After an off-day on Sunday, the Flyers hit the ice Monday for practice in Voorhees, and there was a big piece missing.
Defenseman Travis Sanheim did not skate, and when asked if it was a maintenance day, coach Rick Tocchet said, “Kind of, yeah.”
“Just dealing with a little tweak here and there,” he added. “It’s better [for] us to just keep him off the ice. He’s played a lot of minutes.”
In his ninth NHL season, Sanheim ranks second among all NHL skaters in ice time, averaging 26 minutes, 28 seconds. He only trails Quinn Hughes of the Vancouver Canucks.
The blueliner, who does not skate on the power play, does play against the opposition’s top line and kills penalties.
“Just whatever’s asked of me, whenever they need me to go out there,” Sanheim said on Oct. 19. “I’ve got the lungs to do it. I recover pretty good. So just whatever they kind of ask [of me].”
Flyers defenseman Travis Sanheim, who ranks second in the NHL in ice time, has one goal and four points this season.
Ristolainen update
Rasmus Ristolainen is inching closer to a return.
“In Risto’s case, everything’s coming along nicely,” Flyers general manager Danny Brière said on Monday of the defenseman, who has been skating on his own. “Pretty soon, we’re hoping he starts practicing with the team.
“I don’t know how far away that is, but he’s progressing well, and everything’s going well. We’re hoping next month, in about a four-to-six-week range, hopefully he’s back with the team.”
Ristolainen has not played this season after undergoing surgery on a right triceps tendon rupture on March 26. In 2024, Ristolainen underwent two surgeries, including a repair to a ruptured triceps tendon. According to Brière in April 2025, the injury was similar, although he wouldn’t confirm if he tore the tendon again.
Before the start of training camp, the GM announced Ristolainen was expected to miss the first six to eight weeks of the season. It sounds like he is on track.
The Finnish defenseman played in 63 games last season, with four goals, 15 points, and the first positive plus-minus of his career (plus-3) while averaging more than 20 minutes. One of the Flyers’ top blueliners, Ristolainen, who also played on the power play this season, last played on March 11.
Bonk update
It’s been weeks since prospect Oliver Bonk has been spotted on the ice. The 20-year-old, who just turned pro, is dealing with an upper-body injury that kept him from participating in the rookie series against the New York Rangers in early September and training camp.
Flyers defenseman Oliver Bonk will make his professional hockey debut this season.
“Things are not moving … as quickly as we expected,” Brière said on Sept. 16, adding that he underwent medical imaging that morning despite skating with the rookies in a noncontact jersey.
Unlike Ristolainen, his timeline is still to be determined. But the hope is for the highly touted blueliner to get back to action soon.
“As far as Oliver, we didn’t know how serious it was at first. We’ve kept him out of rookie camp, and it lingered. We kept him out of main camp, thinking that it would get better, and it’s been a slow process with his upper-body injury,” Brière said on Monday.
“But it’s going well now. We’re just hoping that there’s no setbacks. We’re trying to give him the time and proper space between skates for him to feel good enough to come back and play. It’s a little tougher on a timeline with him. We’re kind of waiting on the progression and making sure there’s no setback on him.”
Guess who’s going back, back again. Jett Luchanko is returning to juniors.
The Flyers announced Monday that the center has been returned to Guelph of the Ontario Hockey League after he skated in four of the Flyers’ first eight games. According to a team source, there has been no decision yet on who will be recalled from the Lehigh Valley Phantoms to take Luchanko’s spot on the roster.
The team could have played Luchanko in as many as nine games before triggering his NHL contract.
“Very simple, we want him to play high minutes,” Flyers general manager Danny Brière said. “We liked what we’ve seen. He could have stayed here; he showed that he can play. But we want more than that for him in the long run.
“And we felt at this point it was time for him to start playing high minutes and more of an offensive role, get back to playing power play, killing penalties, facing the top opposition on the other team, on a nightly basis.”
Transaction: We have returned forward Jett Luchanko to his junior team, @Storm_City (OHL).
Luchanko averaged 8 minutes, 58 seconds of ice time with the Flyers, registering one shot on goal and a plus-minus of minus-3. Last season, also in four games, he tallied three shots on goal across an average of 14:03 with the same plus-minus.
The only difference is that last season, under former coach John Tortorella, Luchanko was playing higher up the lineup. Under new coach Rick Tocchet, Luchanko had been slotted in on the fourth line, often between Garnet Hathaway and Nikita Grebenkin.
“He’s going to play in the NHL, there’s no doubt about that. Now, how high does he get? That’s really up to him, but it’s in there,” Brière said. “The speed alone is going to scare a lot of teams eventually — when he gets more comfortable, when he gets more assertive out there. The speed alone is probably his biggest asset. … It took me a while to feel comfortable enough to make those plays, so I know exactly what he’s going through. It takes time.
“From our end, we need patience; we need to give him time to find that comfort, and on his end, his job is just to find a way to break through.”
Luchanko struggled to find his footing this season despite his high hockey IQ and passing ability. He missed development camp because of a groin injury and was held out of rookie camp for precautionary reasons.
He also continued to grapple with the Flyers’ push to see the 19-year-old shoot more; he also had only threeshots on goal in five preseason games. As an NHL scout told The Inquirer in early October, Luchanko, who is listed at 5-foot-11, 190 pounds, doesn’t look NHL strong yet and needs to play a harder, more confident game.
“I wouldn’t say shooting’s his thing,” Riley Armstrong, the Flyers’ director of player development, told The Inquirer in April. “I think that’s one thing that we’re working on with him. He’s always been kind of that pass-first guy. … And a lot of it is confidence, having confidence that you can beat a goalie.”
Added Brière: “It’s a comfort thing. He just needs to feel comfortable. I know how you feel as an 18- or 19-year-old. You’re coming in, you’re trying to please everybody around you. You’re on the ice with guys you’ve been watching on TV. You have a Travis Konecny beside you, obviously, you’re going to force a pass there. It’s human nature. That’s just how it is.
“It takes time, and hopefully he’s going to get out of that pretty soon. And we’ve seen him play in juniors. He can shoot the puck. He’s got a good shot. It’s just the confidence that he needs to do it here now.”
Drafted 13th overall in 2024, Luchanko tallied 21 goals and 56 points in 46 OHL games last season with Guelph. After his season ended with the Storm, he had a 16-game stint with the Phantoms in the American Hockey League, which included seven playoff games. He racked up nine assists in the AHL, including two in the first-round series clincher against Wilkes-Barre/Scranton.
