And while it was raining and sleeting outside the KeyBank Center in Western New York for most of the game, it was stormy inside for the Flyers, too.
Handed a 5-2 loss by the Buffalo Sabres, extending their losing streak to a season-high four games, the Flyers also lost two key players in the process — although Jamie Drysdale returned after missing three games with an upper-body injury.
Rasmus Ristolainen didn’t even make it onto the ice for warmups. The defenseman was a full participant and was on the point for one of the power-play units during morning skate, but did not dress for the game. He is listed as day-to-day with an upper-body injury.
Goalie Dan Vladař got the start but did not return after the first period with an undisclosed injury. According to the Flyers, he will be re-evaluated after the game. Coach Rick Tocchet did not have an update when he spoke postgame.
On the first Sabres goal in the first period, during a power play, it appeared that Vladař moved awkwardly when he wasn’t sure where a missed shot by Josh Doan went. He was slow to get up and was able to reset, but Rasmus Dahlin beat him from the point with Jason Zucker setting a screen.
It was just the second shot of the game for the Sabres. Buffalo then scored on its fourth shot. Mattias Samuelsson, the son of former Flyers defenseman Kjell Samuelsson, made it 2-0 with a sweeping snap shot from the inside of the right circle. The goal came after Travis Konecny and Trevor Zegras had a two-on-one but lost the puck in the neutral zone to Doan.
“I think right from the start, I think we maybe respected them a bit too much,” forward Owen Tippett said. “Few of those guys, you kind of have to play hard and take their time and space away. I think some penalties crept in that might have ended up hurting us, too. But, yeah, at the end of the day, I think we just need to be ready to play right from the start.”
Vladař allowed two goals on five shots. Sam Ersson entered at the start of the second period and allowed two goals on six shots in the middle frame.
Buffalo’s Jack Quinn made it 3-0 when he was left alone in front as the Flyers’ defense collapsed. Ryan McLeod got the puck behind the net and fed the open Quinn for a quick shot past Ersson.
Flyers goaltender Samuel Ersson replaced Dan Vladar in the second period and allowed two goals.
The Sabres’ power play, which entered the game ranked 22nd in the NHL and had one goal in the last 21 opportunities dating back to Dec. 21, got its second on the man advantage off the stick of Dahlin, too.
Dahlin got the puck above the circles, walked down, and sent a wrister past Ersson with Zucker atop the crease again. The Flyers’ penalty kill fell into the box setup, which allowed Dahlin the time and space to skate down the middle to make it 4-1.
“Yeah, just really disappointed, like, I’m pretty disappointed,” said Tocchet. “I’m a PK guy, and the reads that we gave them weren’t good. They’re just unacceptable for me, so we’re going to have to tidy that up.”
The penalty kill went 4-for-6. The Flyers’ power play had chances, too, but only capitalized on one of five opportunities.
Philly got an early power play when Sabres goalie Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen wrapped his arms around Christian Dvorak as he tried to corral the puck and do a wraparound. But the Flyers’ power play is struggling, and entered the night 31st in the NHL (15.3%).
On the first power play, they did have two shot attempts, with Zegras’ shot forcing Luokkonen to stop it. A positive was that it looked better than Monday against the Tampa Bay Lightning when it went 0-for-2 with two shot attempts, zero shots on goal, and an icing.
After going 0-for-3, the power play finally cashed in with Zegras scoring — albeit off his skate in the third period. With the Sabres focusing on the other side of the ice, the forward crashed the net with Konecny’s pass going off his skate and past Luukkonen.
The goal, to make it 4-2, was Zegras’ 18th of the year and seventh on the power play. Konecny now has 39 points in 44 games.
In the second period, Tippett got the Flyers on the board to make it 3-1 with a pull-and-shoot.
The forward started the play when he deflected a pass by Dahlin near his own blue line that was intended for Tage Thompson diagonally at the Flyers’ blue line. The puck bounced to Noah Cates, who sent it up to Tippett, and he used Samuelsson as a screen.
Flyers right wing Owen Tippett scored his 15th goal of the season against the Sabres on Wednesday night.
The goal is Tippett’s sixth in the past 12 games. Postgame, he gave Nikita Grebenkin — who was on his line for the first time this season — credit for driving through the defense and creating a bit of a distraction on his goal.
“I think if you have that guy going to the net, it kind of switches things up,” Tippett said. “At that point, you just want to try and create as much as you can and try and impact the game and crawl back. So, yeah, obviously, whenever I have a chance, I’m going to try and shoot. But that one worked out being a good opportunity.”
It’s hard to gauge when things went off the rails, as the Flyers put up shots quickly. And things would have probably gone differently if Luukkonen hadn’t committed highway robbery on Grebenkin 6 minutes, 5 seconds into the game.
Tippett drew the attention of the Sabres’ goalie and sent a backhand pass over to a wide-open Grebenkin at the right post. A left-handed shot, Grebenkin attempted a shot off the pass, but Luukkonen flashed the leather and stole a sure goal.
The Flyers had a six-on-four power play chance with 2:15 left in the game with Ersson pulled, but were unable to score. McLeod added a short-handed empty-net goal.
“I don’t know,” Zegras said when asked what went wrong. “I just think maybe we’ve got to get like, our spark, our mojo back a little bit. We just got to, I guess, reboot our brains a little bit, and know that it’s a hard league, and that you’re going to go through these tough stretches, and that’s part of it.
“And we’re a pretty young team, and I know we have played well up to this point, but we haven’t really accomplished a whole lot. Got to keep the foot on the pedal and just keep going.”
The Flyers had 22 shots on goal and allowed 14. … Noah Juulsen had a shot go off the post with 9:58 left in the third period. … Forward Denver Barkey was a healthy scratch for the first time in his NHL career.
Up next
The Flyers get right back to it on Thursday in Pittsburgh, facing the Penguins (7 p.m., ESPN), who have lost three straight.
BUFFALO ― Jamie Drysdale is back. But Rasmus Ristolainen is out.
Drysdale was activated off injured reserve after morning skate Wednesday and is back in the lineup. He suffered an upper-body injury in the Flyers’ win on Jan. 6 against his former team, the Anaheim Ducks, after absorbing a high hit well away from the puck by forward Ross Johnston.
Without him in the lineup, the Flyers lost three straight, including two in a row to the Tampa Bay Lightning, in which they were outscored by 12-3. Getting the fleet-of-foot defenseman, who is having a breakout year on the defensive side of the puck, back in the lineup is a big lift.
“Oh, man, he has such an impact on our back end. He plays with speed. He helps our offense, so it’ll be good to have him back,” said forward Travis Konecny, who added he is good to go after dealing with his own ailments, including an upper-body injury, a lower-body injury, and a good slash to the leg on Monday.
But now they have to get back on track without Ristolainen, who was not on the ice for warmups before the Flyers faced the Buffalo Sabres at KeyBank Center. The team announced he is day-to-day with an upper-body injury. He was a full participant at morning skate and was on the point for one of the power-play units.
