On Friday Bruce Springsteen released a long-awaited, highly-anticipated box set entitled Nebraska ’82: Expanded Edition, a four-disc (five if you count the Blu-ray component) collection of Springsteen’s seminal album Nebraska. The same day Springsteen’s story regarding the album and that time in his life was released on the big screen entitled Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere, based on the 2023 Warren Zanes book Deliver Me From Nowhere: The Making of Bruce Springsteen’s Nebraska.
One has been craved for decades, the other has been created over a period of a year and change and is a fine companion piece. But both releases revolve around the same time period in Bruce Springsteen’s illustrious career. After issuing the critically acclaimed double-album The River in 1980 and the marathon-length concerts comprising the tour in support of it, Springsteen found himself at a crossroads. Despite selling out arenas and venues behind his biggest-selling album of his career, he felt detached from his fans and audience.
Retreating to a home he bought in Colts Neck, New Jersey, Springsteen was inspired by classic films like The Grapes of Wrath and Badlands, as well as the works of Flannery O’Connor. There he recorded most of the material over a two-week period in late 1981, with just himself and a four-track recorder, state-of-the-art at the time but an extremely rudimentary way of recording songs. In late May 1982, one other song, “My Father’s House,” was recorded as part of that batch of material. After attempting to bring the songs to the E Street Band for a fleshed out group album, the plan dissolved, leaving Springsteen with these bare bones songs. Leaving the songs essentially the way he recorded them in his bedroom, Columbia released the material as Nebraska, a far different, darker, and barren effort than he had ever put out.
Nebraska ’82: Expanded Edition
Now, 43 years after the original album release, Springsteen has returned with this expanded edition: a disc of outtakes, the Electric Nebraska version diehards speculated about for decades (and Springsteen forgot he had), the remastered version of the original album, and a special Live Nebraska disc featuring Springsteen performing the tracks in order in an empty venue with sparse accompaniment. And from start to finish, it’s a keeper! The first disc is the outtakes, some of which would later appear on 1984’s Born In The USA landmark such as the title track, “Downbound Train” and “Working on the Highway.” But each of those tracks is vastly different than how they sound on Born In The USA. Rockabilly was what Springsteen was after in these tracks and nails it every time, with “Downbound Train” galloping along seamlessly. The quality of the material is top-notch with both “Losin’ Kind” and “Child Bride” more in line with the outsider theme found throughout Nebraska. But the highlight might be the closing and ominous “Gun in Every Home” which is both as timeless and timely now as it’s ever been. “From a world gone crazy now, from a world that’s gone all wrong / But I don’t know what to do, no, I don’t know what to do,” Springsteen sings.
Disc Two, Electric Nebraska, is probably the crown jewel of the set, with eight tracks Springsteen did with parts or most of his E Street Band. It’s not like each song on the original was given an electric version. Instead Springsteen went with the eight songs he thought worked best in this format. From the slow building of the opening title track which has almost a hymnal, spiritual quality, to the rabid rockabilly romp that is “Downbound Train,” the artist deftly reworks some of the material. These previously unheard versions don’t quite improve on the original but showcases them in a vastly different light. “Born In The USA” here sounds like a Bryan Adams tune with more of a groove and guitar work, not the anthem it became a short time later. And “Johnny 99” has an old-school rock feel resembling songs that might have come out of Sun Studios in the 1950s. Of the tracks here, “Atlantic City” is probably the star of a ridiculously rich octet of tunes, a riveting, fleshed out nugget that is on par with the original. A tall order indeed.