While there was a thought to send him to the AHL on a conditioning stint, it meant he would have had to sit for some time to be eligible. But the Flyers were happy with his progression with the Phantoms and at training camp as well.
“We saw a big progression last season when he came in to play in Lehigh — he was pretty impressive. He played really well,” Brière said. “He was arguably our best player down the stretch and into the playoffs. So that was really encouraging to see.
“He was able to put up points as well, but that was the product of playing heavy minutes in junior to feeling comfortable on the ice … and that takes time.”
Because of the NHL-CHL agreement, which prevents CHL players under 20 years old from going to the AHL, he could only be returned to the Storm. That rule will change next season when each team will be granted one exemption.
“Well, it [stinks] because he’s in that mushy [middle]. … There’s certain things that, [to be fixed], he just has to go play a lot,” Tocchet said. “You can’t do it up here, whether you play 10, 11, minutes: more decisive with the puck, more shooting mentality, use his speed offensively, not just defensively. … Because of the rules of it is what it is, he has to go somewhere where we can just get settled and play.”
The expectation is that Luchanko will play for Canada at the World Junior Championship, which begins after Christmas. Luchanko suited up last year in a limited role, despite being one of the better players, for the squad that lost to Czechia in the quarterfinals. A native of London, Ontario, he had one goal in five games.
“We also want to prepare him for the World Junior Championship because it’s tough if he’s playing 7, 8 minutes a night for the first three months of the season, and you send him to the World Juniors, and they expect to play him 15 to 18, maybe 20 minutes,” Brière said.
“It’s a tough adjustment to change like that. So you’ve got to get used to those minutes, and it should give him plenty of time to get conditioned to play in high minutes.”
Entering Monday, Guelph is 6-5-2-0 in 13 games and has won three straight.
It was a New York State of Mind for the hometown team on Saturday.
Backed by a pair of goals from New York native Trevor Zegras, who also scored a shootout goal, the Flyers clawed back and skated away with a 4-3 win against the visiting New York Islanders.
Matvei Michkov beat countryman Ilya Sorokin in the shootout, and Sam Ersson stopped Anthony Duclair to give the Orange and Black their fourth win in the past six games.
Big Shot
Trailing 2-0, the third line of Christian Dvorak, Zegras, and Michkov single-handedly tied things for Philly.
Dvorak made it 2-1 with his second of the season with 9 minutes, 31 seconds left in the second period. Michkov and the center twice had a give-and-go, first in the neutral zone and then once again when the blue line was gained.
Michkov got the puck right up against the left boards and, as Dvorak sneaked behind the Islanders’ defense, the Russian winger fed Zegras across the ice at the right point. Zegras waited to hit Dvorak as he cut across the crease, and the center scored on the backhand.
And then came the big moment: Zegras’ first goal with the Flyers.
Dvorak carried the puck into the offensive zone, and although Islanders defenseman Marshall Warren poke checked him, it went up and off the arm of Dvorak, who corralled the puck at the goal line.
While doing so, he also drew two Islanders with him, Warren and former Flyers defenseman Tony DeAngelo, giving Zegras the time to accept the pass, pause, and beat Sorokin top corner.
Dvorak said he had seen Zegras out of the corner of his eye but also heard him yell for the puck.
“I always call for the puck,” Zegras said, jokingly. “I might not even be open, but I probably scream for it. Just happy he found me on that one though.”
The Flyers have two power-play units. But is the one with Noah Cates, Tyson Foerster, Bobby Brink, Cam York, and Zegras the second unit? Or is it the one with Michkov, Travis Konecny, Sean Couturier, Jamie Drysdale, and Owen Tippett?
“I’m not sure who is first or second right now,” coach Rick Tocchet said postgame. “You can say two, but I don’t know yet. It’s one and one right now.”
That’s a fair assessment, considering how much better the Cates unit has looked. While the other unit started the first two-man advantages, the Cates unit started the third power play of the day — and it worked.
Zegras got his second goal of the game — his first multigoal game since Jan. 7, 2024, when he was with Anaheim — as he put a rebound shot on Sorokin. Bobby Brink had turned and fired off a good shot from the right face-off circle that the Islanders’ goalie stopped before Zegras’ shot led to a mad scramble in front.
It took a few seconds, but the puck crossed the goal line with Cates giving it an extra push after it was in to confirm it tied the game at 3.
As Tocchet said, they took the information assistant coaches Jaroslav “Yogi” Svejkovský and Jay Varady provided before they went out and applied it.
“They do apply a lot of stuff that we say,” he said of the Cates line.
“Just kind of good for us to crash the net,” Cates added. “I think we want these pretty plays, but we see it day in and day out in the NHL, that you just get it to the net, get guys there, outnumber them, especially on the power play, it’s going to go in.”
On the flip side, the Couturier unit struggled again as the Islanders got better looks and a goal. Simon Holmström gave the Islanders a 1-0 lead with a short-handed tally 39 seconds into the Flyers’ first power play of the day.
Set up in the offensive zone, they had Drysdale at the point, Michkov in the right face-off circle, and Tippett in the slot as the bumper.
Tippett had some time in the bumper, and there was an open lane for a few seconds, but by the time Michkov tried, it was closed as two guys jumped on Tippett.
Matvei Michkov (stick raised in the right face-off circle) did have an open lane, but a small delay in his delivery to Owen Tippett — and thus giving away his plan — saw the lane close quickly.The lane closed as New York Islanders forwards Simon Holmström and Jean-Gabriel Pageau were able to check Tippett and create a turnover.
Holmström, who is a lefty, was easily able to knock the puck away from Tippett, a right-handed shot. It appeared the red-hot Tippett was looking to shoot instead of drawing two players in and bumping the puck back to Michkov to open even more space.
The Swedish winger got the puck and passed it to Jean-Gabriel Pageau, breaking out two-on-one. Drysdale overcommitted slightly to the puck carrier, Pageau, as Couturier tried to catch up with Holmström. Both Flyers went to Holmström after he got the puck back, but he was a stride ahead and beat his countryman, Ersson stick side.
On the Flyers’ second power play of the day — and with the Couturier unit on the ice — Adam Pelech rang one off the post after a Konecny giveaway in the Flyers’ zone.
The Flyers’ power play is now at 16% effectiveness, with four goals in 25 opportunities.
Making his third start of the season, and first appearance since Oct. 16, a 5-2 loss to the Winnipeg Jets, Ersson made 23 saves on 26 shots for his first win of the season.
“His attitude was unreal all week. Practicing hard. He’s with [goaltending coach Kim Dillabaugh] and never complained,” Tocchet said. “You’ve got to give him credit. It was a [heck] of a save on Duclair at the end [in the shootout]. So, give him a lot of credit. Great attitude.”
