The Philadelphia Flyers have an uncanny ability to make every single game a roller coaster ride. That remained true Saturday afternoon in their matinee tilt against the Ottawa Senators at Xfinity Mobile Arena.
After a rough start, the Flyers battled back to force overtime, but ultimately fell to the Senators by a score of 3-2 in OT.
The Basics
First period: 5:14 — Tim Stützle (David Perron, Ridly Greig), 6:19 — Michael Amadio (Claude Giroux, Shane Pinto)
Second period: 11:23 — Matvei Michkov (Christian Dvorak, Travis Konecny)
Third period: 9:55 — Jamie Drysdale (Dvorak, Trevor Zegras)
Overtime: 3:19 — Stützle (Drake Batherson, Thomas Chabot)
SOG: 22 (PHI), 13 (OTT)
Takeaways
Another slow start
Aside from their furious three-goal first period against the Montreal Canadiens on Tuesday, the Flyers have struggled mightily to start games off hot. They were outplayed in the first period Thursday night against the Nashville Predators, falling into an early 1-0 hole, and that trend continued Saturday against Ottawa.
The Flyers were held to just four shots in the first period and allowed a pair of Ottawa goals, separated by just 1:05, to end the frame trailing by two. It took until the final minute of the period for the Flyers to finally generate a high-danger scoring chance, when Bobby Brink forced a turnover at center ice and fed Owen Tippett for a laser that Ottawa netminder Linus Ullmark turned aside with his glove.
Perhaps it was the 1 p.m. start time that had the Flyers looking sluggish, but overall, the inauspicious starts have become standard for this club, which isn’t exactly conducive to winning hockey games.
Two in two for Michkov
Matvei Michkov’s slow start has been one of the top headlines in the season’s early going. After logging 26 goals as a rookie last season, he managed just one goal in the Flyers’ first 13 games of the 2025-26 campaign.
It appears the tides may be turning, though. Michkov lit the lamp Thursday night against Nashville, and against the Senators, he found the back of the net again with an outstanding individual effort to fend off Ottawa defenseman Jake Sanderson and find some open ice in the slot.
Matvei Michkov muscles his way in to score a goalpic.twitter.com/isEmF2JzlN
— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) November 8, 2025
It’s clear Michkov hasn’t been playing his best hockey, but at the very least, goals in back-to-back games is an encouraging sign for the prized 20-year-old winger. He was noticeably more dynamic Saturday afternoon, and even though his play-driving numbers weren’t spectacular, he’s beginning to look more like the player who regularly wowed the Flyers fan base a year ago.
Drysdale comes up clutch
Jamie Drysdale is unquestionably one of the success stories of the season thus far. His play improved in the second half of the 2024-25 season, and the upward trajectory seems to be continuing into the new season.
Granted, he was far from perfect against the Senators. He was on the ice for both Ottawa goals in the first period, but he also contributed to both of the Flyers’ goals — he even took matters into his own hands and potted one of his own to tie the game midway through the third frame.
Once again, Drysdale posted stellar 5-on-5 play-driving numbers, including a 69.70 Corsi For percentage and a 67.57 Expected Goals For percentage, and while his defensive play is still a work in progress, it’s hard not to be pleased with the strides he’s made to start the year.
Ersson decent in return
Sam Ersson spent exactly one week on injured reserve with a lower-body injury before being activated Thursday evening, and in his first game back, he looked … just fine. He allowed three goals on just 13 Ottawa shots on net, which, on paper, is horrendous. But after the rough 1:05 in the first period that had the Flyers trailing by two early, he settled in nicely. He also faced just one shot in the third period, which can make it difficult for goalies to remain focused without being involved in the flow of the game. Tim Stützle’s game-winning goal in overtime can’t really be pinned on Ersson — it was indecisiveness by Trevor Zegras in the neutral zone that led to Stützle tapping in the easy tally.
As has been the case for a good portion of Ersson’s career, his overall play was better than the numbers indicate. But at some point, the luck will need to even out for him.
The penalty kill is so, so good
A silver lining to this loss is the play of the Flyers’ penalty kill. They killed off both of the Senators’ power plays with ease, giving them fits on zone entries and rarely allowing dangerous shooting lanes. Since October 23, the Flyers have been shorthanded 27 times and have allowed a grand total of two(!) power-play goals — both of which came against the Canadiens Tuesday night.
As things currently stand, the Flyers’ PK ranks fifth in the entire NHL with a success rate of 88.2%. It may not be as exciting as the “power kill” from the John Tortorella era, but Rick Tocchet and assistant coach Todd Reirden have this unit firing on all cylinders.
Statistics courtesy of Natural Stat Trick and NHL.com.
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The Philadelphia Flyers are relying heavily on Matvei Michkov panning out to be a very good player that could even flirt with stardom and be the best player on their team going forward. But unfortunately to start this season, he has played extremely poorly. Concerns about a sophomore slump has only been accented as the season has gone on and we’ve been trying to look for signs of last year’s rookie sensation still on the ice.
Michkov looked slow and not just in his skating but thinking the game slower too. It let to a lack of production as the 20-year-old winger had just five points through his first 10 games and started the season on a three-game drought. All throughout that opening stretch too, he barely shot the puck or even made a play — he appeared to just be out there and that let new head coach Rick Tocchet to limiting his minutes, which of course caused some stir amongst the Flyers fan base.
Thankfully, Michkov has started to turn his season around. Saturday afternoon, he scored his second goal in as many games and while he’s still barely over half a point per game, he looked so much more like the crazy Russian winger we’ve come to love last season. Especially on his goal against the Ottawa Senators, where he managed to battle through contact from Jake Sanderson, sees a route right to the slot through the faceoff circle and wires it past Linus Ullmark.
A little Michkov Magic.#OTTvsPHI | #LetsGoFlyers pic.twitter.com/eKHQojvV16
— Philadelphia Flyers (@NHLFlyers) November 8, 2025
That’s something we haven’t seen at all this season from Michkov — the poise and confidence to pull something off like this, let alone just attempt it, is something that has been missing from the first dozen or so games.
And now that we have caught this glimpse and while the concerns aren’t totally gone but we can at least think that we will see regular Michkov during every game in the coming weeks, Michkov felt free to share more about his disastrous offseason training, or lack thereof.
Matvei Michkov took almost the entire summer off from hockey
As Michkov started his season poorly, within the first few days, head coach Rick Tocchet revealed that the young winger dealt with an ankle injury through the summer and that caused a setback to his training and it will take him some time to get to full speed. It made sense — it was something to point at as the reason why Michkov was playing so poorly.
But now that there is at least some improvement and return to what we’ve come to know as the status quo, Michkov felt comfortable sharing more details about his summer after answering a question about how he’s feeling currently.