Without going into detail about the remastered Nebraska disc, which is essentially the original with minute differences diehards may pick up on, the third disc is also a weighty live recording. Springsteen, now 75 years young, revisits the album again. Performing alone in an empty New Jersey venue earlier this year, with sparse accompaniment from musicians Larry Campbell and Charlie Giordano, Springsteen sings the songs with a weight and poignancy that only comes with time, age, and wisdom. The gruff in his voice can be heard in “Nebraska” and “Mansion on the Hill” as well as “Highway Patrolman,” which has some similarities to the outtake “Child Bride.” His voice, an acoustic guitar and harmonica are more than enough to carry these 10 songs
As we all know, Springsteen’s subsequent album to Nebraska was a game-changer, even for someone who was as popular and famous as he was the last half of the ’70s. Yet he probably couldn’t have ascended to that level of stardom without this barren but brilliant collection that is Nebraska. This expanded edition is the best of both worlds, paying tribute to the original while also adding material that would’ve stood on its own equally well. A box set that has no padding is a rarity. It shouldn’t be surprising. After all, this slow year for Springsteen has seen seven albums of previously unreleased material in Tracks II: The Lost Albums and now this four-disc Nebraska collection only proving just how prolific he was in creating material that was often near-perfect.
Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere
While creatively Springsteen found himself at a crossroads, he also seemed to be at a fork in the road both professionally and personally. Director Scott Cooper, using the engaging 2023 Warren Zanes book Deliver Me From Nowhere: The Making of Bruce Springsteen’s Nebraska as a blueprint, has crafted a thoughtful, poignant glimpse into the artist with this film that is as dark and brooding as the album turned out to be.
The main storyline, of course, deals with Springsteen trying to craft songs for what was supposed to be the next Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band studio album. However, with ghosts from his pasts, particularly an abusive father, never far from his thoughts, Springsteen began writing material that was culled partially from childhood experiences (“My Father’s House,” “Used Cars,” and “Mansion on the Hill”) alongside accounts of killing sprees (“Starkweather” which was later renamed “Nebraska.”) and people down on their luck.
Writing that material alone at a rather secluded home in Colts Neck, New Jersey, and using a four-track cassette recorder (ahead of its time despite the now archaic technology it possessed), Springsteen dove deep into the songs, feeling he captured something special. Transferring those songs into a band sound had some surefire hits (“Glory Days,” “Born In The USA,” “Darlington County”). Those renditions were the antithesis of what Springsteen heard on the sparse, static-riddled, distortion-soaked tape he recorded the so-called demos on. As a result, and as history shows, those surefire hits had to wait a few years before appearing on 1984’s Born In The USA.
The four track recorder used to tape the Nebraska album is part of the ‘Springsteen: His Hometown’ exhibit at the Monmouth County Historical Association.
Cooper has weaved these main storylines (including an almost obligatory romantic angle) remarkably well thanks in no small part to Jeremy Allen White. White, 34, and best known for his role in The Bear, embodies “The Boss” without going over-the-top. He captures Springsteen from his highs performing at a sold-out arena prior to starting work on Nebraska to the lows, including an almost suicidal frantic drive down a back road while the unnerving, depraved Suicide song “Frankie Teardrop” is heard in the background. The actor also does all his own singing in the film, portraying both the man and the artist ridiculously well.
White is front and center throughout most of the roughly two-hour film, but youngster Matthew Anthony Pellicano is fantastic as a young, impressionable and terrorized Bruce Springsteen in Freehold, New Jersey in the late ’50s. The childhood scenes, filmed in black and white, are sometimes hard to watch but required to tell the full story. Meanwhile Jeremy Strong (Succession) plays Jon Landau, Springsteen’s longtime manager and friend who has to deftly weave his way through Columbia Records wanting a commercially successful album and massive tour and Springsteen, who wants the warts-and-all cassette mastered as the album. No touring. No press. No radio singles. No photo of him on the album cover.
The film’s homestretch deals more with the immediate personal effect the album had on Springsteen, who relocates to California to get away from what he’s known all his life in New Jersey. But a series of mental health issues and near breakdowns have many, particularly Landau, fearing the worst possible outcome. In the end, Springsteen sought the professional help he needed, dealt with his past and his childhood, and the rest, as they say, is history.
Overall, Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere isn’t a happy-go-lucky look at a legendary rock star. Instead it’s a vivid and often dark vignette of a man who, at the time, did what he had to do creatively and artistically in order to make sense of his surroundings and his past. And a revealing film that either a casual fan or diehard admirer would be wise to take in.