In the first period, he faced just four, 13 in the middle frame, and five in the third. Not an easy task for a goalie who likes shots but hasn’t seen game action in a while.
“I’ve got to try to stay ready as best as I can; obviously, it’s hard sometimes,” Ersson said. “But I’m looking to stay involved in the game, play pucks, do something to stay attached to the game mentally. So, yeah, it’s just another challenge [and] you’ve got to find a way to deal with it.”
Ersson allowed one goal in each period, but the one in the second period, the Swede had no chance.
Defenseman Noah Juulsen tried to go D-to-D with Drysdale behind the net, but the puck hit the skate of the referee. Duclair tracked it down and tried to feed Anders Lee in front; however, he was tied up by two Flyers — one being Juulsen.
The puck sprung loose to Warren, a Long Island kid making his NHL debut, who put the puck through the crease to Duclair sitting wide open at the right post for the easy goal.
Warren then helped the Islanders take a 3-2 lead less than 3 minutes after Zegras’ tying goal, when his low point shot was deflected up and over Ersson by Maxim Tsyplakov for his first NHL goal.
Then Ersson locked things down.
With the game tied, Tippett was tugged off the puck by Bo Horvat, allowing him to skate in on a two-on-one with Drysdale the only Flyer back. Horvat fed Jonathan Drouin for the quick shot, and Ersson made a diving blocker save.
But, Ersson saved his best save of the night for overtime, robbing Horvat on a sure goal. After the puck was carried back in by the bodies of Horvat and Cam York, Drouin picked it, and the Islanders’ forwards had a short two-on-one as Horvat got past York. Drouin fed the former Vancouver Canuck — he crossed paths with Tocchet for a week — and was absolutely robbed by the glove of Ersson.
“He bailed us out a handful of times,” Dvorak said. “Played great, couple of big saves there in the third, and the overtime was unbelievable. We couldn’t believe he saved that on the bench there. So it was a big goal and got us a win.”
“Just, Erss is back,” a grinning Cates said when asked what he thought about watching that save. “When he’s confident, he’s so good, and that’s a huge game for him.”
Flyers prospect Spencer Gill suffered an upper-body injury and could miss 12-15 weeks. The Flyers are still trying to determine whether the defenseman needs surgery or if he can rehab the injury. … The only change among the skaters was swapping defenseman Adam Ginning in for Egor Zamula on the third pair. … Forward Garnet Hathaway had five hits and dropped the gloves with Scott Mayfield, leaving the Islander bloodied on his forehead. In the third period, Rodrigo Ābols also fought Kyle MacLean, the son of former New Jersey Devils and New York Rangers forward John MacLean, for his first NHL fight. The line of Ābols, Hathaway, and Nikita Grebenkin ended up in the box together, with the latter two getting coincidental minor penalties.
Up next
The Flyers are off on Sunday and will practice at 11:30 a.m. on Monday. They take on the Pittsburgh Penguins on Tuesday. It kicks off ESPN’s Frozen Frenzy triple header with puck drop at 6 p.m.
Hitting the open market for the first time this summer, Dan Vladař wasn’t sure what to expect. But when he heard that the Flyers were interested, he “really wanted to come.”
And after signing a two-year, $6.7 million contract with the Flyers in July, he has found a home — on and off the ice.
“It’s been great. Since Day 1, everybody’s been super nice to me. So obviously, I really appreciate the way that guys welcomed me in this organization. … And I for sure, appreciate the opportunity as well,” he said on Friday.
“So, you know, I don’t want to waste any moment here. I’m just trying to do my best, and enjoy my time, but at the same time, try to get myself and my teammates better every day.”
There were question marks from outsiders about the Czech goalie’s ability to tend the twine, enforced by his .895 career save percentage across 105 NHL games.
According to Natural Stat Trick, over his past three seasons with the Calgary Flames, during five-on-five action, he had the 12th-lowest goals saved above average (-13.97) and 14th-worst high danger save percentage (.808) among goalies with at least 3,000 minutes.
For comparison, his current partner, Sam Ersson, was third-worst in GSAA (-33.78) and 15th from the bottom in HDSV% (.809). GSAA compares the number of goals allowed to what was expected based on a league-average save percentage and shots faced.
But in five starts for the Flyers, Vladař has been impressive with his compact movement, ability to read the play — even as teams crash the net and try to take away his eyes — and confidence in net. He is 3-2-0 with a .932 save percentage, tying him with two-time defending Vezina Trophy winner Connor Hellebuyck for the third-best mark among goalies who have played at least four games.
After a season in which the Flyers’ goalies produced a ghastly .879 SV%, Dan Vladař has brought some much-needed solidity to the position.
“Just solid,” coach Rick Tocchet said of his netminder. “There’s some saves there, where they’re Grade A shots. Like, it doesn’t seem like that to the average person, but that’s a good save. There’s traffic, and you see him stick his blocker out; from the bench, that’s a good save. He’s making those kinds of saves [and] he’s giving us a chance to win.”
Flyers general manager Danny Brière said at the end of last season that the team’s goalies — Ersson, Aleksei Kolosov, who is now with Lehigh of the American Hockey League, and the since-traded Ivan Fedotov — needed to be better after combining for a league-worst .879 save percentage.
Entering Friday, led by Vladař, the Flyers are ranked 12th with a .908 save percentage. And, according to Natural Stat Trick, he is ranked sixth with a 2.96 GSAA and .889 HDSV% at five-on-five among goalies with at least 150 minutes.
“Obviously, you want to start off well, but at the same time, you only have to focus on things you can control,” Vladař said. “And that’s how you prepare, and what you do outside of the games, right? So whether it’s practice or just taking care of your body outside the rink, you’ve just got to try to put yourself in the best position for success.
“And if it works out great, if it doesn’t, then you at least know that you did everything you could to give yourself the best chance.”
Vladař came to Philly intending to go day by day with a clear mindset. What he probably didn’t expect was having the comforts of his hometown, Prague, close by.
The 28-year-old native of the Czech Republic and his family head to Four Green Cats Café in Mount Laurel often.
Described as a cozy Czech café with an antique atmosphere that offers authentic European pastries and drinks on its Facebook page, Vladař said that his wife, Martina Vladařová, goes twice a week. He goes at least once a week to get some home cooking at the café that lists Phillies outfielder Nick Castellanos as a patron, too.
“I can even put a food order, and the lady makes it for us, Nadia [Vasa]. So she’s been awesome and we really like it. We really like it,” he stressed. “It reminds us of our country, of our home, and she’s a really good cook.