“Every game, I feel better and better. Hard start of the game, like mostly ever game — hard work, it’s all going to come soon,” Michkov told the media after Saturday afternoon’s 3-2 overtime loss to the Senators.
“Truly, I was rested for four months, no hockey. Training was not the same. In the beginning of the season, I lost concentration but with every game, I’m feeling better and better.”
On its face, a player saying that he took four months off of hockey during his summer, even while nursing an injury during part of that, looks bad. A player giving the reason of taking the entire summer off as to why he played poorly for the first 12 or so games of the season is not something you really want to hear coming from the star youngster, in which the future of your team somewhat relies on.
While other players were maybe taking a couple weeks off and then getting right back to work in preparation for the new NHL season, it sure sounds like Michkov was just kicking back and waiting until the latter part of the summer to kick his training off — and then his ankle injury happened. The possibility of that being the case and then tie in his quasi scandal of being involved in a car accident in Dubai over the summer and it doesn’t paint a great picture. That would be the nightmare scenario but it most likely isn’t the truth.
Due to the language barrier, Michkov couldn’t expand further into what he meant by taking four months off of hockey, but we can at least theorize and give him the benefit of the doubt. Michkov has only ever done training on the ice — every offseason growing up and through his developing years he would be working doing hockey-related activities.
So, instead of doing that again, Michkov “took four months off” of that aspect of training and instead spent the vast majority of his time in the gym to gain some mass before the season began. That is most likely what he meant by taking the four months off.
Michkov probably didn’t just completely let his summer go to waste but maybe he could have framed it just a little bit better.
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The Philadelphia Flyers are 15 games in and have a record of 8-5-2. This time last season after the same amount of games they were 5-8-2. But that hasn’t been the only change that’s been rather apparent this season. A few players are starting to do a lot of good things, the special teams are coming to life, and the goaltenders are stopping shots more than last season. Here then in no particular order are five of the biggest surprises so far in this rather young 2025-26 season.
Vladar The Goal Saver
Dan Vladar was signed in the summer by the Flyers. The idea being that he would be a good backup to Sam Ersson and be able to stabilize the goaltending after a rough and rowdy 2024-25 circus. Vladar had other ideas, namely not rocking the boat in terms of wanting more games but simply putting his head down and being strong. And he’s been all that and more, looking more and more like he’ll not just be the backup to Ersson, but possibly earning more than half the starts this year.
After having what he thought was a so-so start in Montreal and not looking stellar against Toronto, Vladar still is third in the National Hockey League in goals-against average (2.18) after Sunday’s slate of games. Only Calgary’s Devin Cooley (1.75) and Washington’s Logan Thompson (1.61) have been better. And he’s sixth overall in save percentage (.917), a notion that probably nobody outside of Vladar could’ve envisioned to start the season. He hasn’t been extremely busy (ranking 28th in shots against with 228), but has come up with some key, timely saves both in overtime sessions and in the shootouts.
Given how many fans and experts would’ve drooled over a Flyers goalie eclipsing the .900 line at any point last season, this stretch of games have given Vladar and the skaters in front of him confidence. And for the first time in a little while at least, the Flyers aren’t having an issue with goaltending. Ersson has had his moments, but Vladar has been the guy so far behind Philadelphia’s success.
Power play potency
This paragraph won’t begin with stats and numbers showing how horrible the power play was under Rocky Thompson and John Tortorella. The nightmares and waking up in a cold sweat still happen. Needless to say, probably anything Rick Tocchet and his staff could’ve done to improve the power play would’ve been a plus. Well, the power play isn’t clicking yet on all cylinders. But it’s been far more entertaining to watch. And a lot more effective despite one unit doing most of the work.
Prior to Tyson Foerster’s injury, the unit featuring the Noah Cates line, Jamie Drysdale and Trevor Zegras were fun, making quick passes without over-thinking what needed to be done. As well, the Flyers have been using the bumper and working the puck down low far more often a month into the schedule. It’s quite refreshing from last season where the Flyers effectively killed a lot of their own power plays with indecision and rather ridiculous approaches. For instance, fans have rarely seen power plays this year where gaining entry into the offensive zone was a mammoth challenge. One successful entry per power play last year was almost seen as a moral victory.
Currently, the Flyers are not just in the top 20. They find themselves in the top half of the league (14th with a 19.6 success rate) and look like they have room to grow. Of course, having one player who has points on eight of the nine power play goals might have some impact on the statistic. Philadelphia had nine goals at roughly the same point last year. We all know how that ended up. Yet for now, the Flyers might be making teams pay more in 2025-26 for taking penalties against them than last year. That’s a huge plus for a team that is still working out some kinks.
Zegras is greener in Philadelphia for Trevor
When Philadelphia acquired Trevor Zegras from Anaheim prior to the NHL Draft, it was seen as a low-risk, high-reward proposition. They weren’t really giving away much to possibly land a future center. And if the one-year experiment was a disaster, it would only last a year or less if Zegras was dealt at the trade deadline. The idea of trading Zegras now at the deadline sounds insane. He has been the engine that has revved up Philadelphia’s power play while also looking like he could establish himself for the time being as a “hybrid” winger/center.
Zegras is averaging over a point a game (16 of them in 15 contests) and has points on all but one of Philadelphia’s power play goals. He has also brought with him the fact that he’s the most successful shootout player of all time (minimum 20 attempts) and is only increasing that percentage with each attempt. That alone could be the difference in being a non-playoff team and the Flyers squeezing into a wildcard spot. And Zegras has brought with him a great attitude, realizing his mistakes at times and being the first to own up to them afterwards. It’s also a bonus that Zegras and Tocchet have quickly developed a line of communication that wasn’t seen the last few seasons.
He’s also seemed to have brought out the best in a former teammate from Anaheim in Jamie Drysdale. Drysdale looks better this year in his play while getting more responsibility from Tocchet on the power play. And Cam York who is close with Zegras hasn’t suffered from his arrival, playing extremely well and generating a lot more points this year so far than he did in 2024-25 under his former coach.
The forward is playing himself into being a part of Philadelphia’s future with the idea of a contract extension a very distinct possibility. Given how the free agent class of 2026 continues to dwindle down to the likes of Claude Giroux and other veterans, locking Zegras up for the long haul should be a no-brainer for Flyers general manager Danny Briere. It’s been just 15 games, but it’s been a fantastic first impression for the former Anaheim forward.
Trevor Zegras has the highest shootout percentage 𝙞𝙣 𝙉𝙃𝙇 𝙝𝙞𝙨𝙩𝙤𝙧𝙮 (minimum 20 attempts).