Source
The Pittsburgh Penguins are coming to town. Gross! Our Philadelphia Flyers will be hosting the other Pennsylvanian NHL team as they try to make their homestand full of wins and embarrass those Pens.
Puck drop: 6:00 p.m.
How to watch/listen:
: ESPN
: 97.5 The Fanatic
Pregame reading
- Emil Andrae is back! He most likely won’t be playing tonight but he’s officially on the roster and the reason why is basically head coach Rick Tocchet likes to have a certain number of defensemen — even if they’re in the middle of a homestand. [BSH]
- Jett Luchanko was sent back to the OHL yesterday and there’s some fallout. First, the Flyers basically mishandled or at least could have handled the start to his season better. [BSH]
- Second, how does Luchanko exiting Philadelphia affect the Flyers’ lineup? What does it mean for the fourth line that he was a part of? [BSH]
- Trick or Treat!? Looking at which players have been TRICKS and which have been TREATS to start the season. [BSH]
Pregame watching
Projected lineups
Philadelphia Flyers
Owen Tippett — Sean Couturier — Travis Konecny
Tyson Foerster — Noah Cates — Bobby Brink
Trevor Zegras — Christian Dvorak — Matvei Michkov
Nic Deslauriers — Rodrigo Abols — Garnet Hathaway
Cam York — Travis Sanheim
Nick Seeler — Jamie Drysdale
Egor Zamula — Noah Juulsen
Sam Ersson
(Dan Vladar)
Pittsburgh Penguins
Filip Hallander — Sidney Crosby — Bryan Rust
Anthony Mantha — Evgeni Malkin — Justin Brazeau
Tommy Nocak — Ben Kindel — Ville Koivunen
Connor Dewar — Blake Lizoette — Noel Acciari
Parker Wotherspoon — Erik Karlsson
Ryan Shea — Kris Letang
Owen Pickering — Matt Dumba
Arturs Silovs
(Tristan Jarry)
Storylines to watch
Grebenkin sits, Deslauriers in
Nic Deslauriers is getting in the lineup and we have to assume it’s because Rick Tocchet is predicting that some gloves will be dropped and punches thrown. Even if Nikita Grebenkin can do that too — he will be coming out of the lineup — Deslauriers is one of the best in the world at it. So, we guess that’s why.
Sam Ersson back-to-back
Now it’s Ersson’s turn to potentially earn a continued run in the crease. After Dan Vladar seemed to have snatched the starting job early this season, Tocchet is giving Ersson a consecutive start for the first time this season and we’ll have to see what happens.
Penguins’ massive line
There is something that is going to make Tocchet drool over there on the visitors’ bench. The Penguins’ second line consists of Anthony Mantha (6-foot-5), Evgeni Malkin (6-foot-3), and Justin Brazeau (6-foot-6). That’s a trio of big boys and for some reason, it’s working. Brazeau, a player that was a depth player on the Boston Bruins last season and just three years ago was in the ECHL, has five goals and 11 points in 10 games. He’s on a heater and it’s going to be disheartening to see him continue that in Philadelphia.
Source
The Philadelphia Flyers are officially 10 games into the 2025-26 campaign. For those who enjoy numbers, that means about 12.2% of the regular season is already in the rearview.
With 10 games in the books, the Flyers have provided enough of a sample size for one to reasonably gauge what they are (and could become) as a hockey team.
So far, there’s good news and bad news. The bad news is the Flyers still have a ways to go before becoming a legitimate Stanley Cup contender. The good news? They’re a young, fun team with several players more than exceeding expectations.
Trevor Zegras looks like a star again
When the Flyers acquired Trevor Zegras for Ryan Poehling and a pair of draft picks over the summer, their hope was that they’d be getting the player who took the hockey world by storm during his earlier days with the Anaheim Ducks.
It sure appears their wish is coming true.
Zegras may not be pulling off lacrosse-style goals on a regular basis like he was in Anaheim, but there’s no question that his dynamic offensive skill is still very much intact. In his first 10 games as a Flyer, Zegras leads the team with 12 points, including four goals and eight assists. He’s logged three points in two of his last three outings and appears to be playing with a confidence the Flyers have desperately needed for some time.