It’s another unfortunate setback for the 31-year-old blueliner. He returned to the Flyers lineup on Dec. 16 in Montreal after missing the start of the season and the end of last season after undergoing surgery on a right triceps tendon rupture in late March. It followed a pair of procedures in 2024, which also repaired a ruptured triceps tendon. Flyers general manager Danny Brière said last April that the injury was similar, although he wouldn’t confirm whether he suffered a torn tendon again.
In 13 games this season, Ristolainen has three assists and a plus-minus of minus-3 while averaging 20 minutes, 59 seconds a game.
Before the announcement, Rick Tocchet was planning on shaking up his defensive pairings because, “I think during the season maybe things get stale [so] you want to move it around stuff,“ he said.
Ristolainen would have been paired alongside Travis Sanheim and Drysdale with his good buddy Cam York. The other pairing would have been Nick Seeler and Emil Andrae. Instead, York and Sanheim remain together, Drysdale is back with Andrae, and Seeler will skate with Noah Juulsen.
Jamie Drysdale (left) and Cam York are close friends and will get a chance Wednesday to be paired together.
Although Bobby Brink was not on the ice for morning skate and is expected to miss his fourth straight game with an upper-body injury, Denver Barkey will be a healthy scratch on Wednesday.
“He just played junior last year, so I think it’s important that he gets a little bit of a break,” Tocchet said. “I told him work out this morning, and go watch the game up top [in the press box]. I think that’s important for young guys to go watch, it slows the game down up top.”
“I think it’s important that even the young guys go up there and just take a look at it. Well, it looks easy up top. It looks a lot slower,” Tocchet said.
“Obviously, on the ice, it’s different. But you can learn from up top. I think it’s important that he does that. I’ll go the next day [and say], ‘What did you see?’ It’s almost like a homework assignment. … He’s a pretty smart kid. … That’s why he was drafted, for his hockey IQ.”
Rick Tocchet thinks rookie Denver Barkey can benefit from a break and watching the game from up in the press box.
Barkey has one goal and three points across 11 games since being called up and recording two assists in his NHL debut on Dec. 20. He has struggled the last two games and had the puck stolen by Brayden Point ahead of Nikita Kucherov’s first goal on Saturday and Nick Paul’s goal later in the game.
Breakaways
Dan Vladař (16-7-4, 907 save percentage) will start in goal. He is 2-1-1 with a .902 save percentage in four career games against Buffalo.
The Flyers have been one of the NHL’s biggest surprises this season with a 22-13-8 record and are seeking a first postseason appearance since 2019-20. With the midway point of the season having just passed, Jackie Spiegel recently caught up with Flyers president Keith Jones to discuss the team’s strong start, timeline for contention, Matvei Michkov’s development, and more.
While Jones says the Flyers are still focused on building something “sustainable,” he did say the players deserve to be rewarded for their strong start and that the team needs to “enhance what they’ve done” as they push for the playoffs.
Jones called Denver Barkey one of the organization’s biggest bright spots in the prospect pool, and also mentioned Porter Martone, Oliver Bonk, Alex Bump, Jack Berglund, and Heikki Ruohonen as others who are making strides.
While Matvei Michkov’s decreased usage and lack of production have been hotly debated, Jones believes this season and the lessons he is learning will be invaluable to his ultimate ceiling in the future.
Note: This interview, which was conducted on Dec. 31, has been edited for brevity.
The Flyers have been one of the NHL’s biggest surprises this season with a 22-13-8 record and are seeking a first postseason appearance since 2019-20. With the midway point of the season having just passed, Jackie Spiegel recently caught up with Flyers president Keith Jones to discuss the team’s strong start, timeline for contention, Matvei Michkov’s development, and more.
Note: This interview, which was conducted on Dec. 31, has been edited for brevity.
Q: Close to the midway point. How would you assess things so far?
A:It’s been a really good, basically, first half of the season for us. Players have advanced, and have kind of fit in and found chemistry, which you figured would take a little bit of time with the number of new faces that we added. The coaching staff has done an excellent job of trying a few different combinations and then figuring out what worked and sticking with it. I think it’s been, from that perspective, a really good beginning to this season.
Q: What have you liked so far about Rick Tocchet as a head coach with the Flyers?
A: A lot. I like the way he communicates with his players. I like the way that he is straightforward, honest, doesn’t allow things to fester, addresses things immediately, and then works really hard to, from a game-to-game basis, improve on things that we may have struggled with in the previous game. His practices or his video [work] with his assistant coaches are very focused on correcting and encouraging, and I think that’s really important, especially with a young team.
Q: When someone is writing a TV script for a series, they sometimes write the ending in advance. Outside of winning the Stanley Cup, what does the end goal look like?
A: The only plan would be to create something that’s sustainable. And there are all kinds of variables, with any professional sport; injuries play a major part. So you can plan all you want and have things that just kind of change those plans, but overall, our goal is to become a playoff team that is a sustainable one. Not just a one-and-done.
So you build that through the foundation of your team, and I’m really pleased with what Danny [Brière] has done, along with Brent Flahr, in starting to really build up our prospect pool. We’re starting to see a couple of those guys arrive, and others getting closer to arriving. And it’s always good when you can have players develop together, build those relationships that can last them a decade or more, playing in the same organization, and that’s what we envision.
Keith Jones believes this season of learning will be good for Matvei Michkov in the long run.
Q: So you prefer to hold on to the assets right now?
A: Yes. In general, we’re not going to mortgage the future in order to have one year and say, ‘Oh, we figured this out. We’re a playoff team.’ So that’s still something that I know Danny’s very focused on and [governor Dan Hilferty] and I will encourage him to stay on that path.
Q: Is there anyone in the prospect pool who stands out to you?
A: I would have liked to tell you it was Denver Barkey, but he’s already arrived on the scene. We’re obviously very happy with the way that he’s progressed. And Oliver Bonk has started to get into form now with the American League team in Lehigh, and it’s been fun to see that team have some success as well.
Alex Bump continues to push and develop … And then we have Jack Berglund, watching him perform extremely well, which we expected at the World Junior tournament. … [With] his size, he has the ability to play in front of the opposition’s net, so he’s very good on the power play in that regard. So, as you build a team, you’re looking for pieces that can take over roles that you feel are necessary in order for you to advance. And he’s one of those guys.
Porter Martone, obviously, is very similar in that regard. He’s an outstanding playmaker for a player of his size, great set of hands. Another leadership type personality. … Heikki Ruohonen is doing an outstanding job for Finland, learning his way at Harvard, which is awesome.
Keith Jones believes Jack Berglund can be a big part of the Flyers’ future.
Q: Matvei Michkov is always a hot topic. How would you evaluate his season thus far?
A: I think it’s going to be a very important year in his career. I think that there’s going to be a lot of development. I think he’s doing a great job of working on the things that he’s being asked to work on. I love his level of compete. I love his ability to stay in there, stay in the fight, and I’m really pleased with the way he’s started to pick things up lately.
His attitude’s been outstanding, and I think when he looks back on his career in 15 years, he’s going to be pretty happy about some of the things that he went through this year in order to get to where he needs to go.
Q: The free agency market is so different today, with so many players already locked up. And you’ve previously discussed the need to upgrade at center. Is it more via trades now?