A true cheat code(h/t @frank_seravalli) pic.twitter.com/10BW3n5VDH
— B/R Open Ice (@BR_OpenIce) November 5, 2025Penalty killing is stellar
Give Tocchet and his staff credit for how they’ve approached the special teams. No longer considered afterthoughts, the penalty-killing units have been very sturdy most of the season. The Flyers still need to cut down on the minor penalties and seem to be slowly turning a corner in that direction. Yet for now Philadelphia are fourth overall on the penalty kill (88.2 per cent) and sixth overall regarding net penalty kill (again, 88.2 per cent). The box and/or diamond setup seems to be doing the trick while also keeping the opponent’s power play to the outside, rarely getting into the dirty areas or high danger zones.
The Flyers have given up six goals down a man (or two) this season, the worst outing allowing two goals against Montreal in a shootout win. They’ve had a six-game streak of not conceding a goal and are now two games into another one. That might be put to the test Wednesday night against Edmonton. However, generally, the penalty kill has been another spot where the Flyers aren’t getting manhandled like they did last season, ending up twentieth with a 77.6 per cent in 2024-25. Hopefully it continues.
Back up the Brink truck
Yes, Cam York has been a great surprise and is having a huge bounce-back season. Bobby Brink continues to be a fine forward and one of the hardest-working wingers Philadelphia plays night in and night out. Brink has come miles from being a healthy scratch under John Tortorella to now finding himself against the top lines of some teams and tilting the ice in Philadelphia’s favor. He has nine points so far, tying himself with York and Christian Dvorak for fourth in the team scoring. And he has more points than the Mad Russian, but it’s early.
Brink, assuming he remains healthy, is looking to set career-highs in points and could end up being a key part of one of Philadelphia’s two power play units. With Foerster injured it’s not guaranteed that Brink and Cates will return to being the Flyers’ most consistent line. The trio might be split up the rest of the season depending on how things play out. Brink is also better in most of the underlying metrics this year compared to 2024-25. And he is earning the respect of his teammates and the coaching staff. At the very least, Brink is playing himself into being part of the rebuild down the road far more than anticipated. As well as a good raise in pay, even if it ends up being just a bridge deal.
Bobby Brink BROKE Arturs Silovs’ ankles with this shootout winnerpic.twitter.com/IJrkz44OHF
— B/R Open Ice (@BR_OpenIce) October 29, 2025
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After what would have been a game-winning goal from Travis Konecny was called back for offsides with 23 seconds remaining, the Oilers stole an overtime win in Philadelphia by a score of 2-1. While the Oilers dominated for large stretches of the game, the Flyers nearly came away with an impressive win over the back-to-back Western Conference champs, but had to settle for a point on Wednesday night.
The basics
First period: 19:05 – Evan Bouchard (Connor McDavid, Matthew Savoie)
Second period: 15:38 – Matvei Michkov (Cam York, Travis Konecny) (PPG)
Third period: No scoring
Overtime: 1:19 – Jack Roslovic (Savoie)
SOG: 32 (EDM) – 21 (PHI)
Takeaways
The Flyers continue to badly lose shot battle
At their best, the Oilers can really impose their style of play on the opposition, and that’s exactly what happened in the first half of this game. The fast-paced, high-skilled hockey that the Oilers make opponents play was no different tonight, as the Flyers and Oilers traded chances throughout the opening period of this game. At about the 10-minute mark of the game, though, the Oilers just completely took control and didn’t look back from a shot-attempts standpoint.
Further, the Flyers had a mere six shots on goal at the halfway point of regulation, and finished with only 31 shots on goal. From a pure shot-attempts standpoint, the Oilers carried almost 58 percent of the shot-attempts in the game at 5-on-5. It’s been said so many times early this season, but the Flyers’ inability to create consistent offensive zone pressure is a problem. It really just might be that the backbone of Tocchet’s system is defensive zone play, but the rate of Flyers shot attempts feels unsustainable. Well, it’s an unsustainable recipe for success, unless Dan Vladar continues to play at this high a level…
Dan Vladar keeps the Flyers afloat, again
From halfway through the first period to the halfway mark of regulation, the Oilers completely tilted the ice in Dan Vladar’s direction. As he’s done throughout the early goings of the season so far, Vladar was impressively sturdy in net. When a goaltender gives you 30 saves on 32 shots, good for a .937 SV%, you have a darn good chance of winning a hockey game. Outside of the Evan Bouchard goal late in the first, Vladar was the reason the Flyers stayed in the game, even if the Oilers didn’t test Vladar with a ton of high-danger chances. There was a massive save on Vasily Podkolzin on a 2-on-1 rush in the first period, but that was probably the most dangerous chance that the goaltender faced all night. He also faced a difficult shot from Connor McDavid late in the third, and was absolutely barreled into by an Oiler with 6 minutes to go. To Vladar’s credit, he got up from that scrum angry at the Oilers, and appeared perfectly fine. Scrappy, good stuff from the Flyers new goaltender.
Matvei Michkov ties the game
In these types of games against high-end teams, the Flyers need to capitalize on their chances when they get them. Tonight, on a power play late in the second period, Michkov was able to accomplish that, tying the game on a shot from the circle. With the goal, Michkov has now scored in three consecutive games and is up to 9 points in 16 games so far.
Three goals in three games for Michkov
: @Sportsnet or stream on Sportsnet+
https://t.co/4KjbdjVctF pic.twitter.com/uIR5II9r6T
— NHL (@NHL) November 13, 2025
Beyond the goal, we’re getting closer and closer to the second-year winger returning to form. He had some real jump tonight and was one of the main catalysts for the Flyers offense all game. Michkov is consistently clocking 15-16 minutes of ice time, and that number might increase a bit more as he continues to ramp up his level. Compared to where we were a week or two ago, there’s a real sense that Michkov is about to go on some kind of scoring run.
Flyers lull Oilers into their style in second half of game
After the Michkov goal, the Flyers successfully pulled Edmonton into the low-event, Rick Tocchet hockey that has been the story of the season so far. The Flyers are doing some pretty impressive stuff in the defensive and the neutral zone, and they continue to be one of the toughest teams in the league to score against.
Although Tocchet’s teams in Vancouver and Arizona played a similar low-event hockey, there should be some sort of leash for the Flyers to gain some offensive zone consistency in the early parts of his tenure. Theoretically, it takes until January-February for a team to fully adjust to a coach’s system, and there should be some leniency on the shot totals until that point. In the meantime, the Flyers can win playing this type of hockey, even if it’s kind of a pain to watch on a shift-by-shift basis. Keeping the high-flying Oilers to 2.28 expected goals (via Natural Stat Trick) can absolutely be a recipe for success, especially when it’s replicated against much lesser competition. Low-event hockey combined with Vladar’s consistency certainly has the potential to make the Flyers a playoff team, even if that’s not the most fun way to get there.