“I told her that she should open up a Czech restaurant in Czech, not in the U.S., because she cooks really well.”
Vladař is a big fan of goulash — he likes the beef stew with the chunks of meat — and has already ordered it twice. He may just get it again in the near future. And this time, maybe with the Czech version of coffee cake, one of his favorites.
“One hundred percent,” he said about having familiar, fresh foods so close.
“The only thing is, it’s not as healthy,” he smiled. “So, if I do that once a week, I always get the kids’ portion, because I don’t want to stuff myself up with not as nutritious meals.”
Breakaways
The Flyers Charities Carnival will be held on Feb. 1. General admission tickets go on sale Monday at 11 a.m. Tickets bought on this day will have early access to purchase Sign & Snaps when they become available on Nov. 10.
OTTAWA, Ontario — The Flyers traveled to Canada’s capital for a showdown with the Ottawa Senators.
Facing a hungry team with just one win in its past six games, the visitors got off to a good start but ultimately fell to the Senators, 2-1. It snapped Philly’s two-game winning streak and moved its record to 3-3-1.
‘There’s no quitting you’
Entering the game, Dan Vladař had the fourth-best goals-against average (1.75) and the seventh-best save percentage (.929) among NHL goalies who had at least two starts.
It’s a big reason why he was getting his third straight start. But you also cannot ignore how well he reads plays.
“We wasted a good night from Vladdy,” coach Rick Tocchet said. “I thought he did a nice job in net for us.”
In the first period, as the Flyers struggled to get the puck out, the 6-foot-5 Czech netminder saved a point shot by Ottawa defenseman Nikolas Matinpalo before stopping Tim Stützle at the right post. Less than 45 seconds later, Vladař made a save on Thomas Chabot’s shot through traffic.
The Flyers took two penalties in the opening frame, and Vladař stood tall. He squared up to stop a shot by Stützle, robbed Shane Pinto from the slot, and then stoned Stützle again, taking the shot off the shoulder.
Vladař allowed a pair of goals on the 23 shots he faced in the first two periods. Ottawa’s Michael Amadio tied the game, 1-1, in the first.
Travis Sanheim stepped toward Pinto in the neutral zone, but the Long Island native chipped the puck to teammate Claude Giroux. The former Flyers captain drew Cam York and Owen Tippett in, giving Amadio time and space to accept the saucer pass and score.
Another former Flyers forward gave the Senators a 2-1 lead. The point shot by Senators’ Nick Jensen hit Rodrigo Ābols — who centered the fourth line in place of Jett Luchanko — in the slot, slowing the puck down. It allowed Lars Eller to make a nifty no-look between-the-legs pass to Olle Lycksell, a 2017 draft pick by Philly, at the right post for the slam dunk. It is his first goal for Ottawa in four games, and the second of his career.
One positive for the Flyers on Thursday was how well they kept the Senators out of the middle of the ice — and the slot — at five-on-five.
But then Vladař shut the door, including stopping the Senators’ three shots on goal on a power play that began 34 seconds later when Sean Couturier was called for hooking in the neutral zone.
“I thought he played great again,” Sanheim said. “He’s been a rock back there for us. Not ideal when you have that many penalty kills and you’re giving up looks, and he’s coming up big for us and keeping us in the game. So credit to him on another solid start.”
Vladař faced 33shots, one fewer than in the Flyers’ opening night loss to the Florida Panthers when he stopped 32 of 34, and elevated his save percentage this season to .932. He has not allowed more than two goals in his five starts.
“That’s our job here, me and Sam [Ersson’s], just to give our team a chance every single night,” he said. “And I said it a lot of times, doesn’t matter if it’s 10 shots or 15, we just got to do our best to give our team a chance, and, unfortunately, it wasn’t enough today.”
Flyers’ Tyson Foerster celebrates his first-period goal against the Ottawa Senators.
‘Only For A Moment’
The Flyers’ early 1-0 lead was courtesy of Tyson Foerster scoring 29 seconds into the game.
Coming off the bench for Tippett, who had a 21-second shift — “Wasn’t really expecting it that quick,” Foerster said — the winger received a pass on his tape from Travis Konecny and fired the wrister past Ottawa goalie Linus Ullmark. Konecny pulled up on the boards after getting the puck from Sean Couturier, who tracked down the dump-in.
At the end of last season, the 23-year-old winger said he wanted to have a quicker start to his season. He has done that, notching his third goal in seven games on Thursday.
When asked if he is hitting his stride, Foerster responded postgame that, “I think offensively. I think I got to win some more battles down low and on the wall, but I just got to be a little better in those battle areas.”
Despite the score, the Flyers certainly had their chances and put 23 shots on goal. The only issue? Too much was on the perimeter.
“We’ve worked on concepts of, we call it piston offense, and we’ve got too many guys who are playing on the outside, and that’s why guys are struggling to score goals,” Tocchet said. “The good goal scorers, they go to the interior, and you’ve got to do it. We have to do it consistently.”
It took some time for players to get going as they handed the Senators five power-play chances, including two in the first period. The Flyers also got a man advantage in the opening frame and had three opportunities across games. As Tocchet has said repeatedly, it’s hard to get guys who don’t kill penalties going.
“They’re stick penalties. When you have stick penalties, that means you’re not skating,” Tocchet said. Of their five penalties — Nick Seeler got a coincidental minor, too — the Flyers were called twice for hooking and twice for tripping.
Matvei Michkov had some of the best looks and led the way with seven shot attempts, including four shots on goal.
Late in the first period, while coming out of the penalty box, Michkov got the puck for a breakaway. Noah Cates sent the stretch pass after Jake Sanderson flubbed a shot at the point, and while Michkov skated in and pump faked, he missed on the backhand.
Less than three minutes into the second period, Michkov got the puck in the slot but had the shot blocked by Dylan Cozens.
“He’s shooting the puck,” Tocchet said. “Keep shooting, hopefully things will go for him.”
Not long after Michkov’s breakaway chance, the Flyers broke out of their end, and Tippett flew around Chabot for a shot on goal with the backhand. Trevor Zegras crashed the net and jammed at the puck, but was unable to get it across the goal line.
In the third period, the Flyers tried to get going again. Sanheim had a shot from atop the circles, snared by Ullmark, and York was stopped after getting a pass at the left point. But they were chances where the Swedish netminder — who played with Ersson at the 4 Nations Face-Off — got to see the puck well.
As the seconds counted down in the game, Couturier had a chance at the side of the net to even things up.
“Yeah, obviously got off to a good start, the first five minutes, and then took our foot off a little bit,” Sanheim said. “We let them get some momentum and get some chances. And then obviously, toward the end, we started to get some looks again, but just couldn’t capitalize.”