A: Yeah, there’s a lot that goes into it. You can see what Danny did this offseason, really calculated, smart additions to the team. And then you get to know the players even better when they’re under your watch. So a lot that has to do with internal growth and then also having the ability, whether it’s cap space, whether it’s prospects, whether it’s draft choices, to jump and go after something that’s really enticing. So we’re always looking.
Q: Can you just take us quickly through the Trevor Zegras trade and how you think his season is going thus far?
A: He’s done a great job. And it’s really proof of Danny’s willingness to wait for the right time, and he was really patient on this one with Anaheim. It’s been well documented that it was a long process. Trevor kind of fit what we were looking for, and he has been all that and more with what he’s done for us. So I give Danny a lot of credit on that one as well as he waited for the right time to find the right deal that worked for both teams at that time, and we’ve been able to really see the benefits of that in our lineup.
The Flyers have been one of the NHL’s biggest surprises this season with a 22-13-8 record and are seeking a first postseason appearance since 2019-20. With the midway point of the season having just passed, Jackie Spiegel recently caught up with Flyers president Keith Jones to discuss the team’s strong start, timeline for contention, Matvei Michkov’s development, and more.
Note: This interview, which was conducted on Dec. 31, has been edited for brevity.
Q: Close to the midway point. How would you assess things so far?
A:It’s been a really good, basically, first half of the season for us. Players have advanced, and have kind of fit in and found chemistry, which you figured would take a little bit of time with the number of new faces that we added. The coaching staff has done an excellent job of kind of trying a few different combinations and then figuring out what worked and sticking with it. I think it’s been, from that perspective, a really good beginning to this season.
Q: What have you liked so far about Rick Tocchet as a head coach with the Flyers?
A: A lot. I like the way he communicates with his players. I like the way that he is straightforward, honest, doesn’t allow things to fester, addresses things immediately, and then works really hard to, from a game-to-game basis, improve on things that we may have struggled with in the previous game. His practices or his video [work] with his assistant coaches are very focused on correcting and encouraging, and I think that’s really important, especially with a young team.
Q: You talk about staying in the moment, but you are sitting in a playoff spot. Are you still looking at things through the glass, that this is still a rebuild?
A: I think we’ve been clear that the players will decide. So obviously, it’s a very important stretch over the next six to eight weeks of play. And the players have done a really good job of putting themselves in a position where we’re going to look to enhance what they’ve done. Previously, that was not the approach. It’s really important that we reward our players for playing so hard for one another and for us.
Keith Jones and Danny Brière say that the team’s rebuild and no upward trajectory has been a collaborative effort.
Q: Two years ago, management had a similar statement about the players deciding the approach. But then Sean Walker was traded, and things kind of fell apart. Do you use that as a warning now?
A: I think it’s just a different time for us now in our development. So I think it’s a combination of things. I think looking back on what we did there was the right thing to do, and that’s why we did it. Same as last year. But this year feels different. And we’re a couple more years into what we’re trying to eventually accomplish. So it’s just about being there for one another to remind each other where we’re at in this process, and having the support of [governor] Dan Hilferty and [Comcast CEO] Brian Roberts on top of that, really makes it a job that we want to get right.
Q: When someone is writing a TV script for a series, they sometimes write the ending in advance Beyond winning a Stanley Cup, what’s the end goal here look like?
A: The only plan would be to create something that’s sustainable. And there are all kinds of variables, with any professional sport; injuries play a major part. So you can plan all you want and have things that just kind of change those plans, but overall, our goal is to become a playoff team that is a sustainable one. Not just a one-and-done.
So you build that through the foundation of your team, and I’m really pleased with what Danny [Brière] has done, along with Brent Flahr, in starting to really build up our prospect pool. We’re starting to see a couple of those guys arrive, and others getting closer to arriving. And it’s always good when you can have players develop together, build those relationships that can last them a decade or more, playing in the same organization, and that’s what we envision.
Q: Do you look at things from the perspective that the first step is playoffs, and then being a sustainable playoff team, and then, after all that, building a Stanley Cup contender? Or does it all happen at once?
A: If you’re a consistent playoff team, you’re a contender in my eyes. There are always tweaks that can take place when you’re in that position. You’ll see teams that are there right now; they’ll trade some of their draft equity and younger players in order to really enhance their opportunity of winning. So eventually we’ll get to that place. We’re not there right now, but I look forward to when we are there.
Q: So you prefer to hold on to the assets right now.
A: Yes. In general. We’re not going to mortgage the future in order to have one year and say, ‘Oh, we figured this out. We’re a playoff team.’ So that’s still something that I know Danny’s very focused on and [Hilferty] and I will encourage him to stay on that path.
Could St. Louis Blues center Robert Thomas be the type of player the Flyers cash in some of their future chips for?
Q: In working with Brière, how much is it his vision or is it a team vision with you, Hilferty, and him?
A: Well, he’s the general manager. When it comes to players and acquisitions, that’s Danny’s job. My job is to help him with that, enhance that, give him the resources that he needs to make that happen. But Danny’s a general manager, and he’s a really good one.
Q: Is there anyone in the prospect pool who stands out to you?
A: Yeah, I would have liked to tell you it was Denver Barkey, but he’s already arrived on the scene. We’re obviously very happy with the way that he’s progressed. And Oliver Bonk has started to get into form now with the American League team in Lehigh, and it’s been fun to see that team have some success as well.
Alex Bump continues to push and develop … And then we have Jack Berglund, [we’ve been] watching him perform extremely well, which we expected at the World Junior tournament. He’s the captain of Team Sweden, and he’s producing at a high rate. That’s really exciting for us. With his size, he has the ability to play in front of the opposition’s net, so he’s very good on the power play in that regard. So, as you build a team, you’re looking for pieces that can take over roles that you feel are necessary in order for you to advance. And he’s one of those guys.
Porter Martone, obviously, is very similar in that regard. He’s an outstanding playmaker for a player of his size, great set of hands. Another leadership type personality. He is the captain of the Canadian team. It’s a great honor for him, and we’re thrilled about that.
Just like Denver Barkey, he was the captain of the London Knights that won the Memorial Cup. Oliver Bonk was an assistant captain. These are the type of players that we want in our organization. That’s a handful of them. Heikki Ruohonen is doing an outstanding job for Finland, learning his way at Harvard, which is awesome.
Q: Max Westergård has also looked impressive at World Juniors. What have you seen from him?
A: Yeah, he can fly. Brent Flahr shines in the fifth round. He’s had some great fifth-round picks.
Q: Speaking of the fifth round, let’s talk Alex Bump. Why wasn’t he the one to get the call-up recently?
A: He just needs more seasoning, that’s all. There are just little parts of the game that he’s going to figure out, and it’s much easier to figure out down there before you come up here. He’s doing everything we’re asking him to do. He continues to improve. He’s done some amazing things offensively, which we know he can do, and he’s not far off. But he’s an exciting prospect for us.
He’s showing great patience as well. He demonstrated that last year at the end of his college season, not burning a year on his entry-level contract and electing to go down and play in the American Hockey League. He’s sharp. He gets it. And he’s going to be rewarded for his patience, and we will be for ours as well.
Rookie Alex Bump, who is second on the Lehigh Valley Phantoms with 20 points in 28 games, could be close to earning an NHL debut.