Owen Tippett takes a win off the board
Speaking of not fun stuff, Owen Tippett made an awful gaffe at the end of regulation. Travis Konecny scored what he thought was a game winner on a deflection with 23 seconds left, but the league initiated review found Tippett to be offside on the play. This wasn’t a mere matter of inches, where Tippett just couldn’t drag his skate on the blueline. Instead, Tippett was camped just inside the blueline, stationary as Konecny straightline skated the puck in. The play was definitively offside, and a pretty bad mental mistake from Tippett, in terms of positional awareness on the ice.
Oilers capitalize on York’s mistake, win in overtime
In what was probably Cam York’s worst play of an otherwise breakout season for the defenseman, York made a brutal turnover just across his own blueline in overtime. Completely whiffing on a loose puck, the turnover gave the Oilers a 2-on-0 on Vladar, and Vladar had no chance on Roslovic’s game winner. The mistake feels much more forgivable than Tippett’s offsides, especially considering the trajectory of the two players so far this year. Either way, it’s a second consecutive overtime loss for the Flyers, and they now head out to St. Louis and Dallas for a back-to-back slate on Friday-Saturday.
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The Philadelphia Flyers may have lost on Thursday night, but the fans won as we were introduced to several of the players’ nicknames on the broadcast.
Some of the nicknames are self-explanatory, while others were improved by learning more about them.
Without any further ado, here is the official ranking of the Flyers’ team nicknames from Wednesday night’s broadcast.
7. Tyson Foerster as “Forey”
This is as hockey player as it gets. A typical hockey nickname just takes the player’s last name, or a syllable of it, in this case, and adds the “ey” sound at the end.
It can be viewed as classic or boring, depending on who you ask, but I lean toward the latter side of things. How about “Trees” as a play on forest? Or TyFo, as some fans have called him. Even Tofu would be better than Forey.
6. Jamie Drysdale as “Jim”
Zegras started calling Drysale “Jim” during their time in Anaheim together, and it’s carried over into Philadelphia. The two former Ducks have had a connection off the ice for years, and the Flyers are seeing that pay dividends on the ice as well.
Personally, I’ve taken to calling him “Jim Jam,” which would move him up the rankings, but just plain Jim it is.
5. Matvei Michkov as “Mike”
This is a nickname that was confusing at first, but it’s stuck to the Russian phenom for nearly a year now.
Zegras has given out a few of the new nicknames, and it’s fitting that the guy the Flyers sent to Anaheim for the forward is the one who gave Michkov his. The team was watching the Mike Tyson fight together, and Ryan Poehling noticed that the young Russian has a thick neck just like the boxing legend.
There are plenty of nicknames that could come from either Matvei or Michkov, or a play on his initials, yet somehow “Mike” has stuck.
4. Trevor Zegras as “Ziggy”
We’re getting less original as we move along, as Ziggy is an easy play on Zegras’s last name. But it fits the flashy Zegras so well.
He’s off to a hot start with the Flyers, leading the team with 16 points in as many games. He’s added some flash to the offense, and his nickname reflects that.
There have been a few Ziggys throughout history, and Zegras is looking to make a name for himself in Philadelphia.
3. Noah Cates as “Capes”
Now, when this one popped up on the screen, I wasn’t initially a fan. I assumed it was hockey players doing the hockey player thing of changing a letter or a mispronunciation sticking as a new nickname.
But the explanation changed everything.
This isn’t simply a nickname based on Cates’ name, but rather on the recovery system that the center wears on the plane, which looks like a cape.
Zegras had also referred to Cates as “Caper” in other quotes, which might move him up above Taco on the nickname ranking.
2. Rick Tocchet as “Taco”
Trevor Zegras gave his new head coach a new moniker in training camp, and it’s stuck.
“I think with a guy like (Zegras), his personality is great for a room. He smiles and I think he calls me ‘Taco’ now… I don’t know what he’s calling me,” Tocchet said back in September. “But I like the fact that he’s a good kid and he wants to learn. But, you know, there are certain parts of his game he knows he has to clean up and he’s willing to learn.”
It’s kind of crazy that Tocchet has spent his entire life around the NHL and had yet to be referred to as the Mexican dish. It’s a simple transformation from Tocchet to Taco, and the Flyers should be leaning fully into it with Taco Tuesday specials down at the rink on game nights.
1. Garnet Hathaway as “Gart Angry”
There was a clear favorite on social media once this graphic was revealed on the broadcast. That, of course, is Garnet Hathaway’s nickname as “Gart Angry” or “Gart Mad” depending on the day.
Hathaway has been a fourth-line staple for the Flyers in recent years, and he’s certainly earned a reputation as someone who is hard to play against throughout his career.
The 34-year-old winger has played in all 16 games this season and is the only one to do so without recording a point. He’s been helping out with a team-high 58 hits, but perhaps a goal here or there could turn Gart Angry into Gart Happy.
Hopefully, we’ll be given more insight into the Flyers’ locker room and nicknames throughout the team as the season moves along. If not, I just might have to dish out some nicknames myself.
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In an 82-game (soon to be 84-game) NHL season, a 13-game sample size is a largely insignificant blip on the radar in the grand scheme. But for the Philadelphia Flyers, a 13-game sample size was all it took for the club’s famously traumatized fan base to declare a state of emergency.
Matvei Michkov, the Flyers’ prized Russian winger and face of their rebuild, looked like a shell of himself to start the campaign. The 20-year-old, less than a year removed from logging 26 goals and 63 points as a rookie, managed to light the lamp just once in the Flyers’ first 13 games of the season.
Naturally, even some of the Flyers’ most aggressive supporters began to sound alarm bells, especially after word got out that Michkov entered training camp out of shape due to a summer of inactivity (largely thanks to an offseason ankle injury).
Michkov wasn’t scoring. He didn’t have his legs going. He just didn’t look like Michkov.
Well, that’s changing.
Matvei Michkov is starting to look like himself
Now 16 games into the season, Michkov has found the back of the net in three consecutive games, and while it’s exciting to see his scoring numbers rise, it’s his overall play that’s really encouraging. He looks more spry. He looks more decisive. He looks more confident. And for the first time all season, he’s creating plays for himself.
Look no further than his goal against the Ottawa Senators Saturday afternoon as evidence of this.
Matvei Michkov scores a beauty to put the Flyers on the boardpic.twitter.com/XKQUTf2gJJ
— TSN (@TSN_Sports) November 8, 2025
A case can be made that Michkov, despite his young age, is already the Flyers’ best player, so this gradual return to form comes as a colossal relief. Still, Michkov is averaging less than 15 minutes of ice time per night, which isn’t exactly a positive indication of a head coach’s faith in a player’s overall performance.
