers (@NHLFlyers) January 30, 2026
It was Konecny’s 21st of the season, putting him on a 33-goal pace, which is the career high that he set in the 2023-24 season. He has really stepped up lately, surpassing Zegras as the team’s leading point scorer. Konecny was also a major factor in the team’s second goal, tracking a wide shot from Nikita Zadorov that flew out of the zone, beating Andrew Peeke in a foot race and getting not one but two grade-A chances on Swayman before Grebenkin cleaned up the rebound.
It’s great to see Konecny stepping up as a leader with his play of late and willing these games to be competitive at all, but the Flyers need more from their other forwards. If this team is going to stay in the playoff hunt, Konecny’s line can’t be the only one to threaten offensively.
Ersson struggles, leaves with injury
It is no secret that Sam Ersson has struggled this season. He entered the game with a .860 save percentage, a number that dipped further after this outing. While he did make several impressive saves on high-danger chances, a couple of the goals he allowed were soft. Just as it began to look like Ersson might be turning a corner, any positive momentum was brought to a halt.
To make matters worse, Ersson then left the game, with Vladar taking over to start the third period. The injury appeared to occur late in the second, when Ersson moved left to right with a couple of bodies around the crease as he attempted to make a save.
Data referenced via Natural Stat Trick.
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The Flyers earned a point but came up short on Saturday afternoon, losing to Los Angeles 3-2 in a rather low-event, excitement-free contest. The loss was Philadelphia’s fourth in a row.
The basics
First period: 3:10 – Adrian Kempe (Alex Laferriere, Corey Perry), 7:20 – Adrian Kempe (Corey Perry)
Second period: 0:38 – Trevor Zegras (Bobby Brink, Travis Konecny) (PPG)
Third period: 0:25 – Travis Konecny (Rasmus Ristolainen, Nikita Grebenkin)
Overtime: 2:48 – Quinton Byfield (Adrian Kempe, Drew Doughty)
SOG: 21 (PHI) – 21 (LAK)
Some takeaways
Another sluggish start
Philadelphia looked a bit lost in their own end just three minutes into the game and paid for it. Some terrible defensive zone coverage couldn’t prevent the Kings opening the scoring despite the five Flyers being within a few feet of each other in front of a sprawling and diving Dan Vladar. The goal was the 36th time in 54 games that Philadelphia allowed the first goal, playing from behind essentially from the get-go. Trailing two-thirds of the time to start a game isn’t a recipe for success, and certainly not a recipe for a playoff-chasing team.
Minutes later, the same Kings line played havoc with the Flyers in their own zone. Neither Trevor Zegras nor Denver Barkey picked up Kempe (who scored the first goal) as he buried a shot behind Vladar to make it 2-0.
Adrian Kempe AGAIN
He's got two in the first period! pic.twitter.com/U12SiuBoAw
— NHL (@NHL) January 31, 2026
The Flyers didn’t have many quality chances in the opening 10 minutes, squeezing a mere three shots in the first 11 minutes and change.
Konecny pipes up again
Travis Konecny, like all of us, isn’t getting any younger. After losing to Boston, Konecny said he was tired of missing post-season hockey. Considering he scored four consecutive goals for Philadelphia in the back-to-back against Columbus and the Bruins — and on a supposedly bad leg at that — Konecny kept trying to deliver. Out for the opening faceoff — against a line that featured retiring Kings legend Anze Kopitar — Konecny was later on the ice for the game’s first goal, looking as lost as his linemates in his own end.
And after a possible third Los Angeles goal 10 minutes in, Konecny could be seen banging his stick on the ice and telling his teammates to “wake the f–k up!” The goal was overturned for being offside, stopping the bleeding for the time being. In the third, the Flyers tied things up when Rasmus Ristolainen’s shot was clearly tipped by Konecny. The goal was originally credited to Ristolainen despite Konecny’s deflection. It was later credited deservedly to Konecny
Konecny started the overtime along with Dvorak and Travis Sanheim. Konecny had a breakaway chance but rang the puck off the post. The horn sounded but the referee waved his arms indicating no goal. Moments later, Los Angeles — who held the puck nearly the entire overtime — got the winner when Quinton Byfield’s wrister beat Vladar high and clean to give the Kings the victory.
D-Lo blocks shot, takes dumb penalty
Nic Deslauriers sacrificed his body to block a shot early in the game. The shot hit him just above the knee and had the enforcer crumble to the ice. He got up and skated gingerly to the bench but avoided heading down to the locker room. He shook it off and didn’t miss a shift. Later in the first, when trying to goad defenseman Brandt Clarke into a fight, Deslauriers took his time getting back to the bench while Nikita Grebenkin hopped on. The bench minor for too many men on the ice was another undisciplined minor to take for a team having a hard time killing penalties.