Q: How do you balance development then? Using Alex Bump as an example. He’s building his game, and maybe he is finally ready to make the next step, but there’s no room. How do you balance that?
A: You want the player to force you to make room, so that’s affecting his game in the minors to the point where you can’t keep them down there anymore. So they’ll let you know, just like our team up here lets us know where they’re at. Just by observing and watching, and paying attention, the players will tell you when it’s time to come up.
Q: Matvei Michkov is always a hot topic. How would you evaluate his season thus far?
A: I think it’s going to be a very important year in his career. I think that there’s going to be a lot of development. I think he’s doing a great job of working on the things that he’s being asked to work on. I love his level of compete. I love his ability to stay in there, stay in the fight, and I’m really pleased with the way he started to pick things up lately.
His attitude’s been outstanding, and I think when he looks back on his career in 15 years, he’s going to be pretty happy about some of the things that he went through this year in order to get to where he needs to go.
Q: How would you gauge your defense now with Rasmus Ristolainen back?
A: Solid’s a good word. Underrated is probably another good word too. There’s a really good mix of intelligence and athleticism, size. I like the balance that’s there.
And I like having the option of Noah Juulsen there as well; I like that he brings physicality, has a tremendous attitude, and doesn’t change whether he’s in the lineup or not. He’s a really good team guy, and those are important parts of the puzzle, too, because there are not enough chairs when the music stops on a nightly basis. So you need players who are not so much accepting of that, but are willing to do whatever it takes to get back in the lineup.
Q: Are there any areas you want to improve on with the roster?
A: As it jumps out to me right now, there’s nothing immediately. We’re always looking to get better. If something’s there, we’re going to do it to get better.
Q: The free agency market is so different today, with so many players already locked up. And you’ve previously discussed the need to upgrade at center. Is it more via trades now?
A: Yeah, there’s a lot that goes into it. You can see what Danny did this offseason, really calculated, smart additions to the team. And then you get to know the players even better when they’re under your watch. So a lot that has to do with internal growth and then also having the ability, whether it’s cap space, whether it’s prospects, whether it’s draft choices, to jump and go after something that’s really enticing. So we’re always looking.
Q: How do you handle the salary cap rising? Does it change things?
A: We love it. We think it’s great. I wish it would go up another 50 million. But we’re lucky, because we have great ownership, that’s the one huge advantage that we have. So we welcome it.
Flyers forward Trevor Zegras has been a revelation in his first season with the team.
Q: You were the team’s president when Travis Sanheim almost got traded to the St Louis Blues. He was just named to Hockey Canada’s roster for the Olympics. What’s it been like watching his development and growth, and looking back, are you happy you didn’t make that trade?
A: It’s been awesome. The only reason you would ever make a trade like that is because you’re getting a boatload back, and depending on where you’re at in your evolution, those trades sometimes do happen. But are we surprised that Travis is doing the things that he’s doing? No. So we’re really pleased for him. He’s obviously a huge minute-muncher for us on the back end. It’s a joy to watch him skate and come barreling up the ice. He’s just a super good kid, and we’re all really proud of him.
Q: Brière seems to be finding diamonds in the rough. For example, there was Walker, Ryan Poehling, and now Carl Grundström. Can you explain what Danny Brière is doing?
A: He’s very patient and methodical, thoughtful, and there are 1,000 phone calls a day that he’s making. So it’s from a relentless work ethic and a really high level of intelligence in the hockey world. Yeah, not surprised that he’s doing as well as he is.
Q: Can you just take us quickly through the Trevor Zegras trade and how you think his season is going thus far?
A: He’s done a great job. And it’s really proof of Danny’s willingness to wait for the right time, and he was really patient on this one with Anaheim. It’s been well documented that it was a long process. Trevor kind of fit what we were looking for, and he has been all that and more with what he’s done for us. So I give Danny a lot of credit on that one as well as he waited for the right time to find the right deal that worked for both teams at that time, and we’ve been able to really see the benefits of that in our lineup.
Q: Can you just expand on what you mean by he fit what we were looking for?
A: You’re always looking for high skill level, talented players, and at the time, he was a distressed asset. So that’s what you have to do. You have to be thoughtful and a little bit lucky, and provide an environment where the player can shine. Our players help in that regard, too. So it’s a full organizational effort, starting at the top.
Q: What would be your message to the fans right now?
A: First of all, thank you. I see our fans all the time, and I appreciate them supporting us. I think that we’re trying to get it right for them. We’ve [Danny and I] played in front of them, in playoff positions, and we want our guys to experience that as well because I know they’re just terrific hockey fans that can really bring you to another level when you play in front of a packed house, and that’s what we’re working towards.
I thank them for continuing to come out to games, follow the team, and I just would let them know that, which we do often when we see them, we’re going to do everything we can to try to get this right.
Well, after two straight sobering losses to perennial powerhouse Tampa Bay, in which the Flyers were outscored by 12-3 at Xfinity Mobile Arena, they surely learned a few tough ones.
Here are three lessons from Monday’s 5-1 loss to the Lightning that the Flyers learned and need to carry with them as they move through a gauntlet before February’s Olympic break.
As the old saying goes, “you take it one shift at a time.” But, when you read between the lines, it’s really saying that yes, while you take it one shift at a time, you also do it by playing consistently.
Does that mean they have to be perfect every single second? No. And the Flyers have their lapses. But, unlike Stanley Cup contenders who can get bailed out by their defense or offense, the Flyers aren’t there yet. They have great stretches, but as seen in even some of their wins, when they allow teams to creep back in, they need to be on their toes for a full 60 minutes.
“These are the games that are important to us to see consistency-wise, hey, we need to play the right way,” defenseman Nick Seeler said. “We need to reload when it’s there. We have to help our D out. We have to block shots when it’s there.
“We have to do the little things to be successful in this league. It’s important. I think we’ve done a good job this year and grown a lot, but it’s that consistency piece that we can continue to do better at.
“We still believe in ourselves. These two games don’t change that. But we’ve just got to learn from a couple of games like that and be better from it, mature a bit as a group, and we’ll get on the other side of this.”
2. Cut down on turnovers
The record books will say the Flyers had 19 giveaways on Monday night. This comes after 14 on Saturday. In that game, at least four goals can be credited to giveaways. On Monday, Matvei Michkov turned the puck over twice in the offensive zone on one shift — although the official stats say he had just one giveaway in the game — and Trevor Zegras had the puck taken away before Jake Guentzel scored.
It’s costing them games.
“We’ve got some guys giving too many turnovers, especially some of our high-end guys, too many turnovers,” Tocchet said. “Because if you’re going to turn them over, if you have a chance, you’ve got to score if I want to play that type of hockey.
Flyers right wing Travis Konecny was one of the players who was too loose with the puck on Monday night.
“We’re giving up turnovers, but we’re not scoring. … I’m a big believer in that, that if you’re going to play risky, you better score, and our guys aren’t scoring, so you’ve got to tighten it up.”
Across the whole season, the Flyers are one of the NHL’s best teams when it comes to limiting giveaways with the fifth fewest (639). However, across the last two games against the Lightning, they have 33 giveaways. Those 33 are the sixth-highest total in the NHL during that two-game span, with 24 teams playing twice.