A lot can change over the Flyers’ next 72 games, but right now, Zegras looks like a bona fide stud.
Matvei Michkov is looking like himself again
Following an outstanding rookie campaign, Matvei Michkov entered the season facing some lofty expectations. So far, he hasn’t lived up to them.
The Flyers’ 20-year-old franchise cornerstone has logged just one goal and five points through 10 games, and it’s not just the numbers that have left fans disappointed. Michkov has also been benched multiple times, largely due to poor conditioning brought on by an offseason ankle injury that hindered his summer training regimen.
Luckily, it seems the tides are starting to turn. After looking like a shell of himself in the first couple weeks of the season, Michkov is now beginning to look like the player who instilled hope into the Flyers’ heavily traumatized fan base as a rookie. He’s logged three points in as many games since October 25 and is coming off his first multi-point outing of the season — a two-assist performance against the Nashville Predators.
Michkov still has some work to do, but his play has improved significantly after an alarmingly slow start.
Owen Tippett is bouncing back
Tippett’s 2024-25 season was nothing short of a complete disappointment. Though he did manage to score 20 goals (zero of which came on the power play), he was often invisible on the ice and rarely flashed the dazzling natural talent he regularly showed off in his first two seasons as a Flyer.
Well, he must be eating his Vegemite this season, because he looks like a completely different player. In a good way!
Tippett leads the Flyers with five goals on the season thus far, and he seems to make at least one or two standout plays on a nightly basis. He’s also playing with a newfound snarl, leaning into the physical side of the game and utilizing his big body to dish out highlight-reel hits.
He’s logged just one point over his last four games, but that’s been due more to happenstance than poor play. Tippett’s consistency will never be perfect, but it’s encouraging to see him playing at such a high level to start the year.
Dan Vladar might be legitimately good
The Flyers had a laundry list of issues last season, and poor goaltending was the most glaring of the bunch. So to rectify the team’s problems in net, Flyers general manager Daniel Briere decided to turn to… Dan Vladar?
That’s right. And so far, Vladar has been an absolute game-changer.
Fans were underwhelmed with the offseason addition of Vladar, and rightfully so — his 2.80 goals against average and .898 save percentage in 30 games with the Calgary Flames last season didn’t exactly inspire much confidence. Add in the fact that he became expendable after falling out of favor to a rookie goalie and it’s easy to see why fans were left scratching their heads.
“This is the guy who will change the Flyers’ fortunes in net?”
Apparently so. Vladar has started in six of the Flyers’ 10 games, and he’s been spectacular, logging a 1.67 goals against average along with a .939 save percentage. He’s been the most pleasant surprise of the season, and it’s not particularly disputable.
Is this level of play sustainable over a full season? Probably not. But right now, it’s a blast to watch.
Sam Ersson still can’t stay on the ice
Speaking of goaltending, the Sam Ersson story has taken yet another unfortunate turn.
Ersson, now in his third season as a full-time NHLer, got off to a rocky start after giving up four goals in both of his first two outings of the season. Lately, though, he’s been better. He guided the Flyers to a pair of shootout wins and put together his best performance of the season Tuesday night against the Pittsburgh Penguins, turning aside 24 of the Penguins’ 26 shots and improving his career shootout record to 10-3.
However, it’s unknown when Ersson will even be suiting up again.
The Flyers placed Ersson on injured reserve Thursday. He will be out “at least one week” due to a lower-body injury, Briere revealed in the Flyers’ official press release.
It should be noted that Ersson has been plagued by groin injuries throughout his career. It’s unclear if his latest injury is groin-related, but if it is, it’s an unlucky turn for the 26-year-old who will become a restricted free agent at the end of the season.
The FCB line remains spectacular
The trio of Tyson Foerster, Noah Cates, and Bobby Brink has become a force to be reckoned with, and that line is showing no signs of slowing down.