Flyers’ Noah Cates (left) and Ottawa Senators’ Ridly Greig battle for the puck during Thursday’s game.
Breakaways
For every save Vladař and Sam Ersson make in the month of October, they are donating to the October Saves Goalie Challenge, which supports cancer research and patient care. Flyers Charities will match their donations.
Up next
The Flyers return home for a matchup with 2025 No. 1 pick Matthew Schaefer and the New York Islanders on Saturday (12:30 p.m., NBCSP).
OTTAWA, Ontario — There’s a lot to be said for a coach who has been in the shoes — or skates — of his players.
Flyers coach Rick Tocchet said he is “sensitive to it, when you pull people in and out,” of the lineup. On Thursday, he’s making another shift, with Rodrigo Ābols going in for Jett Luchanko as the fourth-line center.
“I mean, it’s obviously tough,” Ābols said. “Not even the physical part, it is just more like the timing and the feeling kind of, once you do get in, like five-on-five tonight, to not overthink too much [the] situations, because you haven’t been in those situations for a while. So that’s, I guess, the goal is to just kind of not overthink, keep it simple, and just do the things that make me an effective hockey player.”
One thing that will certainly help is that the Latvian will be skating alongside Garnet Hathaway — who he has played with on a line for the majority of his 24 NHL games, all with the Flyers — and Nikita Grebenkin.
The latter two played together last year for Lehigh Valley of the American Hockey League once the Russian was acquired in March from the Toronto Maple Leafs. There is familiarity and chemistry, but that doesn’t mean Ābols won’t be on the ready.
“It may be similar with [Matvei Michkov] to expect the unexpected, I guess. So you see the pass he had last game that went to Garnet there, across the blue, so you kind of just always be ready with the stick on the ice,” said Ābols, who played with Michkov a few times last season and can communicate with Grebenkin in Russian, one of four languages the Latvian speaks fluently.
“You see him in the corners, there’s so many times you feel like he’s lost the puck, and then he somehow comes out with it, said Ābols of Grebenkin. ”So that’s just an exciting player to play with, because that means you can get more offensive zone time.”
Hello old friends
The Senators have several familiar faces slated to skate on Thursday.
Of course, there is Claude Giroux, the former Flyers captain who skated in his 1,000th game before being traded two days later to the Florida Panthers — Owen Tippett was part of the return — in March 2022.
“It’s always going to be special playing against Philly,” Giroux said on Thursday. “Played a lot of years there, and not a lot of players left when I played, but the organization, and Danny Brière being the GM, so it’s always special to play them.”
Ottawa’s Claude Giroux played 15 seasons for the Flyers, including several as the team’s captain.
The players still in Philly are forwards Sean Couturier and Travis Konecny, and defensemen Nick Seeler, Travis Sanheim, Cam York, Rasmus Ristolainen, and Egor Zamula (two games).
Nick Cousins skated in 107 games for the Orange and Black after being selected in the third round of the 2011 draft. The forward won a Stanley Cup with the Panthers in 2024.
But while those guys left Philly long ago, Olle Lycksell was with the team last season. The Swede, who had dinner Wednesday night with Adam Ginning, Sam Ersson, and Ābols, was recalled from Belleville of the American Hockey League on Tuesday and is slotted into the fourth line for the Senators.
“I just felt like I maybe needed a little change of scenery, and trying to find myself in a lineup,” he said of making the move to Ottawa. “I felt like we had good talks, and felt like they believed in me. And yeah, I got the opportunity now, and I’m really happy that I got here.”
Lycksell has played three games this season for the Senators, registering three shots on goal while averaging 10 minutes, and 58 seconds of ice time. A sixth-round pick of the Flyers in 2017, the 26-year-old Swede had one goal and 11 points in 45 games for Philly.
“I’m so honored of being a Flyer for a long time,” he said. “And even though I didn’t play that many games, I [had] still been in the organization for a while, and it’s great people. And it’s going to be special [tonight].”
And there’s also a familiar face for Tocchet, who was a teammate of Travis Green’s for a year in the desert.
“There’s always some coaches that you talk to a lot, even when one of us isn’t working, or one of us got fired, or one of us got hired, we’ve always kept in touch and just pick each other’s brain,” said Tocchet, who gave Green a ton of credit for how things have gone in Ottawa.
So, any bets or dinners on the line?
“We had dinner last night. He paid. It was a cheap one,” said a grinning Tocchet. “Philly’s gonna be an expensive one, but that’s all right.”
Breakaways
Dan Vladař will start for the third straight game. “He’s been playing pretty good, right? That’s why I’m starting him,” Tocchet said. Sam Ersson’s last game was a week ago, in a 5-2 loss to the Winnipeg Jets. Any concerns? “No, not at all,” Tocchet said. “I could easily go with Sam and be comfortable. Sam will get in there.”
Around the Rinks
Between now and March 31, girls and women in the ball hockey community — players, organizers, referees, etc., and in Philly or beyond — can apply for the 2 AND 10 Women’s Ball Hockey Scholarship via their Facebook account. The scholarship, which “recognizes women who give their all to the game, both on and off the rink, and are ready to take the next step as athletes, leaders, and role models” can be used toward college or trade school. … Submit entries for Around the Rinks, which highlights the local ice, ball, and inline hockey scenes, Thursdays online and Fridays in the paper, by noon every Thursday with Around the Rinks in the subject line to jspiegel@inquirer.com. Entries can include information about your league, big moments on the ice, upcoming rivalry games, favorite players, and more.
Owen Tippett may have had a smile on his face when chatting in the locker room in Voorhees recently. But the big grin hid some of the anxiety he had heading into the Flyers’ home opener on Oct. 13.
It wasn’t about scoring. At that point, the winger already had his first goal of the season under his belt — a power-play one to boot.
No, this was a different kind of pressure.
Tippett is now in charge of setting the tone. He is the new vibes guy. So, after months of preparation, of picking the right songs, of sending them to the Flyers game presentation group for the proper mix, his warmup playlist was making its debut.
For years, the playlist had been closely guarded by Scott Laughton, with Joel Farabee assisting. But both were traded last season: Farabee at the end of January to the Calgary Flames, and Laughton in early March to the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Tippett took charge of the aux afterward, saying last season that he did it because he’s the “closest guy that kind of offered up for the Bluetooth not to cut out.” However, he didn’t really change much from the 105-song playlist he was handed in the group chat.
Until now.
“I’m always one who’s kind of looking for new music,” said Tippett, who ran the aux a handful of times playing for Mississauga and Saginaw of the Ontario Hockey League.