Flyers head coach Rick Tocchet also hasn’t had much of a choice, though. For much of the season’s early going, Michkov wasn’t just looking out of sorts — he was a legitimate liability at times.
Tocchet admitted that Michkov was “behind the eight ball” to start the season, but he has also acknowledged the progress he’s seen from the 2023 seventh overall pick. And with goals in three straight, Michkov is beginning to earn more of Tocchet’s trust.
In Wednesday night’s loss against the Edmonton Oilers, Michkov earned 16:05 of time on ice — the most ice time he’s seen in a game in nearly a month. Sixteen minutes still isn’t optimal for a player of Michkov’s caliber, but it’s at least a step in the right direction.
Given his hot hand, it’s hard to argue with the uptick in ice time.
Against Edmonton, Michkov scored the Flyers’ only goal of the night with a beauty on the power play that tied the game at one goal apiece late in the second period. It was Michkov at his best — finding open ice, identifying a shooting lane, and ripping the puck through with accuracy.
For a goal-scoring savant like Michkov, it should come as no surprise that his shooting has been a primary focus in practices as of late.
“[Michkov] has been working on that downhill shot. He shoots a million pucks,” Tocchet told the media after Wednesday night’s game.
“It was a great shot, but it was a great placement. And he works on that every day. Gotta give the kid credit. It was a hell of a goal.”
Three goals in three games for Michkov
— NHL (@NHL) November 13, 2025
Michkov isn’t just passing the eye test either. The numbers are also reflecting his upward trajectory.
Michkov impacting the game beyond just scoring
In October, his 5-on-5 play-driving numbers left much to be desired, to say the least. But in November, he’s been playing like the offensive spark plug fans were expecting at the start of the campaign. Over the Flyers’ last six games, Michkov is leading the team (minimum 30 minutes of 5-on-5 ice time) with a 58.35 Expected Goals For percentage — a significant increase from his 50.31 xGF% over the first 10 games of the year. To boot, his less-than-desirable 46.46 5-on-5 Corsi For percentage from October has soared to a whopping 60.16 since November 1.
Michkov has been noticeable all season, but not always in a good way. Now, he’s impossible to miss for all the right reasons.
Granted, Michkov isn’t completely out of the woods yet. His play away from the puck is still very much a work in progress, although no one will ever be mistaking him for a Selke candidate. But for the time being, Michkov continues to build momentum offensively. And for a team that’s averaging just 2.17 goals per game since November 1 (29th in the NHL), they’ll take all the goals they can get.
Statistics courtesy of Natural Stat Trick and NHL.com.
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After a tough loss back on home ice on Wednesday, the Flyers are hitting the road for a quick two-game road trip. Tonight, they’ll be facing off against a struggling Blues squad for the first game of their back-to-back (and what’s to be their first against the Blues in the span of a week) and they’ll be looking to get the ball rolling early, gaining back some ground and, what’s more, making a strong impression on their annual Fathers’ Trip.
Puck drop: 8:00 p.m.
How to watch/listen:
: 93.3 WMMR
Pregame reading
- Wednesday’s game against the Oilers was a bit of a weird one, but it was undoubtedly another good game for Matvei Michkov, who might be, dare we say, back? [BSH]
- The Flyers are getting a good bit of offense from him now, which is a good thing, because the team’s level of production this season has taken a bit of a dip from last season. [BSH]
- And finally, before we get rolling with this next Flyers game, let’s catch up on some prospect related happenings. [BSH]
Pregame watching
By the numbers
Philadelphia Flyers – 8-5-3 (6th in Metro)
Goals: Bobby Brink/Owen Tippett/Travis Konecny (5)
Assists: Trevor Zegras (12)
Points: Trevor Zegras (16)
Edmonton Oilers – 6-8-3 (6th in Central)
Goals: Jake Neighbors (6)
Assists: Oskar Sundkvist (7)
Points: Pius Suter (10)
Projected lineups
Philadelphia Flyers
Matvei Michkov – Sean Couturier – Travis Konecny
Owen Tippett – Christian Dvorak – Trevor Zegras
Tyson Foerster – Noah Cates – Bobby Brink
Garnet Hathaway – Rodrigo Abols – Nic Deslauriers
Cam York – Travis Sanheim
Nick Seeler – Jamie Drysdale
Emil Andrae – Noah Juulsen
Sam Ersson
(Dan Vladar)
St. Louis Blues
Pavel Buchnevich – Robert Thomas – Jimmy Snuggerud
Dylan Holloway – Dalibor Dvorsky – Jordan Kyrou
Brayden Schenn – Pius Suter – Mathieu Joseph
Alexey Toropchenko – Oskar Sundqvist – Nathan Walker
Philip Broberg – Colton Parayko
Cam Fowler – Justin Faulk
Matthew Kessel – Hunter Skinner
Jordan Binnington
(Joel Hofer)
Storylines to watch
Ersson gets the nod
After a reasonably solid showing from Dan Vladar on Wednesday, and the expectation that he’ll be tasked as a result with facing the more difficult opponent in the Stars tomorrow night, this leaves Sam Ersson as the choice to get the start tonight in St. Louis. And he’s coming into this one, all things considered, in a decent spot. That is, his first game back from injury last weekend against the Senators was a good enough showing from him — not perfect, but pretty good — and he’s gotten quite a bit more rest and practice time in since then, and combining that with the fact that he’ll be going up against one of the lower scoring offenses in the league tonight (more on that later), if there was ever a prime opportunity to keep building his game in the right direction, this would be it.
Deslauriers stays in
We talked earlier this week about the Flyers’ continued struggles to find a fourth line arrangement that’s really working for them, and how the trio of Nikita Grebenkin, Rodrigo Abols, and Garnet Hathaway have been giving them some of their best looks of late, only for the Flyers to turn around and decide it would be best to break them up after their best showing of the season and put Nic Deslauriers in in the place of Grebenkin. And despite a less solid showing against the Oilers and Deslauriers not even cracking seven minutes of ice time in that one, he’ll be staying in the lineup for tonight’s game in St. Louis. And whether it’s physicality that they’re looking for, or some veteran presence that’s led to the decision, it’s impossible to say, but that line is getting another chance to make a statement, and we’ll see what they’re able to do with it.
Will this be exciting? TBD
This matchup is sure to be an interesting one, but particularly for the fact that it will be a meeting of two teams who have really been struggling to put pucks in the back of the net so far this season. As it stands, the Flyers are sitting second from the bottom of the league standings in scoring, with 41 goals on the season, and the Blues have only done just a bit better, as they sit sixth from the bottom with 47 goals of their own. This matchup might have something of a stoppable force meets movable object feel to it, were it not for the fact that, while the Flyers have been at least equally stingy in the number of goals they’ve allowed this season (also 41), the Blues have not had the same luck, as they’ve allowed 64 to date, making for a rough -17 differential.