It’s a trend that needs to be quashed.
3. Special teams need to step up
Maybe it’s something in the water? Because no matter what — new personnel, new coaches — the Flyers’ power play is bad, and it may have come to a head Monday when they had two power plays and didn’t put a single shot on goal. In fact, they iced the puck once.
Although the power play has been an ongoing issue since before the John Tortorella era — and it is now at 15.3%, tied with the New York Islanders for 30th in the NHL — the problem is that the once steady penalty kill is matching in futility. After going 2-for-2 with kills on Saturday, it went 2-for-4 on Monday and is just 9-for-16 (56.3%) since New Year’s Eve, which ranks 31st. Overall, it is at 79.9% and ranked 14th in the NHL.
“I don’t know. It’s tough to say right after a game like this,” Sean Couturier said when asked where he sees the penalty kill now. “Obviously, it’s not good enough.”
Special teams can make or break teams, and if the Flyers, who are precariously hanging on to third in the Metropolitan Division, want to stay there, the penalty kill and the power play need to step up.
“Yeah, that’s something we have to improve on, no doubt about it. We had some looks on the power play, so it wasn’t all that bad, but we’ve got to bear down, and they’ve got a lethal power play themselves,” Christian Dvorak said. “And you know, it was a big part of the game for them. And, you know, made a huge difference. So we’ll have to do better.”
After being one of the NHL’s best teams following a loss — 9-1-2 after losing in regulation and 13-2-5 following any loss — the Flyers have now lost two straight in regulation for the second time this season. The last time that happened was in November.
Following Saturday’s 7-2 loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning, they were handed a 5-1 defeat by the same squad, both at the Xfinity Mobile Arena.
The Flyers have now lost three straight, including the 2-1 overtime loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs on Thursday. It also matches the longest losing streak of the season, set in mid-December.
Once again, the Lightning took an early 1-0 lead. This time, it was Pontus Holmberg beating Dan Vladař on a bouncing puck. The Flyers stepped up in the neutral zone, something they struggled with on Saturday, but Tampa Bay regained control, and once they got the puck in the Flyers’ end, they pinned them deep.
Eventually, the Lightning’s Zemgus Girgensons got the puck in the right circle and put it toward the front of the net with Holmberg and Travis Sanheim battling. The puck bounced around, and after Holmberg’s shot was initially blocked by Sanheim, his second attempt beat Vladař.
Just 33 seconds into the second period, Jake Guentzel made it 2-0 Tampa Bay with his 20th of the season. Off the opening faceoff, the Lightning dumped the puck in, and the Flyers seemed to be OK as they worked it around the boards.
Flyers goaltender Dan Vladar (right) and Cam York sit on the ice after Tampa Bay Lightning center Brayden Point (center) scored a second period power play goal on Monday. Point was injured hurt on the play.
But Trevor Zegras was double-teamed by Anthony Cirelli and Guentzel and lost the puck. Guentzel, who is playing for USA Hockey at the 2026 Milano Cortina Olympics, got the puck above the left circle and fired it past a screened Vladař.
The Lightning took a 3-0 lead on a power-play goal by Brayden Point in front. On the play, Point got his own rebound but was injured in the process as his right leg seemed to get twisted with Cam York. Named to Canada’s Olympic team, Point dropped his gloves immediately and grabbed his right knee before being helped off the ice.
Before the goal, Darren Raddysh’s stick seemed to hook Sean Couturier up high in the Lightning’s zone and could have been called.
The Flyers had some chances early on, notably Owen Tippett driving down the left boards, past Maxwell Crozier, and setting up Couturier for a shot that rang off the pipe when they were trailing 1-0. Rodrigo Ābols was also robbed when it was 2-0, when a point shot by Emil Andrae went off the end boards to him in front, and he had two good whacks at the puck.
Down 3-0, the Flyers started to turn it up and got on the board during four-on-four action.
After Vladař made a save on Raddysh off his mask, Christian Dvorak got the puck and headed up ice on a two-on-one with Nick Seeler. Dvorak kept the puck and sent a snapshot past goalie Jonas Johansson. It was Dvorak’s 10th of the year and extended his point streak to four games (one goal, three assists).
Philly had chances to cut further into the lead, especially with a delayed penalty called on Lightning defenseman Erik Černák. The Flyers had a six-on-five and had five shot attempts, including shots by Carl Grundström, who missed practice on Sunday due to illness, and Rasmus Ristolainen.
But the power play struggled and went 0-for-2 with two shot attempts, zero shots on goal, and an icing call.
Tampa Bay added another goal with 31 seconds left in the middle frame on a goal by Brandon Hagel, and Nikita Kucherov had an empty-net goal in the third period.
Breakaways
Forward Travis Konecny returned after missing Saturday’s game with an upper-body injury and after leaving Sunday’s practice with a lower-body injury. He had five shot attempts, including a chance in the second period down the left side, across 14 minutes, 21 seconds of ice time. The alternate captain also had 14 penalty minutes, with a 10-minute misconduct for abuse of an official. … Nikita Grebenkin and Ābols also dropped the gloves. … The Flyers allowed two power-play goals in four opportunities for Tampa Bay. … Point left the game with a lower-body injury. … Vladař allowed four goals on 25 shots.
Up next
The Flyers hit the road for two games in two nights, playing the Buffalo Sabres on Wednesday (7:30 p.m., TNT, truTV, HBO Max) and the Pittsburgh Penguins on Thursday (7 p.m., ESPN).
Let’s get weird. Like in playoff hockey, the Flyers will get another crack at home to beat the streaking Tampa Bay Lightning.
On Saturday, the Flyers helped the Bolts extend their winning streak to nine games in a 7-2 loss. Some of it was because of the talent the Lightning have and some of it was self-inflicted by the Flyers with careless turnovers and miscues.
Blueliner Rasmus Ristolainen was asked Sunday after practice what the Flyers can do better. “Obviously, the defensive part of the game,” he said. “We let their good players have too much space, and it was too much fun for them.”
The Flyers would much rather be the ones having fun. But who joins Monday’s party is still to be determined. There will be a few game-time decisions for the Flyers.
Carl Grundström missed practice Sunday due to illness, and Travis Konecny, who was returning from an upper-body injury, got nailed with a shot on the knee, causing “like a dead leg kind of thing,” according to coach Rick Tocchet. Both participated in the optional morning skate along with Bobby Brink, who will not play against the Lightning because of an upper-body injury.
The Flyers will have Dan Vladař in net. The goalie did not play in the team’s previous two matchups against the Lightning, including a 3-0 loss in Tampa Bay on Nov. 24, but has earned at least a point in four straight starts (3-0-1). And the Flyers have a pretty good record on their side: 9-1-2 in games following a regulation loss.
Here are three keys for the Flyers on Monday:
1) Minimize mistakes.
Several of the Lightning goals came off turnovers, including one each by Matvei Michkov, Denver Barkey, and Trevor Zegras around Tampa Bay’s blue line. As defenseman Nick Seeler said, “It’s those soft areas, those little plays where we need to get it deep instead of trying to make a play and stay patient, and offense will come.”