Ziggy played center, then didn’t
Trevor Zegras centered Matvei Michkov and Bobby Brink again Saturday afternoon. The trio nearly opened the scoring when Zegras fed Brink who passed the puck cross-ice for an oncoming Michkov. Sadly, Michkov couldn’t get it by Kings’ keeper Darcy Kuemper. The Russian winger was crosschecked from behind but the referees let play continue. Later in the first, Michkov was crosschecked by Drew Doughty but this time it was called.
The power play carried over into the second period where the Flyers made a pretty tic-tac-toe goal. Konecny passed it cross-ice to Bobby Brink. Brink quickly made a cross-ice pass back to Zegras who had a wide open net and make it a 2-1 game. It was the type of power play goal you would love to see far more often in the first 53 games. But Philadelphia will take it where they can get it.
It appeared that Zegras was relegated to the wing in the second period as late in the frame he was on a line with Michkov but Couturier being the middleman. The Flyers captain was also seeing some double shifting while he remained on the fourth line with Deslauriers and Garnet Hathaway. Zegras later saw time with Christian Dvorak and Konecny. So it appears for today the center test was pushed aside. At the end of the second Zegras avoided serious injury when he was tripped, colliding into Kuemper awkwardly and taking a while to get back on his feet. Fortunately he returned for the third showing no ill effects.
Tippett remains a bright spot
With all the problems emerging on the team, it’s good to see Owen Tippett still being visible on the ice. Tippett appears to be putting in the effort every game. During the Kings’ first power play, Tippett and Konecny started a rush up-ice that nearly cut the 2-0 deficit in half. Regardless, the winger has found different ways of becoming engaged, be it tossing his weight around or driving play. Although he had no points, Tippett had a pair of shots and some decent chances.
Afraid to shoot?
A few times in the first period, Philadelphia had decent chances to at least get a quality shot off. Each time the player decided to pass instead. It’s indicative of a team struggling when doing the most basic thing to be successful ends up being Plan B, C, or D. There’s rarely harm in shooting the puck in a slump. Yet somehow the Flyers remain averse to taking the easiest, most direct route to scoring.
If a message was delivered in the first intermission, the Flyers heard it loud and clear. Philadelphia looked quite different, generating more chances and pushing the pace far more than they did in the first. Rasmus Ristolainen had a shot hit the crossbar and Tippett had another shot earlier. All of that could’ve been squelched when Denver Barkey made an errant pass at the end of the Flyers’ second power play, resulting in a Kings breakaway for Cody Ceci. Vladar made the key stop at a crucial time.
Tightly checked third
Both Los Angeles and Philadelphia shut the door in the neutral zone in the last half of the third, rarely giving up any quality chances on either side. It’s as if they would’ve easily both agreed to let the clock run out without a whistle, both teams earning the regulation point, and see what happened in overtime. The best opportunity was with six minutes to go. Konecny found Cam York streaking in but Kuemper closed the door on him.
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The NHL coaching fraternity is a tight knit group that operates on shorter than ever life spans. The average bench boss in the league lasts just 2.38 years with an organization. That ticking clock is always looming in the background, the ticks louder the worse the team performs.
Of the 32 head coaches, 19 have been an NHL head coach before their present role. Amongst those is Rick Tocchet of the Philadelphia Flyers. Tocchet entered this season as the coach with the 7th most games of experience behind the bench. That means there was a reasonable understanding of what Tocchet’s style of hockey looks like and how it translates.
Through 54 games in Philadelphia, Tocchet’s Flyers are 24-20-10, good enough to still be in the mix but nine points back of the last playoff spot. In year one of a new head coach against the backdrop of a building franchise, the overall results are passable. That said, since the start of the new year, the Flyers are 4-8-3 and have been outscored 62-43.
After mirages under John Tortorella, there was a reasonable level of excitement for Tocchet.
Yet, what exactly does a good Tocchet team look like? For a coach who’s managed to spend ten years behind benches as a head man, Tocchet has made the normal playoffs a single time. Yes, in fairness his Coyotes did pull off an upset in the bubble playoffs but in the normal format, neither them or the Nashville Predators would’ve qualified.
With such an established track record, Tocchet is one of the more known quantities in the NHL. After all, he’s got the sixth most games coached of any active bench boss.