Now, this all might be interesting, but will it be exciting necessarily? That’s yet to be seen. There’s some potential here for the Flyers though, but they have to do their part to rise to the occasion.
Anything but overtime, please
And finally, we’ll close this out with a reminder that the last two Flyers games ended rather unfortunately in losses in overtime, and we’re hoping that the third time can be the charm here, as it were, and whatever the outcome of this game winds up being, that it can be taken care of in regulation. We’re just about overtimed out over here.
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Last night’s game, kicking off the first leg of their first three-in-three of the season, was a big one for the Phantoms, as they were able to overcome a bit of a dicey start on the way to taking down the visiting Springfield Thunderbirds by a score of 7-3, and extending their winning streak to a season high five games. It was a sound effort across the board, as each of their forward lines was able to contribute at least one goal on the night, but the most notable performance of the night came in the three goals set up by the team’s top line of Alex Bump, Lane Pederson, and Denver Barkey.
The line’s big night really began to break open in the second period, when Bump was able to jump on a loose puck and get it over to Pederson to spring them on a breakout, and ultimately put away the rebound of Pederson’s initial shot after it was left out in front. This goal would ultimately hold as the game winner, but this line was far from done yet.
#LVvsSPR | #LVPhantoms pic.twitter.com/olxzALWCFa
— Lehigh Valley Phantoms (@LVPhantoms) November 15, 2025
They were able to double up on their contributions, but this time through Bump stepping into the setup role, dropping down below the goal line to retrieve a puck and make a quick pass to Pederson inside the left circle, who then, despite being in a pretty prime shooting spot himself, took the beat to scan and then thread a pass across to the even more wide open Barkey, who knocked it home.
Their final goal felt a little bit like adding insult to injury for the Thunderbirds, as it saw Bump able to skate with the puck virtually end-to-end (with a bit of a break in the neutral zone for a quick back and forth passing with Pederson to relieve a bit of pressure), just cruising through traffic and then threading a pass back to the trailing Barkey, who whiffed on the shot but still had the puck bounce off of his skate and in. It certainly wasn’t how they would have drawn that play up, but there’s something to be said for making your own luck, and when a line is as hot as this one has been, that’s the kind of bounces that will be going their way.
This was the type of collective flashy performances which will have certainly turned heads, but it’s one that also felt like it has been building up for a little while now.
“I think they’re all starting to gel together,” head coach John Snowden said back after last weekend’s game. “You know, [Pederson]’s a calming voice, he understands the ebbs and flows of the game, he’s played in the NHL, he’s been in the American League for a long time. And [Barkey]’s just, he’s a hockey player. He’s just a hockey player. He competes on pucks, he understands space, and uses his leverage in battles. Like you see tonight, how many battles did he come out with the puck because he just understands how to get out of it. [Bump]’s really good at extending plays, he’s good at getting that sneaky shot off in areas, and it gets on goalies pretty quick and heavy because it doesn’t look like it’s coming off his stick quick and hard, and then it creates a secondary chance. And they’re really starting to understand how they need to play together and understanding each other’s tendencies, and if you start to understand each other’s tendencies and where they want to go and want pucks in certain spaces, good things start to happen like we saw in that one shift they put together and ended up getting rewarded.”
This line found a very nice bit of production last night, and it would be easy to point to it as a result of having three highly skilled players stacked on one line and feasting on matchups against a weaker opponent, but it would be unfair, in turn, to erase the fact that this output came on the heels of — and as a direct result of — the steady building up of a more well rounded and details focused process to help support the flashier bits of skill. There’s been a notable level of chemistry forged along the way, and this line is really reaping the benefits.
“I just think the hockey IQ we all have,” Bump said last night, when asked about what’s been driving his line’s recent success. “We all know where to be at the right times, and we can all make those little plays to attack. So yeah, credit to those two, those two are dominant.”
This is a line which, despite how skilled the individual players are, have yet been able to come together as something greater than the sum of them. It’s provided the Phantoms a dependable boost in offense, to be sure, but with some grounding from Pederson’s veteran presence and the overall steadiness in his game, it’s allowed both Bump and Barkey to vault into a new level of comfort with the AHL game. There’s still a lot yet for them to polish out, but they’ve gotten themselves onto a rapid trajectory, with the season still so young, and so much laid out before them.
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The Dallas Stars took the Flyers to the woodshed for the most part Saturday night, winning 5-1 thanks to a Jason Robertson hat trick and a Philadelphia effort that didn’t quite measure up.
The basics
First period: 3:48- Lian Bichsel (Alex Petrovic, Justin Hryckowian)
Second period: 11:39- Jason Robertson (Tyler Seguin, Roope Hintz), 17:02- Jason Robertson (Roope Hintz, Esa Lindell)
Third period: 9:29- Jason Robertson (Roope Hintz, Mikko Rantanen) (PPG), 10:57- Christian Dvorak (Owen Tippett), 13:51- Tyler Seguin (Ilya Lyubushkin)
SOG: 21 (PHI) – 28 (DAL)
Some takeaways
Dan has a night to forget
On the second of a back-to-back, against a team that recently destroyed Montreal 7-0, the Flyers needed everyone pulling their weight on this night. And Dan Vladar did his share early, stopping a 2-on-1 rush by the Stars less then two minutes into the game before Travis Sanheim got his stick to deflect the rebound. The Stars’ second bit of offense found the back of the net. Tyson Foerster took a shot off the right forearm or wrist prior to the goal but didn’t miss a shift thankfully.
Vladar was busy early and often, essentially holding the Flyers in it and preventing it from being a quick laugher. Another flurry of pressure halfway through the first resulted in a whistle as Philadelphia looked lost in their own end in terms of defensive coverage. The loss was the second in a row for Vladar and marked the third time in his last five outings he surrendered three or more goals.
It was a game showing just how far to go the Flyers have in order to be a contending team. And also just how much work they have to do to ensure they win a handful of these horde of back-to-back games, particularly the second of two. Vladar stopped 23 of 28 shots for a .821 save percentage. Between that percentage and Ersson’s the previous game, getting two of a possible four points on this trip was fortunate.
Couturier avoids calamity
With the score and outcome looking more certain, Sean Couturier nearly injured himself colliding with Roope Hintz. Neither player saw the other until it was too late and both appeared to be briefly shaken up. Fortunately Couturier and Hintz were both coasting and not going at any speed, resulting in both of them continuing on.
D-vo lone offensive bright spot
Although Dallas was up 4-0 and it was over, the Flyers at least kept one streak in tact: not being shut out. Philadelphia broke Oettinger’s shutout bid moment’s after Robertson’s hat-trick goal to make it 4-1.