Barkey struggled all night, but he learned a valuable lesson in his 10th NHL game.
“I think the biggest thing is you’ve got to minimize your mistakes, make sure you’re ready from the drop of the puck until the buzzer goes,” Barkey said Monday. “I think that was the biggest thing I learned. They’re good players, and you’ve really got to be sure of the plays that you make, because they will make you pay.”
Flyers forward Denver Barkey showed some growing pains in Saturday’s loss to Tampa Bay.
2) Know where Nikita Kucherov is at all times, but remember he’s not the only focus.
On Saturday, the Russian winger padded his stats with two goals and two assists, and now has 41 points in 30 career games against the Flyers. His linemates, Gage Goncalves and Brayden Point, had two goals and three assists, respectively.
“Kucherov is a focus. He’s your pregame strategy. First goal, where is he? We should have been aware of that,” said Tocchet, referencing Kucherov being left all alone in front of the goal for his first snipe on Saturday. “If he’s on the ice, I’m not sure you want to make a high-risk, east-west play. … But saying that, we have the puck, we’ve got to make plays when Kucherov’s on the ice. We’ve got to make him play defense. We can’t just slap pucks around.”
But he cannot be the only focus for the Flyers. Once he gets off the ice — he played only 14 minutes, 24 seconds on Saturday — there are guys like Anthony Cirelli and Jake Guentzel, who will play for Canada and the U.S. at the 2026 Milano Cortina Olympics, respectively. Eleven members of the Lightning got at least a point Saturday, so the Flyers cannot take their foot off the pedal.
As Seeler said, the “neutral zone is going to be really important for this upcoming game here.” The Lightning had no trouble sending a stretch pass up the ice or skating through with ease.
Because of this, it put the Flyers back on their heels as the Lightning forced the defense to back up in the Flyers’ end. It led to several goals, like Kucherov’s second and Goncalves’ first.
“They get time and space, they’ll kill you,” Tocchet said about Kucherov and Point.
That goes for the whole team coached by Jon Cooper. But for most of the season, the Flyers have been strong in the neutral zone, whether using it to regroup, steal the puck, or attack the rushing opposition to slow them down. They know this is a key for them on Monday.
“Just little details with set up forechecks, being above angles, to limit their time, space, speed, their ability to go east-west to make those lateral plays or late plays,” Noah Cates said on Sunday.
“They’re a dangerous team, obviously, off the rush and just like the little things up the ice that you can do that slow them down, make it harder for them.”
Sam Ersson has not had the best start to the season.
In 16 games, he is 6-6-4 with a 3.33 goals-against average and an .858 save percentage. They are the highest and the lowest numbers, respectively, in an NHL career that spans 126 games across four seasons.
Everything came to a head on Saturday in a 7-2 Flyers loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning at Xfinity Mobile Arena, matching his career high in goals allowed for the third time. He faced 23 shots.
“Yeah, obviously, it’s been tough for me, personally,” he told The Inquirer Sunday about his season as a whole. “It’s weird. I would say, like the team is doing well, we’re winning, it’s a lot of fun in that sense, but at the same time, you want more out of yourself, and I’m disappointed in how I perform.
“I think there’s been stretches of where it’s been good and got some big wins. And then there’s been stretches where, especially now, lately, I feel like it’s been lacking.
“Obviously, especially last night, it’s very tough, embarrassing to let in seven goals on your home ice. You feel like you kind of let down the team and the fans. Obviously, that’s not acceptable. Just got to be better.”
Ersson has one win in his last seven starts, a 3-1 victory against the Chicago Blackhawks before the NHL’s holiday break. He started nine of the first 26 games, going 5-2-2 with a 2.97 GAA and an .869 save percentage. Since Dec. 4, he has started seven of the Flyers’ last 17 games, going 1-4-2 in that stretch with a 3.80 GAA and an .844 save percentage.
Tampa Bay center Gage Goncalves scores a third-period goal on Flyers goaltender Samuel Ersson on Saturday.
The 26-year-old goaltender is not one to make excuses. And he has the chance to do just that with a new coaching staff, new systems in front of him, and fewer starts for a goalie who played in 47 games last year and 51 the year before.
“I’m not blaming anything like that,” he said. “It comes down to me, how I perform, how I approach things, and I know if I do that in the correct way, my game, I will have success no matter what.”
According to Money Puck, among goalies who have played at least 10 games, he is ranked fifth-worst in goals saved above average (-9.5), sixth in percentage of expected goals (-21.01), and tied for last in save percentage (.858). And he doesn’t have nearly as many minutes as the guys below him, like Jordan Binnington and fellow Swedes Jacob Markström and Linus Ullmark.
Goals saved above average is a comparison tool to show how a goalie did compared to an average goalie seeing the same shots. Among goalies with at least 700 minutes played, Ersson ranks dead last at five-on-five in goals saved above average, too (-16.02). His high-danger goals saved above average is the 10th highest (-4.28), but he has also faced the fewest high-danger shots (70).
It’s a bit surprising because, before the team made mistakes — not every goal on Saturday can be blamed on the goalie — and the Flyers allowed a touchdown and the extra point, they were ranked ninth in the NHL in goals allowed (2.79). It’s a wild drop from last season, when they finished at 3.45.
“I think it’s better,” Ersson said when asked about structural changes in the defensive zone by Rick Tocchet and his staff. “I think we’re doing a really good job defensively with how we’re playing.
“So, for me, it all comes down to kind of how I play and how I perform. And I know if I play to the level I can and want to be, I will have success. So, just got to find a way to flush these last few games and get back to where I want to be.”
The Flyers play the Lightning again on Monday (7 p.m., NBCSP), and the expectation is that Dan Vladař will get the start. But there’s a good chance Ersson will get an opportunity to right the ship with the Flyers having a back-to-back in two of the next three weeks.
“Just got to roll up the sleeves and grind away,” Tocchet said. And Ersson, who was the first one on the ice Sunday at practice, is up for the task.
“It’s a combination of a lot of things,” the goalie said about what comes next. “I would say usually, like when you’re in a tough stretch, less is more. You’re obviously working, but if you start to try to change everything, then you’re just tearing down the foundation that you’ve built up for years, right? So it’s the combination of trusting your game, but just like pushing everything a little bit and getting back to where it needs to be.”
Konecny’s brief practice
Travis Konecny’s return practice Sunday lasted only a few minutes. During the first drill, he took a shot off his knee.
“Kind of a nerve,” Tocchet said. “So hopefully it wakes up a little bit. So it just was like a dead leg kind of thing, so we’ll see about tomorrow.”
The Flyers forward, who was injured during Thursday’s game and did not play the third period, also missed Saturday’s loss to Tampa Bay with an upper-body injury. After watching the game from the press box, he was a participant in a regular jersey in Voorhees.
It became evident quickly that Konecny was in a lot of pain on the bench. He tried to walk it off under the watchful eye of assistant athletic trainers Alex Ambrose and Joe Mele, and even tested it on the ice, but did not return to practice.
“It seems like injuries, even with other teams, they come in bunches, they don’t come every once in a while,” Tocchet said. “You get one, two, three, four in a row, so maybe it’s our turn now, we’re starting to get it. So, yeah, you’ve just got to push through that stuff.”