“Obviously, there’s some staples that you can kind of keep in [the playlist] from years past, but I think anything that’s new, you kind of throw it in the playlist and hopefully guys catch on to it.”
Note: Some songs on the playlist embedded below may be offensive to certain audiences or contain explicit content. Use caution while enjoying this playlist by making sure you’re aware of your surroundings.
‘T.N.T.’ – AC/DC
Tippett hasn’t just set the mood in the locker room — there are several playlists, one has “slower songs” and “more of an easy vibe” for morning skates, and another before they get on the ice — but his on-ice presence has been setting the tone, too.
During game action, he’s been like song No. 2 in warmups, AC/DC’s “T.N.T.,” and playing “dynamite.” Just six games into the new season, Tippett has collected five goals. Last season, when he finished with 20 tallies, it took him 25 games to hit that mark.
The dip in production came after two consecutive seasons with at least 27 goals — it took him 15 games in 2023-24 and 13 in 2022-23 to score No. 5 on the season — and expectations that he would crack the 30-goal mark in his third full season with the Flyers.
Flyers right wing Owen Tippett is really using his speed and strength to get to the middle more. The early results have been promising.
“I think it’s just getting reset and looking back onto those years and what worked and what made me kind of more successful than I was last year,” he told The Inquirer on Oct. 6. “End of the day, everyone has those years; it’s going to happen and not get too frustrated with the dips and just trying to regroup as quick as you can.”
And he is using it all as motivation.
“I think it’s just take that next step,” he said about his ambitions during training camp. “Obviously, a bit older now, and more games played, and I think it’s time that I kind of take that step and take on that bigger role. … That comes with little things within the game, but as a player, just kind of round out my game.”
Tippett sounds like a grizzled veteran, but the 26-year-old winger has only 353 regular-season games under his belt — 94 with the Florida Panthers and 259 with the Flyers after being acquired in the Claude Giroux trade.
And this year, he has taken on a bigger role, averaging 16 minutes, 31 seconds a night, while being put into more situations by the new coaching staff led by Rick Tocchet.
Under new head coach Rick Tocchet, Owen Tippett (left) looks poised for his first 30-goal season.
‘Because You Move Me’ – Helsloot & Tinlicker
Tippett has always played on the power play, but this season he has been moved into a rotating spot between the net-front and the bumper. It’s different than his previous spot on the flank, but he likes that it “gives you more options.”
His one power-play goal came from being atop the crease — he was screening Carolina Hurricanes goalie Frederik Andersen — when he pounced on a shot that caromed off the glass behind the net.
Tippett has become an all-around special teams threat. In his first 253 games with Philly, he was on the ice killing penalties for an average of nine seconds per game (36 minutes, 3 seconds total). This season, he’s up to 24 seconds per game for a total of 2:24. Former coach John Tortorella always said Tippett played better with more ice time, and it’s showing.
And the additional responsibilities play into what the Flyers wanted to see from Tippett this season. The winger is in Year 2 of an eight-year, $49.6 million extension that he signed in January 2024, and before the season, Flyers general manager Danny Brière said he wanted to see Tippett take the next step and work on “developing his all-around game.”
“He is becoming even more of a true threat. … We hope he becomes a 30-, 35-goal scorer,” Brière said on Oct. 2. “That’s what we hope from him. I mean, what he brings is more than just goals, too. The size, the speed, the powerful explosiveness that he has is tough to find.
“So that’s what we want to keep seeing from him. Evolving, finding ways to take advantage of the best time to use those assets that he has that not a lot of players have.”
The Flyers have high hopes for Owen Tippett and believe he is just scratching the surface of his potential.
‘Walk It Talk It’ – Migos (feat. Drake)
Recently given the title of “the fastest skater I’ve ever seen” by new teammate Trevor Zegras, Tippett is a dynamic, speedy winger packed into a 6-foot-1, 210-pound power forward’s body. He crunches guys with ease — as noted by his big hit on Seattle Kraken forward Tye Kartye on Monday — and also keeps defenses on their heels because they cannot predict when he will turn on the jets.
He is known for highlight-reel goals, but when he mixes his speed, shiftiness, and big shot, Tippett can resemble a freight train. According to NHL Edge, Tippett’s max speed last season was 23.89 mph — Miles Wood’s 24.82-mph burst was the NHL’s fastest last season — and he recorded 38 bursts of 22 mph, ranking fourth in the NHL. Two seasons ago, he was clocked as the fastest skater in the NHL — yes, faster than Connor McDavid — by hitting a max of 24.21 mph, and was ranked fourth in the league with 46 trips at 22-plus mph.
This season, his max speed is 22.89, with Bobby Brink the fastest Flyer at 23.30. But Tippett has hit at least 22 mph seven times already, putting him right behind McDavid’s 11.
Just because he has dropped a little speed doesn’t mean anything. It’s actually a good sign because, while “it’s obviously exciting when you look up and see no one in front of you … and you start turning the legs,” he also has realized that he doesn’t need to be going 100 miles an hour all the time.
“I know my speed’s always going to be there,” he said. “So it’s focusing on the other little things and then letting my game take over from there. There’s definitely going to be times where it fits in, and we’re still trying to figure that out. … It’s just a matter of finding times, and then letting the game kind of open up and not force things.”
After he was hired as the Flyers’ coach in May, Tocchet told The Inquirer, “I think Owen Tippett is a guy who I feel has another level in him. I think he’s a prototypical big, fast winger. Can we unleash him?”
Well, it looks like the collar is off.
The bench boss noticed early on that the winger had a habit of exposing the puck; Tippett has been working on it. Tocchet mentioned his “incredible” speed and how he is a “great off-the-rush guy,” but wanted to see him go to the inside more. One of his two goals Monday came because he positioned himself in the slot, and he combined his newfound inside game with his trademark speed to beat two-time defending Vezina Trophy winner Connor Hellebuyck on Oct. 16.
“In the short time I’ve been here, [and] this coaching staff, he’s been a pleasure to coach,” Tocchet said. “He’s been in the room. He’s asking questions. He’s in the video room. He’s taking the information. He’s really taken ahold of the game like a leader-type of role. That’s what I see. I don’t know what happened in the past, but he looks like a guy who’s dialed in.”
Indeed.
Like the music he listens to — EDM (electronic dance music) to house to rap to remixes — Tippett is adding variety to his game while burying five goals on 19 shots. For someone notoriously criticized for missing the net, Tippet is ranked sixth in the NHL with an eye-popping 26.3% shooting percentage (minimum 15 shots).