Through 10 games, the “FCB” line has been the Flyers’ most consistently effective group of forwards at 5-on-5. Despite starting the majority of its 5-on-5 shifts outside of the offensive zone, the FCB line still boasts an impressive 75.00 Goals For percentage along with a stellar 52.05 Expected Goals For percentage. And with help from Zegras and Cam York, the line has even become a legitimate weapon on the power play.
Foerster, Cates, and Brink are all on pace to set new career highs in just about every major statistical category. And the best part? Cates is the oldest player on the line at just 26 years old.
The power play is still a work in progress (but it’s getting better)
The Flyers’ power play has famously been among the worst in the entire NHL for several years running. The last time the Flyers ranked higher than 30th in the league in power-play percentage? The 2020-21 season, when they ranked 18th with a power-play success rate of 19.2%.
There truly is nowhere to go but up for the Flyers’ power play, and so far, it actually hasn’t been that terrible to start the season!
Incredibly, the Flyers have converted on six of their 30 power-play opportunities through their first 10 games. That’s a 20% success rate! Notably, though, it’s the aforementioned FCB line unit (which features Zegras and York) that has done most of the heavy lifting in terms of converting on the man advantage. The only player to score a power-play goal not on that unit is Owen Tippett, who scored the Flyers’ first power-play goal of the season.
If the Flyers can find a way to get their “top” unit going, they could really have something here. But for now, it’s the FCB unit that’s carrying the load.
Jamie Drysdale is making strides
Acquired in the Cutter Gauthier trade in 2024, Jamie Drysdale’s tenure with the Flyers has been a roller coaster, to say the least.
The 2024-25 season was Drysdale’s first full campaign with the Flyers, and it wasn’t exactly sunshine and rainbows. He registered just 20 points in 70 games, which was hugely disappointing for a player once lauded for his offensive potential. Pair that with his lackluster play away from the puck, and it’s easy to understand fans’ frustration with his game.
Jamie Drysdale said see ya#LetsGoFlyers pic.twitter.com/AlfT9ZYY84
— Flyers Clips (@Flyers_Clips) October 28, 2025
When Gauthier played his first game against the Flyers in Philadelphia last January, though, there was no questioning the fans’ support for Drysdale. He was the rockstar of the night, and since then, his game has steadily improved.
That upward trend has carried over into the start of the 2025-26 season. Drysdale has logged one goal and four points through 10 games, and his 5-on-5 play-driving numbers aren’t too bad either (54.71 Corsi For percentage, 57.91 Expected Goals For percentage). Drysdale looks visibly more comfortable and confident, both with and without the puck. Granted, he’s still far from a “complete” NHL defenseman, but it’s hard not to be thrilled with the version of Drysdale that’s emerged in the season’s early going.
Cam York is thriving
Maybe Cam York just needed a new coach after all?
York’s 2024-25 season was both eventful and uneventful in all of the wrong ways. On the ice, he was quiet, logging just 17 points in 66 games. Off the ice, his very public spat with former Flyers head coach John Tortorella directly led to a swift change of the guard behind the bench.
Now, after missing the first three games of the season with a lower-body injury, York is playing some of the best hockey of his career. He’s logged five points — all assists — in seven games and has taken on huge minutes while playing a well-rounded, 200-foot game alongside Travis Sanheim on the top defensive pair.
York is still very young at just 24 years old, and with a new voice behind the bench, he’s finally playing with confidence. It’s a welcome development for a team that’s still quite thin on the blue line.
And speaking of the new voice behind the bench…
Rick Tocchet has the Flyers looking fun again
It’s only 10 games. The Flyers have been far from perfect, and there is plenty of room for improvement across the board. But it’s hard not to be mostly content with Rick Tocchet’s work since taking over as bench boss over the summer.
The Tocchet hiring was understandably met with some criticism. While he did win the Jack Adams Award for his work with the Vancouver Canucks during the 2023-24 season, his head coaching track record is mostly uninspiring — he’s only taken a team to the playoffs once in a non-COVID-shortened campaign, and he was unable to manage the drama that divided the Canucks locker room throughout the 2024-25 season. And, of course, there’s the fact that he is a former Flyer.