In the end the game was lost and over, but it was another little confidence boost to Dvorak and that line who perhaps might have found some chemistry on this road trip.
Has Andrae earned Tocchet’s trust? Looks like that
Emil Andrae was just two minutes behind Cam York (15:19) in terms of ice time heading into the second intermission. It might not seem like a big deal, but usurping Jamie Drysdale — however briefly it might be — of having the third highest minutes among the Flyers’ blueliners had to be a feather in his hat. Andrae again was marginally okay on a night a lot of guys were bad. After throwing his big hit on Faksa, the defenseman looked more confident on the ice, taking a lot of the head off Noah Juulsen while also helping generate a few offensive chances. It’s another sign that the defender is making life for Egor Zamula hellish.
Better start in second
The Flyers — tied with Dallas for second in the league for most comeback wins (seven) — looked a little more with it to begin the middle period. Matvei Michkov got a shot on Dallas keeper Jake Oettinger which wasn’t anything special normally. Considering how one-sided the first was it was a small victory of sorts. Michkov had a far better chance as Sean Couturier found him in deep on Oettinger. He couldn’t get the puck up and over him to tie things up.
Philadelphia began tilting the ice back to respectability, getting more shots in the opening minutes of the second than the three they had in the first. Owen Tippett had the first (and best) scoring chance on a good rush up ice but wasn’t able to cash in. The Flyers started coming alive though, with the lines beginning to stack a few good shifts together for the first time all night.
Sadly, another miscue resulted in a four-on-two rush. Jason Robertson put a soft backhander just beyond Vladar’s reach to make it 2-0.
ROBOOOOO
Jason Robertson coming in clutch once again.#TexasHockey pic.twitter.com/ms7UHeW5qO
— Victory+ (@victoryplustv) November 16, 2025
Power play peril
The Stars were humming at over 30 per cent efficiency on the power play. So the Flyers needed to take as few minors as possible. Bobby Brink was called for interference late in the first and Philadelphia were successful against the nearly lethal Dallas special team. The Stars scored once on their two power plays while the Flyers were kept off the board in the lone attempt.
Start not ideal
Philadelphia went into the game knowing they would probably have to weather the storm in the first 10 minutes to have a chance. And they did just that being down just 1-0 to a team that oozes firepower. Dallas had seven of the first eight shots in the game. Meanwhile, the Flyers could’ve been down 2-0 or 3-0 had Dallas had any semblance of puck luck. It was probably the closest Philadelphia looked to a Tortorella-era team all season, with shot blocking being the first option far more than a last resort.
If head coach Rick Tocchet was irked by the St. Louis start Friday evening, it’s safe to say he wasn’t overjoyed by the start on this night. It looked like the Stars had a power play with their fourth line out as Philadelphia had no answers and no legs. The first highlight from the Flyers came from Emil Andrae who threw a lovely check on Radek Faksa into the corner boards. But other than that, not a lot to get excited about, aside from Vladar and the buzzer signaling the period’s end. The Flyers had no flow after the opening twenty as this game flow graphic shows.
Konecny hit and miss
While having an impressive point streak recently, Travis Konecny could be given a bit of leeway at points. However a costly gaffe late in the second was Philadelphia’s nail in the coffin. Konecny had one or two chances to simply get the puck out of his own zone. Instead he lollygagged a bit before missing the mark and icing the puck. The ensuing faceoff resulted in Jason Robertson scoring his second of the night to make it 3-0.
Konecny wasn’t the only one on the line who was having a hard night. While all three were -2 after two period and had a combined five giveaways, Michkov had four of the 14 shots on goal Philadelphia took through 40. The Mad Russian also had a prime opportunity in the third but Oettinger stopped him cold.
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The Michigan State Spartans returned to action this weekend with a two-game series against another Big Ten opponent; Notre Dame. Porter Martone would open the series with his first multi-goal game at the collegiate level, and followed it up with another tally on Saturday night.
On Friday night, the Spartans took control from the first drop of the puck. They found their way into the offensive zone with ease, created chaos on the forecheck, and took a ton of shots at the net. In the opening frame alone, Michigan State peppered Notre Dame goaltender Nicholas Kempf with 21 shots. The final shot count was 47 to 25 in favor of the Spartans as they took game one by a final score of 4-1. Game two was much closer, with Notre Dame living up to their name and showing a lot more fight. Shots were 33 to 29 Michigan State, who completed the series sweep with a 3-1 final.
Freshman forward, and the Flyers’ 2025 first round draft pick, Porter Martone was the star of the series, with two goals in game one and another in game two. Fellow 2025 first rounder, Ryker Lee, flashed his creativity with several slick plays, picking up two goals and an assist for his efforts. Spartans netminder Trey Augustine stopped 52 of 54 shots (.963 save percentage) and Charlie Stramel picked up three assists.
Game 1
Martone’s first goal was a beauty off the rush. Picking up a loose puck in the defensive zone, Martone exits the zone and finds Daniel Russell in the neutral zone. As Russell pulls the Notre Dame defender wide towards him, Stramel turns on the burners and cuts down the middle of the ice. Russell hits him with an entry pass and Stramel makes a great backhand saucer pass to Martone cutting towards the net, who freezes Kempf and puts home the first goal of the night.
Following a somewhat lousy start to a power play that saw the Spartans struggle to enter the offensive zone cleanly, Martone is able to retrieve the puck near the offensive blue line, make a pass into the zone, and go to work. A couple of perimeter passes later, and Lee finds Martone with a cross-ice pass. After corralling the pass with his skate, Martone inches his way closer to the net and beats a screened Kempf up high for his second of the game.
After Notre Dame got on the board with a power play goal, Martone would again be involved offensively, though this time he wouldn’t get a point on the play. His linemates Russell and Stramel did some excellent work along the boards, concluding with Stramel finding Maxim Štrbák sneaking in from the point. With a lot of commotion and bodies in front, Martone included, Štrbák was able to put the Spartans back up by two.
Martone came close to re-directing Štrbák’s shot, which would have completed the hat trick. He had several quality scoring chances later in the game, but Kempf was able to deny his attempts the rest of the way. However, maybe the most impressive thing from this game? This move from Ryker Lee.
Game 2
Lee opened the scoring in game two off a sick behind the back pass from Anthony Romani. Michigan State skaters had been pulling off all sorts of tricks this weekend, with Romani’s assist serving as another example.
Augustine made maybe one of his most impactful stops in the closing seconds of the first period, when Sutter Muzzatti snuck behind the Spartans defenders in the neutral zone and came in on a breakaway. While a lot of the conversation surrounding Michigan State has been about the forwards, Augustine has had a tremendous start to the season. The Red Wings’ 2023 second-round draft pick has stopped 94.8% of the shots he’s faced through nine games.