Of course, Tippett’s taste in music isn’t for everyone, but as Cam York said, “It’s been good. If he keeps scoring like that, keep going.”
Still in his gear after a lengthy practice on Tuesday, Travis Konecny was asked about the mighty yell he let out after punching in his first goal of the season in the Flyers’ 5-2 win against the Seattle Kraken the night before.
“Yeah, I mean, now I don’t have to hear about being snakebit again,” he said, eliciting a laugh as he seemed to poke fun at a question he was asked after Thursday night’s 5-2 loss to the Winnipeg Jets. “No, I mean, it was a big goal during the game. It wasn’t anything special about that one. It was just a big time in the game.”
Konecny has led the Flyers in scoring for five of the past six seasons, including the last four, but after putting up consecutive campaigns of 31 and 33 goals, Konecny slipped to 24 last season — and only three of those came over the final 35 games. He entered this season knowing he had to be more consistent across the 82-game slate, but despite not scoring through the first five games, he was contributing in other facets.
“I think sometimes when you’re looking for offense, you’re trying too hard, you almost want to do too many plays,” said his centerman, Sean Couturier. “And I’ve seen over the last two games a little more simplicity in his game, where he’s just making the easy pass and getting open, using his speed to go to the net and cycling.”
The 5-foot-10, 192-pound Konecny is throwing big checks, too. While Garnet Hathaway leads the Flyers with 24 hits, Konecny is fifth with nine — six of which have come in the past two games.
On Saturday against the Minnesota Wild, he had three of his four hits in the second period. One of them generated a roar from the crowd and seemed to spark the Flyers, who trailed by a goal before winning, 2-1, in overtime.
After the Noah Cates line had trouble getting out of its end, Konecny finally came on for a change. The Flyers worked the puck out from Couturier to Bobby Brink to Konecny. The two-time All-Star dumped it in and chased — crushing the 6-foot-2, 196-pound Jonas Brodin to the ground at the end boards.
Flyers right wing Travis Konecny is seeking a third 30-goal season.
Did it carry into Monday night?
“A little bit, yeah, for sure,” he said. “I mean, sometimes when I’m in that mood, it’s something that helps the team, but in the moment, some of it’s just for me, getting some anger out. And I think that in some ways that helps the team.
“But, yeah, that specific time I remember there was one that was meant for the team and one that was for me.”
Despite not burying the puck until Monday — which gave him 199 goals in 652 regular-season games — Konecny still was playing a key role for the Flyers. He’s had those big hits, dished out two assists, and is big reason why the penalty kill is tied for 10th in the NHL (83.3%). According to Natural Stat Trick, at five-on-five, the Flyers have scored four goals while giving up just two when he is on the ice.
“Well, right now, I think he was looking for a little bit for his game offensively, but I think he was, in our zone, he was really in the right positions, being on the D side and winning battles down low, helping me out a lot as a centerman,” Couturier said. “So I think when you’re not on your offensive game, and you find ways to help the team in other ways, that’s what you mean by taking care of details.”
And then he stood up for Owen Tippett. Late in the third period of a game that was out of reach for the visitors, Tippett was drilled from behind by Kraken defenseman Ryan Lindgren. Konecny went after him, dropping the gloves.
“I saw him keep going at Tipp, and he’s our hottest guy,” Konecny said of his teammate, who has five goals in the first six games. “It was just one of those things where I was just kind of in my head, like, ‘What are you doing?’ And then he tried to jump me.”
What did the captain Couturier say to Konecny afterward?
“Great job, way to go,” he said.
So, any history between the Flyers winger and former New York Rangers defenseman?
“There is now,” Konecny said with a smile.
Breakaways
The Flyers are off on Wednesday before taking on the Senators in Ottawa on Thursday (7 p.m., NBCSP). … Submit entries for Around the Rinks, which highlights the local ice, ball, and inline hockey scenes, Thursdays online and Fridays in the paper, by noon every Thursday with Around the Rinks in the subject line to jspiegel@inquirer.com. Entries can include information about your league, big moments on the ice, upcoming rivalry games, favorite players, and more.
In one of their most complete games of the young season, the Flyers closed out a four-game homestand Monday with a 5-2 win against a Seattle Kraken team that had yet to lose in regulation this season.
It upped the Orange and Black’s record to 3-2-1. Here are three things that keyed the victory:
Entering Monday night, the Flyers’ power play was in a familiar spot — last in the NHL at 6.7%. But after going 2-for-4 against the Kraken, it is now up to 15.8% and tied for 21st with the New York Islanders, who visit Xfinity Mobile Arena on Saturday (12:30 p.m., NBCSP).
Tyson Foerster scored the first one after he and Bobby Brink got to work on the boards, transferring the connectivity that they have at five-on-five over to the power play. The play saw Foerster track down an errant pass in the corner and find a supporting Brink, who drew two Kraken defenders in before slipping it back to his linemate. The nifty give-and-go gave Foerster a ton of space in the left faceoff circle to pick the top corner.
“Yeah, a little surprised ’cause I thought [Trevor] Zegras was open, too,” Foerster said of all the time he had to shoot. “So it was either pick Zegras or shoot, so I decided to shoot.”
Foerster, whose goal came with 7 seconds left on the power play, also gave props to his goalie, Dan Vladař, who stopped a two-on-one and a breakaway right before the Flyers got on the board.
“Well, we wanted to give them a couple of breakaways and a two-on-one to loosen them up and then we started to go,” coach Rick Tocchet said sarcastically when asked if there was a change in strategy for Monday or just better execution.
“No, obviously, it was a little hairy there. We weren’t too happy with it early.”
Tocchet liked the movement of the power play overall, but he wanted to see more. According to Cam York, who got the primary assist on the Noah Cates tip-in goal 19 seconds into a second-period power play, the credit goes to the coaches.
“I should have done it in the first period, too, on Tyson’s first goal,” he said of putting the point shot on goal with traffic in front.
“Didn’t [and] we watched it on video, and in the second period was able to capitalize on it. I’ve said it from the start, coaches have done a great job of making us look good out there, and I’ll give the credit to them on that one.”
But Tocchet credited Zegras for paying attention to the pre-scout and using the information to set up York by drawing Kraken penalty killer Tye Kartye to him in the right faceoff circle.
“That’s high-level play, is making a back pass through the top down,” said Tocchet, noting how the Kraken structure their penalty kill. “That’s a hard play and if you beat that play, you’re going to get that guy in the middle with all day for a shot. So, that’s the skill of Trevor, he can make that backhand pass to the middle guy.”
Zegras has an assist in five straight games.