At the start of last season, defenseman Nick Seeler missed the Flyers’ first five games after suffering a nerve injury to his leg in a preseason game, hitting an area without padding.
“The numbness was the whole outside of my right leg and into my foot,” he said at the time, pointing toward the back of his leg, where it caused everything to “shut off for a while.”
The Flyers hope to have Konecny, the team’s second-leading scorer, back in the lineup Monday against the Lightning. It starts a stretch of 11 games in the last 20 days of January, and they do not have two days between games until the start of February.
Breakaways
Forward Bobby Brink should be good to go on Monday. Brink has missed the last two games after being injured on a blindside hit during Tuesday’s win against the Anaheim Ducks. He participated in Saturday’s morning skate in a noncontact jersey but was in a regular black jersey on Sunday. … Defenseman Jamie Drysdale was still in a noncontact jersey. … Forward Carl Grundström missed practice due to illness. His status for Monday’s game is to be determined.
Typically, our second-day stories on games include two positives sandwiched around a negative. It’s built that way to soften the blow of the negative.
But while coach Rick Tocchet said he liked parts of the Flyers’ game, after a 7-2 loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning, it’s hard to focus on positives. So, this is a reverse. Here are two negatives with a big positive in the middle.
Negative: Sloppy play
As Garnet Hathaway said, the team is going to have to watch a lot of tape on Sunday because, in an odd twist of the schedule, the Flyers get another crack at the Lightning on Monday.
“We’re maybe making plays at the blue line that we shouldn’t make,” Hathaway said. “Their east-west game is a lot of their offense. They know when they have time and space, and they’ve got elite skill to make those passes through guys. So, some self-inflicted, some tip your cap. Either way, it doesn’t matter.”
Pretty much every single goal the Lightning scored came off a breakdown by the Flyers. Whether it was a turnover at the Tampa Bay blue line that sent the puck the other way — i.e., Matvei Michkov’s turnover that led to Gage Goncalves’ first goal of the night, or Trevor Zegras’ that led to Yanni Gourde’s tally — or backing up in the defensive zone, or leaving guys all alone to have their way with Sam Ersson, the Flyers struggled on Saturday.
While Tocchet had no problem with his team’s effort through the first 30 minutes, he thought some of his players lost focus and “half-hustled.” He noted that several players made mistakes backchecking and let the Lightning get inside.
You can only put so much blame on not having three of your best players, but the Flyers fell apart, notably in the third period. They were outshot 8-4 and, according to Natural Stat Trick, they had 30% of the shot attempts at five-on-five. The Lightning scored four times.
“Just an awful third period,” captain Sean Couturier said. “We’ll just move on. It’s one of those games you’ve got to forget quick.”
Flyers right wing Garnet Hathaway notched his first point of the season in Saturday’s loss to the Lightning.
Positive: Garnet Hathaway
Although the majority of players struggled, guys like Nikita Grebenkin, Owen Tippett, who scored his 14th goal on the season, and Hathaway stood out.
For Hathaway, it was a moment 36 games in the making, because in Game 37, he notched his first goal of the season. It was also his first point.
“A little overdue,” he said. “I keep thinking about, I can’t go back and change anything that’s happened so far. It doesn’t help me to think about. It doesn’t help me look back and wish I, you know, woulda, coulda, shoulda. It’s nice to get one. It’s nice to help the team on the score sheet.”
The goal was a deserved one with how he and Rodrigo Ābols played along the end boards — actually being the ones to create the turnover as they stole the puck from Lightning defenseman Erik Cernak. Hathaway then went right to the slot and deflected in the point shot. It is the gritty, blue-collar style of game that Hathaway needs to play to be successful.
Negative: Sam Ersson
Through 16 starts this season, Ersson is 6-6-4 with a 3.33 goals-against average and .858 save percentage. According to Money Puck, he is fifth-worst in goals saved above average (-9.5), and among goalies who have played at least 12 games, he ranks sixth in percentage of expected goals (-21.01).
On Saturday, Ersson allowed seven goals on 23 shots, giving him his worst save percentage of the season (.696).
Flyers goaltender Sam Ersson allowed four goals on eight third-period shots.
Was every goal his fault? No. The first goal saw the Flyers completely ignore Nikita Kucherov — something you should never do — allowing him to sit all alone in front for a slam-dunk goal.
“We’ve got to be better in front of him. Those are tough games to play. Obviously, I think he deserved better,” Tippett said. “And I don’t know if the sarcastic cheers [are] really appreciated, but we’ve got to do a better job in front of him and not put him in some of those situations.” Ersson was on the receiving end of sarcastic cheers after his saves throughout the night, including on his first save after allowing two goals on the first three shots of the third period.
“Keep his head up,” Hathaway said about the message to Ersson. “Yeah, I don’t think we played as defensively sound as we needed to against a very offensive-minded team, and that’s not on him. He’s played great all year, so forget it, it’s in the past” ”
According to Natural Stat Trick, Ersson faced seven high-danger shots and allowed four goals. But he did allow two from mid-range and one low-danger goal. Is he a goalie struggling with confidence?
“Yeah, he’s struggling a little bit,” Tocchet said when asked. “… You’re going to have tough nights. It’s a tough night. To have an NHL career, sometimes you’re going to be in the mud, and you’ve got to get yourself out of it, got to work harder.
“You’ve got to analyze things, not just him, anybody, when you’re having a tough, tough night or something, or tough couple of weeks or something, whatever you’re having, you’ve got to really just dig down and then get the support of the team too. That helps too.”
The Flyers were facing an uphill battle Saturday night.
Against a Tampa Bay Lightning team riding an eight-game winning streak, the Flyers were without three key players in forwards Travis Konecny and Bobby Brink and defenseman Jamie Drysdale.
The result was a 7-2 loss, ending the team’s three-game point streak. It is only the second time the Flyers have lost in regulation following a loss this season; Philly was handed a 2-1 overtime defeat by the Toronto Maple Leafs on Thursday.
Sam Ersson received several Bronx cheers for his saves throughout the game, notably his first save after allowing two goals on the first three shots he saw and in the third period after the game was well out of reach. He allowed seven goals on 23 shots, including four on eight shots in the third period.
Flyers goalie Samuel Ersson allowed seven goals on 23 shots faced in a loss at home against the Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday.
Nikita Kucherov gave Tampa Bay a 1-0 lead just 109 seconds into the game.
Lightning defenseman Darren Raddysh sent a stretch pass up the ice from his own goal line. Kucherov wasn’t able to control it as it bounced into the Flyers’ end, and Travis Sanheim tapped it away from him as he was surrounded by four Flyers defenders.
Owen Tippett corralled the puck and, under pressure, sent it over to Denver Barkey as he curled up the boards — all while Kucherov hung out by the Flyers’ net all alone. Brayden Point stole the puck from Barkey, and as four Flyers focused on him, he sent the puck to Kucherov all alone at the right post. The Russian winger shot it off the pass and by Ersson, who was making his first start since New Year’s Eve.