Surface Level
The NHL season is an 82 game marathon. Trades, injuries, wavers, call-ups, firings, hirings, hot streaks, cold streaks. There are shooting benders and hot goalies that last full seasons. Confidence and morale are sticky variables in the world of professional sports. Nobody believes in us and healthy skepticism is quite the motivator.
For Tocchet, the average NHL season is 31-28-10. As someone who’s taken over in-season as an interim coach two separate times, his averages don’t fill the 82 game mark. The season points average for Tocchet’s teams checks in at 75.3 and that includes prorating the 2019-2020 and 2021 shortened seasons to 82 game outputs.
For context, Tocchet has coached the 56th most games in the history of the NHL. Of coaches with at least 690, the number of games Tocchet has coached, only six have worse points percentages: Red Kelly, Milt Schmidt, Michel Bergeron, Rick Bowness, Sid Abel and Jaques Demers. Of those six, Kelly and Schmidt were inducted to the Hall of Fame as players and Demers won a Stanley Cup.
The point being, Tocchet’s career as a coach up until this point is an outlier. In the contemporary NHL, to last this long as a coach without yielding sustained, long-term success is basically unheard of. Sure, Bowness is still kicking after the Blue Jackets hired him earlier this season, but he at least has a Stanley Cup Final appearance to his name.
The Hand You’re Dealt
Naturally, the recourse in Tocchet’s defense would be the teams he’s inherited. An interim basis in Tampa Bay that carried over into a second year, the perpetually doomed Arizona Coyotes, ditto the Vancouver Canucks and now the Flyers. The former Flyer captain hasn’t exactly been handed the keys to the Wayne Gretzky Oilers in his stints as a head coach.
However, there are some undercurrents of Tocchet’s style that hold up regardless of what team he’s coached. More than the wins and losses, those patterns can tell a more detailed story. The best coaches are supposed to extract more from less than their contemporaries. For someone that’s been in the game as long as Tocchet has, one would expect him to have carved out a niche.
Understanding Tocchet’s preferred style of hockey comes down to risk tolerance. Hockey stakeholders are risk averse. With so much parity in the league today where most teams have little separation, the prospect of playing low-event and close games most nights is extremely enticing.
Over the course of Tocchet’s career, his teams have unequivocally prioritized defense over offense. That manifests in a few different ways. First of all, it means Tocchet coached teams are going to prefer the cycle over rush when it comes to their offense. It also means more often than not, a Tocchet team is going to spend a majority of the game in its own zone and try to keep opponents to lower quality shots.
Over the course of ten years, no Tocchet team has ever created expected goals at a league average rate. The trade off there is that they’ve never conceded a higher than league average rate of expected goals against. With roughly 80 percent of games taking place at even strength, these are large periods of times where his teams need to outperform their metrics.
It’s Tocchet’s design to keep every game close and the numbers bear that out. Over the average of all ten of his seasons as a coach, Tocchet’s teams generate 2.325 expected goals per 60 and concede 2.358 expected goals against. That differential is practically non-existent and speaks to the challenges his teams face offensively.
Tocchet’s teams play a challenging, difficult style of hockey. When a team consistently has the lesser share of offense over an extended period of time, they become reliant on their star players to override the environment.
It’s easier for a skilled player to overcome challenging circumstances. They need fewer scoring chances, they can be more efficient and score on lower quality chances. That’s what separates the game’s best from everyone else, they can do what the average player can’t.
It’s not a coincidence the single best season of Tocchet’s coaching career was the 2023-2024 Canucks. That team had the single highest even strength shooting percentage (10.6%) and second highest even strength save percentage (922.2) of any season in his career. That was the perfect storm of high end players like Elias Pettersson, J.T. Miller and Quinn Hughes in conjunction with Thatcher Demko in net were able to bring Tocchet’s vision to life.
The Caretaker Coach
It’s unfair to pin the entirety of the Flyers’ malaise on Tocchet 52 games into his tenure. The roster is far from a finished product and a good portion of the lineup would fall into the developing category. But it would be awfully refreshing if Tocchet could occasionally throw the anxious public a bone. Tocchet statements about Matvei Mitchkov outnumber the forward’s notable performances this season.
There hasn’t been much of a change in the Flyers’ year over year results. If anything, the one real marked difference is the team getting better goaltending. Last year, Samuel Ersson a managed an .833 save percentage to Daniel Vladar’s .904 this season.
Yet, on the same date last year, the Flyers had only one fewer win. With such an improvement in net from the team’s starting goalie, plus a year of seasoning for holdovers from last year in conjunction with Tocchet’s arrival, it was plausible to feel optimistic about the direction of the franchise.