Martone’s goal on Saturday night was similar to his first on Friday. Stramel keeps the puck in the offensive zone with his skates and makes a tough pass right between two defenders, hitting Martone in stride. Another quick deke to the backhand led to Martone scoring his third goal of the series.
Entering the third up 2-1, it looked as if Tommi Männistö had given the Spartans their two goal lead back. However, after a review determined that there was goaltender interference on the play, the Spartans’ lead remained one. Things got a little bit sloppy for the Spartans in the middle of the third, with Augustine being called upon to make some difficult saves to keep their lead intact. With about two minutes remaining, Notre Dame pulled their goalie for the extra attacker, leading to a Männistö empty-netter to all but seal the game.
It was a bit of a quiet series for Flyers prospects outside of Martone. Shane Vansaghi was held off of the scoresheet, but did fire six shots on net. His center since game one, Cayden Lindstrom, missed both games this weekend. For Notre Dame, Cole Knuble wasn’t super noticeable on Friday night, but after a move to wing, was much more effective in game two. There was one shorthanded chance in particular from Knuble that stood out, but it was ultimately deflected high.
Martone’s weekend highlights
With a three-goal series, Martone is now up to 7 goals and 7 assists for 14 points. Ten games in, he’s on pace for a 23-goal, 46-point season (34 games). While Martone’s shooting percentage of 22.6 percent is a bit high, it’s not a completely unheard of figure. Cole Eiserman finished last season with a shooting percentage of 23.4 percent, leading NCAA skaters. Even if that does fall some, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see him both shoot more, and pick up a few more assists along the way, given that his linemate Russell has struggled to find the back of the net so far this season. After back-to-back seasons with a shooting percentage of 12.7 percent, he has just one goal on 31 shots this season. With the way that line creates offense, his goals will come, and Martone will likely be involved.
Up next for Michigan State is another Big Ten series, this time at home against the visiting Wisconsin Badgers next Friday and Saturday night.
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The Phantoms’ winning streak come to a screeching halt last night on home ice against the Bears, as the Phantoms worked through a hard-fought game only to have it ended in heartbreaking fashion.
The Phantoms, despite outshooting the Bears more than 2-1 in the first period, couldn’t break through, and had themselves beaten by turnovers and soft plays, falling into a 2-0 hole in the second. But the third period saw their luck beginning to break for them, as Denver Barkey was able to finally get them on the board early in the final frame, and despite the Bears getting that one back in short order, two Phantoms power play goals drew them even again. And with the tie holding into the waning seconds of regulation, the Phantoms seemed primed to cruise into overtime, collect at least one point, but a misplay with the puck turned possession back to the Bears, and they were able to score to retake the lead with just 12 seconds remaining.
“I don’t want to say we deserved better than we got,” head coach John Snowden said after the game. “Was there good stuff inside of the game? I thought so, thought that we did some good things inside, liked our resolve towards the end, capitalizing on the power play to get ourselves back into the game. I thought today was just immature moments in the game that cost us two points, the way I look at it.”
This season is a long one, and especially for such a young team, there are bound to be ups and downs that the team will have to work through. Hershey plays a much different style then they’ve seen from recent opponents, and this matchup will have been a wakeup call to the level of attention they have to pay to close out games against these tighter checking opponents. It’s all a part of the process, but the Phantoms will need to learn from this one, to be sure.
Samson steps in
Of course, one of the more notable bits to come out of this game was the news of Ethan Samson’s activation and return to the Phantoms, and while he was sat for the first game of the weekend — the Phantoms surely wanting to manage his workload — he was able to get in to make his season debut last night. His usage was more limited, starting on the third pair playing alongside Hunter McDonald, but he was able to bring some positive flashes in his easing back into action.
“I thought he was fine,” Snowden said postgame. “I thought there was moments where it looked like he hadn’t played yet this year, but overall I thought he did a fine job. He had some times when he skated through the neutral zone like he does well, a couple of o-zone opportunities to deliver some pucks and he made some plays, some breakout passes, so it was good to see him do that. You know, I didn’t expect him to come blowing the doors off, he hasn’t played a game this year, but overall, I didn’t hate his game.”
Samson, who’s been out of commission since taking an injury during training camp, has faced a very long layoff, and it’s going to take some time in turn for him to get back up to playing at the full strength of his game. But it was encouraging all the same to see some of the more dynamic elements of his game coming through right from the jump, in how he was moving the puck, using his feet, and feeling the confidence to activate in the offensive zone in a couple of instances when the space opened up for it. Notable too, was his willingness to get involved in battles and take a bit of contact, as his confidence seems to be well intact. We’ll see how he’s able to build up from here, but he’s off to a good enough start.
Barkey, Bump standouts again
This game was undoubtedly a strange one, but the Phantoms once again received in it standout performances from their top line, led by veteran center Lane Pederson and prospects Alex Bump and Denver Barkey. It’s a line that’s been buzzing for the last five games or so, and they each continued to deliver results for the team in both their even strength matchups as well as on the power play.
Barkey was the one to get the Phantoms on the board, taking a pass on the rush from Bump and taking it in on net, beating the Bears goaltender cleanly one-on-one, while Bump would double up on his good setup work, making the breakout pass to spring the Phantoms on a rush up-ice with speed on the power play later in the period for a chance which Cooper Marody would ultimately close one, while Pederson got the game tying goal on their next power play chance, as these three continued to step up in their roles as effective drivers of offense.
Not all heroes wear capes!#LVvsHER | #LVPhantoms pic.twitter.com/iu6xX3bchc
— Lehigh Valley Phantoms (@LVPhantoms) November 16, 2025
This was a game where the Phantoms really needed someone to rise up above the challenging circumstances — the heaps of chances created with no early bounces going their way, and how in their face the Bears were playing them — and Bump and Barkey have continued to bring their games to new levels to meet that challenge.
Playing with maturity
Last night’s game did see the outcome that the Phantoms might have liked, but perhaps one of the silver linings of this at times compressed schedule in the AHL is that the Phantoms will get a chance right away to right the ship and exact a bit of revenge in this afternoon’s rematch.
“I think the biggest message is that they’re a team that’s never going to go away,” Snowden concluded, “they’re going to feast off of our mistakes so we have to play a pretty clean game against that team, and just be way more mature in how we go about it.”
This isn’t going to be an easy matchup, with both the strength of the Bears’ checking game sure to continue, and the fatigue in the third game in as many days coming into play, but the Phantoms know the blueprint for how the Bears will attack the matchup, and they already know what they need to do to hang against them, but now the next step is tightening up their game to now advance ahead of them. This might be their biggest challenge yet of the season, and a real chance ahead of them to rise to the occasion.
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