Supporting Matvei
There have been a lot of questions about Matvei Michkov’s reads as of late, but on Monday, not only did he read and react properly, it led to Travis Konecny’s first goal of the season.
Owen Tippett, who remained red-hot with a pair of goals, skated a hard 34 seconds and got off the ice. It allowed Michkov to be out there with Konecny and Sean Couturier, until Couturier changed as the puck went back into the Flyers zone.
What was not shown on the broadcast is that Michkov clearly processed that the center was changing and went back to the defensive zone to provide puck support. He swung low and turned up the right wing as two Kraken players went to play the defenseman, who flipped the puck up in the air. It dropped and died in the neutral zone, allowing Michkov, who was skating north — another thing Tocchet has stressed to him — to pick up the puck.
From there Michkov got to work, finding a trailing Egor Zamula before the defenseman, who used his patience to outwait a Kraken defender, found Konecny at the back post.
Flyers right wing Matvei Michkov had his best game of the young season on Monday.
“Listen, he’s chipping away in his game, and that’s all we can ask for. We’re looking at inches for players, that’s another inch for him,” Tocchet said of Michkov. “So, yeah, he made some nice plays. He started to skate a little bit more north and stuff like that. But he makes a high-level play to Zamula. … You skate, you make everyone drive [to you], and then you make the play. It’s when you don’t move the structure that he throws it in the middle and I think there’s a difference, and I think he’s starting to learn the difference.”
‘We are a family’
It’s been 23 years since Tocchet last played for the Flyers and his name is still atop the team’s all-time list for most career penalty minutes. And despite being a guy with 172 career NHL fights (regular season and playoffs), according to hockeyhights.com, Tocchet swears, “We’re not preaching fighting.”
What he is doing is “trying to create a culture and sticking together.”
They definitely do that because after Nic Deslauriers dropped the gloves against Minnesota; and Michkov got a minor for going at Carolina Hurricanes forward William Carrier, who nailed Konecny; and before Konecny got his own fighting major Monday after Kraken defenseman Ryan Lindgren cross-checked Couturier from behind, Nikita Grebenkin entered the chat.
“It was awesome. Didn’t see it coming,” York said, summing it up perfectly. “But, he’s a feisty guy, I think, and any time one of our guys gets hit like that, you want to stick up for him. It’s who we are here, we’re a family, and just part of what we do.”
Playing in just his fourth game as a Flyer, Grebenkin made his presence known. After Garnet Hathaway was hit awkwardly, he instigated a fight with Cale Fleury and body-slammed him to the ice.
Grebenkin played just 7 minutes, 38 seconds — he earned 17 minutes’ worth of penalty time for his fight — but got his money’s worth as he endeared himself to his teammates and also made several nice plays, especially in the third period.
Entering Monday night, the Flyers were tied for the sixth-fewest goals per game this season, averaging just 2.6.
But Monday night, they rose from the depths with a 5-2 win to hand the visiting Seattle Kraken its first regulation loss of the season. The Flyers have now won two straight and three of their last four and are 3-2-1 to start the season.
The Orange and Black did it backed by two goals from Owen Tippett, two power-play goals — one by Tyson Foerster and one from Noah Cates — three assists by Cam York, and with several players registering their first point, including Travis Konecny notching his first goal of the season.
Tippett stayed hot by snagging his fourth goal of the season in six games, to tie the game 1-1 at the midway point of the first period. Sean Couturier stripped Kraken goalie Joey Daccord as he tried to play the puck behind the goal line. The captain fed Nick Seeler as he snuck down into the left circle and tried to rip a shot. It deflected off the stick of Eeli Tolvanen, allowing Tippett to shovel the puck home into a gaping net.
Foerster then gave the Flyers the lead with a power-play goal less than 4 minutes later.
The winger and Bobby Brink worked the boards after a return pass by York missed its connection with Brink. Foerster got the puck and the two got to work with Brink drawing two Kraken players to him before passing to an open Foerster, who took his time and picked the top corner. The 23-year-old Foerster now has two goals and five points in six games.
Konecny hinted Thursday that he wasn’t too worried about not having a goal, but the reaction after he scored told a different story. The play started when Matvei Michkov corralled the puck in the neutral zone, carried it into the offensive zone, and found trailing Egor Zamula.
The defenseman, who is well known for his patience with the puck, used it wisely as he skated down to the bottom of the left faceoff circle — used a little shoulder shrug to get around Jani Nyman along the way — and found Konecny for the tap-in at the right post to make it 3-1. It was Zamula’s first assist of the season.
Tyson Foerster has three goals in the early going this season.
Cates got the Flyers their second power-play goal less than a minute later, tipping in a point shot by York. The blueliner received a great pass from Trevor Zegras after the center drew winger Tye Kartye in tight, creating space. Cates has three goals and five points in six games.
Tippett added his second, to extend the lead to 5-2, with a bad-angle shot that squeezed through Daccord and the left post with under five minutes remaining in the second period.
Jordan Eberle had gotten the Kraken on the board first in the opening frame when a point shot by Cale Fleury hit him in the slot and changed direction on Flyers goalie Dan Vladař, who was ready to make the glove save. The puck instead went over his right shoulder.
Nyman had made it 4-2 on a Seattle power play when Matty Beniers found him in the right circle after a scramble in front.
Vladař, who was starting his second straight game, made 21 saves on 23 shots, including a big pad save on Kartye during a two-on-one when the Flyers were on the power play in the first period and then Chandler Stephenson on a breakaway four seconds later. Foerster scored his first on the power play soon after.
Breakaways
Nikita Grebenkin got back into the lineup and made an impact by coming to the defense of his teammate, Garnet Hathaway, who was hit awkwardly by Fleury along the boards in the neutral zone. The Russian earned five for fighting, two for instigating, and a 10-minute misconduct but earned his money by body-slamming Fleury down and then motioning to the crowd — a la Nic Deslauriers — to get excited. … In the third period, Konecny also dropped the gloves and was given a 10-minute misconduct. He went to the defense of Couturier, who was cross-checked unexpectedly and from behind by former New York Rangers defenseman Ryan Lindgren. The play happened after Tippett nailed Kartye in front of the Kraken’s bench. … Jett Luchanko also returned to the lineup and played 8 minutes, 43 seconds and had a shot on goal in what was his fourth game of the season.
Nikita Grebenkin earned himself some props from his teammates after standing up for Garnet Hathaway.
Up next
The Flyers hit the road for a matchup with the Ottawa Senators on Thursday (7 p.m., NBCSP). The Sens will be without captain Brady Tkachuk, who is out 6-8 weeks after thumb surgery.
