The '25-'26 Philadelphia Flyers thread

[phillychuck]

Sounds good to me--I’ve been mainly going to Iron Pigs games over the last decade, but I was a regular at Reading for 20 years before that. I’ve heard of Gazzo’s but I haven’t been there. Is it possible to sit there and eat, or is it just take-out?

timing might be tricky with the Reading game, though. Hockey season starts after Reading is done.

We could go see the Phantoms I guess!! Sometimes I can get good flyers tickets for free...we could share those if I can still get them in ’28.

[LegoDoom]

I am good for whatever. I am in Newtown so either works for me. Apparently we can both get free Flyers tickets, so it's not much of a bet.

[phillychuck]

The bet is just for fun for me...the enjoyment would be meeting a fellow Flyers fan for dinner. Martone is the real deal, isn’t he?

[phillychuck]

First shutout of the season...wow.

[Pat_Burrell]

Flyers with a very impressive 3-0 win to take a commanding 2-0 series lead back to Philly. I believe they said when the home team loses the first 2 games at home, they win the series 20% of the time. Pittsburgh with a lot of chippy nonsense with 2 min remaining as they essentially conceded the game so they decided to take out cheap shots on the Flyers especially Tippett. I really wanted the Flyers to be able to exact some revenge, but I digress the wiser move was to get out of town with the series lead and nothing stupid to hurt the team

[phillychuck]

Penguins showing their true colors..sore losers and dirty players. Why do these goons get the benefit of a friendly whistle all the time?

[VoteForKalas]

Very impressive win. Pens threw everything including the kitchen sink at the Flyers and no one even flinched.

Martone scores again, Vladar stars again and three cheers for the vets tonight as Hathaway & Glendening score and Couturier was all over the Pens. Fantastic. Wish I was in town on Wednesday night, stadium will be rocking.

[zambonir]

Hartsy on the post game saying he would have taken the bait lol.

[LegoDoom]

Great win last night. Tippett with a great game, but it would be nice if he could hit the net.

Crosby is still a punk.

Michkov with under 10 minutes. Sigh.

[LegoDoom]

The bet is just for fun for me...the enjoyment would be meeting a fellow Flyers fan for dinner. Martone is the real deal, isn’t he?

Yes... although at this point it kind of feels like a date.

It's no secret that I liked Eklund last year, but that was under the assumption that I didn't think Martone would even be available. I've always said he has an excellent shot. I still don't love his skating and some of his decisions defensively are not good. But he's 19 with an elite shot/scoring, so yes.

[zambonir]

Some think Michklov isn't getting enough ice time, and others, well....

"[Michkov] doesn't belong in the lineup"

Colby Cohen would scratch Matvei Michkov & play Carl Grundstrom in game 3 vs Pittsburgh. @JLazzy23 | @ColbyCohen36

Presented by @bet365 #bet365 #IgniteTheOrange #LetsGoPens pic.twitter.com/cWLrhitg8B

— Daily Faceoff ( @DailyFaceoff ) April 21, 2026

A more sensible analysis below. I hope we see another multi-point game from Michkov over the next couple.

A Small Tweak the Flyers Should Make to Exploit Home Ice Advantage - Flyers...

Noah Cates was always going to be an X-factor for the Flyers because of his solid two-way play and it was heavily expected that he was going to draw the assignment of either Sidney Crosby or Evgeni Malkin.

However through the first two games, his line – with Denver Barkey and Matvei Michkov – has not been up to the task in their own zone and have been caught flat footed a few times, including Malkin’s game-tying goal in Game 1 and Samuel Girard’s scoring chance in Game 2.Games

By the end of last night’s game, the ice time wavered quite a bit with Barkey seeing 8:53, Michkov at 9:32, and Cates at 17:43. With the Flyers protecting a lead, Tocchet went with his more trusted defensive forwards, which also meant that players like Trevor Zegras (13:03) saw less time on ice.

Tyson Foerster played a game-high 20:23 TOI amongst forwards, followed by Cates, Christian Dvorak (17:09), Sean Couturier (16:30), and Owen Tippett (15:57). Luke Glendening (12:56) and Garnet Hathaway (11:15) also saw an increase in ice-time, coming just short of Zegras’ 13:03.

A part of that could be attributed to the fact that they had to kill 5 penalties, leaving certain players pinned to the bench for 2+ minutes at a time, but it also showed that Tocchet wasn’t playing around when it came to protecting his lead.

[Austinfan]

Tocchet has a number of players who really aren't PO ready, Barkey, Bump lack experience, Michkov needs a summer in the weight room and with a skating coach. Zegras has improved but as a center isn't the greatest defender.

Meanwhile, Cates, Foerster, Couts are high IQ defenders you want out there as much as possible with a lead.

Next season there may not be lines, but situational combinations . They want to find time for Bump and Grebenkin, Jett will probably be up at some point, maybe Knuble. So the 1st line, 2nd line et al distinctiono may become meaningless, with Tocchet using different lines in different situations.

[zambonir]

Yes, we will see more of Zegras and Michkov if the Flyers fall behind, so I'll take it. More PP time would be nice though (maybe).

[bigegypt0417]

First home playoff win in 10 years...that's insane.

[VoteForKalas]

Great game, continue to get scoring from unlikely sources like Risto, Seeler, Hathaway etc.

Konecny, Michkov & Foerster need to get going, but Zegras, Cates & Tippet did their part.

Worried about Vladar, had another strong game, but hurt his glove hand/arm. He finished the game and looked ok, but hope all is well.

[zambonir]

I would say Konecny did his part!

And don't forget Juulsen and Seeler. What happens when you have five guys in the box.

We've been Flyers fans too long not to assume that this all goes bad if Vladar is hurt.

[phillychuck]

Signman’s greatest hits:

[zambonir]

Not sure what I would have thought it meant if you'd told me six years ago that Ghost's team would eliminate Giroux's team in the first round of the playoffs (and neither of them would be the Flyers).

Flyers turn to get it done on home ice just like Carolina did.

[LegoDoom]

Unfortunately it wasn't the Flyers tonight.

BTW, I am not sure this website knows what maximum file size is.

[LegoDoom]

I am loving the Flyers play as of late, but the reality is that Montreal is likely going to be force over the next 5 years at least and maybe the only team that can afford to trade for McDavid.

Whatever the Flyers are doing right now isn't enough.

Trade Michkov, who you are playing less than 10 minutes a game, and try to retool around Martone for the next window.