Instead, with 30 games to go, the Flyers likely need something in the ball park of 19 wins to make the postseason. That would put Philadelphia right at the 95 point threshold which has historically been the cutoff point. The Flyers would need to manage a .633 points percentage the rest of the way, this season they’re at .548.
For Tocchet’s preferred style to work, he needs more high end talent and he needs to unleash it. With the playoffs unlikely this year, barring a heater, Tocchet needs to focus on setting next year’s team up for success.
Retread coaches find success across the league all of the time. The last two teams to win the Stanley Cup were helmed by Paul Maurice and Bruce Cassidy. In the 2010s, Mike Sullivan, Daryl Sutter, Joel Quenneville, Craig Berube and Barry Trotz all won Stanley Cups on a mulligan as coach.
The die isn’t yet cast on Tocchet, but at 61 years old and ten seasons of evidence to boot, fan skepticism is valid.
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It was a solid week for winger Travis Konecny. And despite the losses Philadelphia had in games where he scored in Columbus and Buffalo, Konecny’s goal-scoring touch was recognized Monday when the National Hockey League named him the third star of the week.
Lead the way, TK.
Travis Konecny has been named the @NHL's Third Star of the Week! #LetsGoFlyers
— Philadelphia Flyers (@NHLFlyers) February 2, 2026
Konecny had five goals and two assists in the four games Philadelphia played this past week. He scored a hat trick against Columbus, almost single-handedly putting the struggling team on his back before the Blue Jackets broke a 3-3 tie late in regulation. It marked the third career hat trick for the Flyers’ leading point-getter with 52 points. Konecny also scored four consecutive goals for the team when he potted the Flyers’ first goal in their game last Thursday night against the Bruins. The forward found himself in on all but one of the eight goals Philadelphia scored last week. The first star of the week went to Seattle’s Jared McCann while the second star went to Tampa’s Andrei Vasilevskiy, the latter who had his week highlighted by fighting Boston goaltender Jeremy Swayman Sunday at the NHL Stadium Series matchup.
It was an interesting week of highs and lows for Konecny. While the points came fast and furious, the losses piling up seemed to weigh on him. Following the 6-3 loss to Boston, which put the Flyers in a deeper hole concerning possible playoff contention, Konecny said he was “tired of missing the playoffs.” Should the Flyers miss again this season, it will be the sixth consecutive season Philadelphia is on the outside looking in. Their last playoff run was during the pandemic-shortened season, with games not played in Philadelphia. You have to go back to 2017-18 when the Flyers last played playoff hockey in front of their hometown fans. In his career Konecny has 22 playoff games, 16 of which came in 2019-20. He has one goal and seven assists in those games.
Konecny hopes to see the team earn a few victories before the Olympic break begins. The winger won’t be part of Team Canada’s roster at the Winter Olympics unless a rash of injuries emerge this week. He was thought to be in the running for a spot and attended Team Canada’s orientation camp prior to the National Hockey League season starting. Konecny played as part of Team Canada during the 2025 4 Nations Face-Off. He didn’t register a point in the two games he played.
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In their first meeting of the season, the Flyers survived a third period push by Alex Ovechkin’s Washington Capitals. A late goal on the power play by Jamie Drysdale was the difference in the Flyers’ 4-2 win.
The basics
First Period: 5:56 – Owen Tippett (Travis Sanheim, Matvei Michkov)
Second Period: 4:45 – Carl Grundstrom (Nic Deslauriers, Rasmus Ristolainen), 8:12 – Aliaksei Protas (SHG) (Anthony Beauvillier)
Third Period: 2:40 – Anthony Beauvillier (Justin Sourdif, Trevor van Riemsdyk), 14:37 – Jamie Drysdale (PPG) (Trevor Zegras, Travis Konecny), 19:43 – Rasmus Ristolainen (ENG) (Travis Konecny)
SOG: PHI (22) – WAS (28)
Some takeaways
Vladar weathers the early storm
The Flyers have surrendered the game’s first goal 36 times this season — the second-highest number in the NHL this season — and were seemingly on their way to another 1-0 deficit when Nic Deslauriers entered the penalty box less than three minutes after puck drop. Weathering a few chances from the leading goal scorer in NHL history, Alexander Ovechkin, goaltender Dan Vladar gave his team an opportunity to take an early lead for a change.
With the Capitals on the second half of a back-to-back, Vladar’s efforts in goal were critical to keep the Flyers from falling behind while the visitors had the most of their legs. Philadelphia held a slight advantage in Expected Goals (via MoneyPuck) in the first period, but something about Ovechkin being the shooter sprinkles an added element of fear to each shot. It wasn’t all Vladar — the Flyers blocked 13 shots in the first period alone, the most in any period this season.