Was he truly the best candidate to be the Flyers’ head coach? Or was he just hired because he’s a familiar face?
It turns out that maybe both could be true.
Under Tocchet, several of the Flyers’ young players are showing encouraging signs of development. Zegras’ resurgence is the headliner, but the solid play of Foerster, Cates, Brink, York, and Drysdale can’t be overlooked. Granted, Michkov is still finding his footing under Tocchet, but there are clear signs of improvement for the Russian phenom.
The Flyers are riding a three-game winning streak and boast a solid 6-3-1 record. Despite being one of the younger teams in the NHL, Tocchet has the Flyers playing competitive hockey. They’ve performed admirably against some of the league’s top teams, including the Carolina Hurricanes and, of course, the Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers.
Tocchet’s management of Michkov and sometimes questionable lineup decisions will leave fans confused every once in a while, but overall, this is a rather successful start to Tocchet’s tenure in Philly.
All statistics courtesy of Natural Stat Trick and NHL.com.
Source
The Flyers and Leafs played hockey Saturday night. Or attempted to. But an extremely slow, choppy, and at times chippy contest resulted in a 5-2 win for Toronto, and the first subpar effort of the season from Philadelphia goaltender Dan Vladar.
The basics
First period: 1:09 – Christian Dvorak (Nikita Grebenkin, Travis Konecny), 6:16 – Auston Matthews (Morgan Rielly, Nick Robertson)
Second period: 8:14 – Jake McCabe (Chris Tanev, Matias Maccelli), 17:34 – Nick Robertson (Matthew Knies, John Tavares)
Third period: 0:33 – Easton Cowan (John Tavares), 16:08 – Tyson Foerster (Trevor Zegras, Matvei Michkov) (PPG), 19:41 – Calle Jarnkrok (Dakota Joshua) (ENG)
SOG: 33 (PHI) – 27 (TOR)
Some takeaways
Vladar not very good
Dan Vladar got the nod on Saturday night, and had a rather quiet start, not making his first save until five minutes into the first on a Max Domi shot. Vladar, who most likely will not be playing Sunday night against the visiting Flames, didn’t have much of a chance against Matthews. The rest of the period Vladar had to be alert as the Flyers spent more time in their own zone then they’d like to. But a lot of the shot attempts were blocked with good sticks or body positioning from the skaters. Vladar wasn’t busy but he had to be prepared much of the first.
As for the second, Vladar couldn’t be blamed much for the second goal as Jake McCabe’s shot from near the blueline had him badly screened. Minutes later Travis Sanheim did Vladar a huge solid, keeping Matthew Knies from getting his stick on the puck for an easy tap-in which would’ve made it 3-1. But at the end of two, the Leafs had a trio of goals.
In the third, with the Flyers needing to get off to a great start, Leafs forward Easton Cowan beat Vladar clean 33 seconds into the frame for his first NHL goal. And that was essentially all she wrote. Vladar was perhaps due for a clunker at some point. This was one of those.
First unit/second unit
Tocchet was coy about admitting who might be the Flyers first power play unit and who might be the second. But on the Flyers’ first power play of the night in the second period (a too many men minor to Toronto), the quintet of Brink, Foerster, Cates, Zegras, and Drysdale were humming. They should’ve scored, but a shot went off the post and straight across the goal line before Toronto’s Anthony Stolarz found it. Lot of prime chances and going to the dirty areas. Good stuff.
The other (second?) unit, well, they didn’t develop much on the first power play and had some hassles simply getting into the zone. However, Konecny had a shot late but his quick one-timer was stopped. This unit began the second power play as the Cates line drew the penalty. Here Tippett had a great one-timer that didn’t go, but the overall execution looked much better.
As for the third power play, the Flyers desperately needed a goal here. But it was perhaps the weakest of the three opportunities. Nothing went right. Shortly afterwards the Flyers thought they had scored but the officials initially ruled it to be hit with a high stick. Rodrigo Abols was the guy who hit the puck and got his own rebound. Officials went to video review and didn’t change their initial decision. In short, the fourth power play mirrored the other three: no dice. Finally, on the fifth of the evening, Philadelphia got one when Tyson Foerster ripped a one-timer to the stick side of Stolarz to put the Flyers two shots away from tying the game.