Kucherov, who entered the game with 37 points in 29 games against the Flyers, would get a second. He got the puck in the neutral zone from Point and carried it down into the left circle — causing the Flyers to back up — before shooting against the grain while in stride past the glove of Ersson.
In between Kucherov’s goals, Garnet Hathaway finally got on the board.
“Yeah, I can’t go back and change the first half,” Hathaway said after Thursday’s game, acknowledging that he didn’t have a point in his first 36 games and was a healthy scratch for six games beginning on Dec. 20. “I wish I could, but I can’t. I’m trying to go day by day. … And I think the last few games I’ve played to my identity more than I have before that and that’s what I need to rely on.”
Hathaway and Rodrigo Ābols put in the work along the end boards to take the puck away from Erik Cernak before Hathaway skated toward the slot. Noah Juulsen got the puck at the point and put a slap shot on goal that Hathaway deflected in.
In the second period, Nick Paul gave the Lightning a 3-1 lead when the puck bounced away from Barkey at the Bolts’ blue line.
Tampa Bay went the other way but also couldn’t control the puck, and it went to Flyers defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen, who tried to put it up the boards in the Flyers’ end. It was blocked by Anthony Cirelli, and he got the puck back for a shot attempt that was blocked by Nick Seeler.
Lightning defenseman Charles-Edouard D’Astous then corralled it and put a high shot on Ersson that was stopped, but Paul skated through the Flyers’ defense relatively untouched and knocked in the rebound.
Tampa Bay goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy stops the puck against Flyers right wing Matvei Michkov during the second period on Saturday.
In the third period, the wheels fell off.
The Lightning padded the lead to 5-1 with goals by Gage Goncalves and Brandon Hagel just 94 seconds apart. Goncalves’ goal came off a rush that initially started with a turnover by Matvei Michkov at the offensive blue line. Hagel scored as he blew past Barkey during a two-on-two.
Tippett did get on the board with a power-play goal off a faceoff win by Christian Dvorak. The Flyers forward didn’t get good wood — or whatever sticks are made out of now — on it, and it seemed to fool Andrei Vasilevskiy.
The goal was Tippett’s 14th of the season and fifth in his past 10 games. He is on pace for 27 goals, which is one shy of his career high, set two seasons ago.
Yanni Gourde scored on a breakaway after Zegras lost the puck inside the Lightning blue line, and Goncalves scored two minutes later.
Breakaways
Konecny and Brink are day-to-day with upper-body injuries and watched the game from the press box with Drysdale, who is on injured reserve with an upper-body injury. Joining them in the press box was Tyson Foerster.
Up next
In an interesting twist, the Flyers host the Lightning again on Monday at Xfinity Mobile Arena (7 p.m., NBCSP).
Between now and the Olympic break, the Flyers have 14 games in 26 days. It’s a bit of a gauntlet as they come across red-hot teams like the Buffalo Sabres, Pittsburgh Penguins, and Colorado Avalanche.
The stretch begins Saturday (7 p.m., NBCSP) with the first of two straight home meetings against the Tampa Bay Lightning, winners of eight straight.
And the Flyers will have to do it without three of their top players. Defenseman Jamie Drysdale was placed on injured reserve with an upper-body injury on Friday, and forwards Bobby Brink and Travis Konecny are day-to-day with upper-body injuries.
“I talked to Drysie and Brink; they felt better today. So, that’s a real good sign,” coach Rick Tocchet said on Saturday after the team’s morning skate, which Brink and Drysdale participated in wearing green noncontact jerseys.
“TK said he felt a little bit [better] yesterday, but not good enough to play.”
Konecny, who did not participate in the morning skate, was injured in Thursday’s overtime loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs after scoring the Flyers’ lone goal.
Since Nov. 29, when he had two assists in the win against the New Jersey Devils, Konecny is tied for 20th in the NHL in points (21) with names like Mitch Marner, Kirill Kaprizov, Nick Suzuki, Sam Reinhart, and Sam Bennett. His nine goals in that timeframe are tied for 19th with several players, including Sidney Crosby, the Lightning’s Nikita Kucherov, and Trevor Zegras.
Konecny has been playing with Christian Dvorak and Zegras, who called his loss “terrible.”
“Yeah, it’s a big hole. He’s a big part of our team offensively, especially,” added Sean Couturier. “So it’s going to be next-man-up mentality. He’s not an easy guy to [replace], you don’t just fill in with one guy. But, I think collectively, we can all step up and take over.”
Flyers head coach Rick Tocchet will shuffle his lines and power-play units without three key regulars on Saturday.
With Konecny and Brink out of the lineup, Matvei Michkov has been moved to Konecny’s spot. According to Natural Stat Trick, Michkov, Dvorak, and Zegras have played 39 minutes, 15 seconds together this season, with the Flyers having 40 shot attempts for and 40 against and potting two goals while allowing one.
“When you have four or five guys out, you get the bingo balls going, right?” said Tocchet about reuniting Zegras and Michkov. “You’re trying to put chemistry and thought process. So, yeah, we’ll see how it works.”
As Couturier said, it is a next-man-up mentality, but the Flyers will assuredly also be looking for Owen Tippett to continue his charge.
Since Dec. 20, his four goals are tied atop the team’s leaderboard with Konecny and Carl Grundström. His 32 shots during that span rank No. 1 on the Flyers and are tied for the 13th-most in the NHL, but the problem has been his finishing. His 12.5 shooting percentage across those nine games ranks eighth on the team. (Tippet is scoring on an almost identical 12.6% of his shots for the season, also eighth among Flyers.)
Tippett has been flying of late, using his speed to create chances for himself and his linemates, Denver Barkey and Couturier. Does he feel pressure to produce without Konency in the lineup?
“I don’t want to put that pressure on myself. But I think I said the same thing when [Tyson Foerster] went out, he’s one of those guys that we have to kind of pick up a little bit where we can and contribute where we can,” he said.
“Obviously, I know I’m capable of doing it, but I think the moment you start putting pressure on yourself to fill that void and fill that gap, it can tend to kind of take away from your game. [Konecny is] a big loss in the room, we all know that, so we’re all going to have to kind of step up and chip in where we can.”
Breakaways
Sam Ersson (6-5-4, .868 save percentage) will start against the Lightning. He was in net for the Flyers’ 3-0 loss on Nov. 24 in Tampa Bay, Fla., allowing two goals on 17 shots. … Defenseman Adam Ginning, who was recalled from Lehigh Valley of the American Hockey League on Friday, is expected to be a healthy scratch. … Forward Nic Deslauriers will slot back into the lineup after being a healthy scratch for the past eight games. … With the power play having plummeted — it is tied for second worst with the Washington Capitals (15.0%) — and guys who normally play on the man advantage out, Tocchet has two new units: Tippett, Michkov, Zegras, Dvorak, and Rasmsus Ristolainen are on one, and Noah Cates, Cam York, Barkey, Travis Sanheim, and Nikita Grebenkin are on the other. Couturier, despite being a net-front presence on Thursday and consistently screening the goalie — something Tocchet has preached this season — is not on a unit. “He’s played a lot of power play this year, and I think he’s just getting overused,” Tocchet said. “It doesn’t matter who, you’ve got to get in front of the net.”