Matvei Michkov responds to the noise
Owen Tippett broke the scoreless tie on a nice sequence started low in the offensive zone by Matvei Michkov, who dished over to Travis Sanheim on the weak side after carrying the puck the length of the boards behind the net. Sanheim found a cutting Tippett with an outstanding feed through traffic for his 19th tally of the season, and head coach Rick Tocchet had the following to say when asked by Ashlyn Sullivan about the goal coming out of commercial break: “Great patience by (Michkov) to find the weak side, we had talked about finding that side, so a great play by (Michkov).”
Michkov, the subject of a surprise pregame press meeting from GM Daniel Briere amidst comments made over the weekend about ice time by Tocchet, was in the starting five for the opening shift. His 10:59 of time on ice in the first two periods was more than he received over the course of Saturday’s overtime loss to the Los Angeles Kings (10:21). This comes immediately in the wake of Tocchet doubling, or tripling, down on being unsatisfied with Michkov’s conditioning with a new tidbit about being late for treatments, making his usage a significant focus of the fanbase. Michkov finished with nearly 16 minutes in this one — a return to normalcy.
In fact, his line — Bobby Brink, Noah Cates, and Matvei Michkov — was the most utilized line at 5-on-5 tonight, and managed 73.1% of the expected goals. The three of them were buzzing all night.
Grundstrom making an impact in his return
Having taken a seat since the Flyers loss in Columbus, Carl Grundstrom got a lucky deflection off Capitals defenseman Jakob Chychrun for his eighth goal of the season. This was also how Deslauriers received his first point of the season. With Sean Couturier as the regular center here, the Flyers’ fourth line has largely controlled play and was finally rewarded with a nice bounce, even if the captain himself has yet to be the beneficiary of any shooting luck for the last 28 games.
Grundstrom was one of the team leaders in the Expected Goals department in his first match of February. After his four-game goal streak during the holidays, the Swedish winger didn’t score again in the month of January. This was his first goal since December 30, the end of that four game goal streak. He’s ninth on the team in goals, behind Tyson Foerster, despite playing limited minutes in just 26 games. Great scorers score in bunches, so it’s a shame there’s just one more game until the Olympic break cools him off again.
Capitals down to their third goalie in a back-to-back
Clay Stevenson was called into action for Washington after Logan Thompson and Charlie Lindgren suffered injuries in prior games. This is his second game in two nights, and just his fourth overall in the NHL. Having made 96 starts for the Hershey Bears the past few seasons, there’s some familiarity with the former Lehigh Valley Phantoms in the Flyer lineup tonight.
The former Dartmouth University goaltender didn’t make a ton of saves, but certainly was faced with plenty of chances from the low slot and was the victim of an unfortunate bounce off of his own teammate. With the Capitals undoubtedly fatigued, Stevenson allowed his team to hang around long enough to tie the game in the third period. With an Expected Goals against of 2.75, Washington won’t have any complaints with their netminder.
Travis Konecny’s 700th game as a Flyer
Travis Konecny is the Flyers’ best player, period, and it feels like just yesterday he was making his debut as a 19-year-old in the orange and black. In his tenth season, he’s been in great form, especially recently — despite the club’s struggles. Tonight, he came back to Earth, and was given a couple of shots against the boards throughout the game. He wasn’t bad, but the reigning NHL third-star-of-the-week had just been on another level until tonight, and still managed to extend his multi-point game streak to four with a couple of late assists.
With just under six minutes remaining, Konecny drew the penalty that led to the late power play goal by Jamie Drysdale — a big shot from the point through traffic on the power play, a rarity for the Flyers. Konecny’s secondary assist on the play was his missed shot attempt, which was then retrieved by Zegras, but it was a worthy reward nonetheless. Konecny would also receive an assist on the empty net goal by Rasmus Ristolainen to ice the game.
Jamie in the clutch#WSHvsPHI | #LetsGoFlyers pic.twitter.com/9jRLTCUcax
— Philadelphia Flyers (@NHLFlyers) February 4, 2026Vladar and the Flyers close the door
With the Capitals hammering away down a goal with minutes remaining, the Flyers relied on their outstanding goaltender to finish the job. Vladar finished with 26 saves and 0.46 goals saved above expected on his way to his 17th win of the season. As a team, the Flyers blocked 25 shot attempts, led by the efforts of Cam York, Jamie Drysdale, and Travis Sanheim, each with four blocks. Sean Couturier had perhaps the most important block of the night on a broken play when the puck found Ovechkin in the low slot with a scrambling Vladar late in the third.
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