Tys tallies his fourth and Z extends his home point streak to eight games.#TORvsPHI | #LetsGoFlyers pic.twitter.com/mdsYbfi3zY
— Philadelphia Flyers (@NHLFlyers) November 2, 2025
Overall Philadelphia finished one for six on the power play, on a night where they needed a few more to get at least a point out of the contest.
Some line juggling
The absence of Sean Couturier (at least for this game) meant the lines were a bit jumbled. The line of Noah Cates, Tyson Foerster and Bobby Brink started and was kept whole. However, head coach Rick Tocchet threw the blender in with a few others, notably Christian Dvorak centering Nikita Grebenkin and Travis Konecny. That line was money early on. Grebenkin, who received a pass behind the net from Konecny, found Dvorak in front who beat Toronto’s Anthony Stolarz rather clean for a quick (and early) lead.
TMZ a thing?
Owen Tippett, Trevor Zegras, and Matvei Michkov were thrown together starting the game. And they looked like they could be doing something as a unit. The line had a few chances early and then went to work later in the first period, keeping Toronto hemmed in but unable to get the tie-breaking goal. The fact the trio looked to be on the same page instantaneously was impressive. Time will tell if that line remains a unit when Couturier returns. Michkov also had a nifty shoulder check on Auston Matthews that sent the Leaf on his backside. And an hit that was deemed interference by Michkov in the third left defenseman Chris Tanev on the ice for an extended period of time. Tanev was taken off on a stretcher.
The Leafs didn’t appreciate the hit and tried to make Michkov pay the rest of the night. However, he seemed capable of handling himself. A dangerous hit on Brink near the end of the game fortunately didn’t injure him but could’ve very easily.
Faceoff failures and no flow
Early on in the contest, the Leafs were absolutely destroying Philadelphia on the faceoff dot, winning 11 of the first 12 in the game. It was obvious the Flyers might be at a disadvantage with Couturier out and Trevor Zegras still learning his way around the faceoff circle. However the Flyers started winning a bit more of them as the period went on. Overall though, they sure did miss their captain. With 15 minutes to go in the game, the Leafs were winning over 60 percent of the faceoffs, just as obscene as the fact there were 50 of them in the first 45 minutes of regulation. Proof there was very little flow to the game from start to finish as 67 faceoffs transpired, with the Flyers winning 43.3 percent of them (29 for 67).
Foerster avoids injury
Foerster took a shot off his heel or ankle seconds prior to Toronto’s first goal by Auston Matthews, as a shot by Morgan Rielly took him down. Foerster got up seconds later but by then Matthews had buried the shot by Vladar to tie things up. Foerster hobbled to the bench and then headed down the hallway to the locker room. Fortunately, moments later Foerster returned to the ice to take a regular shift. Hopefully it’s a case of something that was a stinger and not something he battled through against Toronto only to find out Sunday there was in fact something not quite right.
Back-breaker
The Flyers were keeping a lot of sustained pressure on Toronto in the dying minutes of the second period. Unfortunately, they simply couldn’t score despite having a lot of offensive zone time. Toronto cleared the puck and seconds later had an insurance goal when Nick Robertson rifled a wrister over Vladar’s glove to make it 3-1.
Konecny undisciplined
Travis Konency probably did the two things Tocchet has preached about not doing since day one. One infraction he can’t stand are stick infractions. The other revolves around discipline, namely keeping your mouth shut to the officials. Unfortunately, Konecny was pushed from behind and his stick clipped a Leaf in the face. No blood was drawn and it should’ve been a two-minute minor.
Unfortunately, a missed high stick that hit Konecny went unnoticed. And the forward’s mouth got him an extra minor. Granted, the Leafs power play isn’t quite the same without Mitch Marner. But any time you have to face Matthews for four minutes down a man is a horrible proposition. Fortunately, the Flyers killed the first minor and bent but didn’t break on the second.
Source
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:
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
