NEWARK, N.J. — The Flyers closed out a four-game road trip with win No. 3, defeating the New Jersey Devils, 5-3.
After losing 3-0 to the Tampa Bay Lightning to start the road trip on Monday, the Flyers closed it out with three straight wins. Philly has now won five of its last six and is 14-7-3 on the season.
Owen Tippett scored the 100th goal of his NHL career and earned his 200th NHL point when he gave the Flyers a 1-0 lead just 5 minutes, 18 seconds into the first period. The goal showed off some silky hands as he caught the pass from Christian Dvorak on his forehand and scored on a backhand.
The goal was Tippett’s second in the past 17 games, and his eighth of the season.
Šimon Nemec tied the game up later in the first period on a one-timer from between the circles. It was a bit of a wonky play as the Flyers seemed to be in control after an offensive-zone faceoff, but the puck ended up bouncing at the blue line and off the body of Travis Sanheim.
The Devils broke out three across as Sean Couturier lost his stick after it hit Bobby Brink, who got back to even up the numbers. Nemec trailed the play and was open to receive the pass from Jesper Bratt for his sixth of the year.
But in the second period, the Flyers scored a trio of goals.
Matvei Michkov took a cross-checking penalty with 75 seconds left in the opening frame. When his penalty expired in the second period, he left the box and right into a two-on-one with Travis Konecny.
Sanheim fed his buddy from deep in the Flyers zone up the wing with just Nemec back. Konecny got the puck over, and Michkov, despite Devils captain Nico Hischier on him, put the puck on net, and it slid past goalie Jacob Markstrom. The goal was Michkov’s seventh of the season and sixth in the past 11.
Michkov was credited with another goal less than 3 minutes later, when a shot by Konecny went off him in front. Cam York skated away from New Jersey winger Stefan Noesen at the blue line and dished the puck on the backhand to Konecny, who fired the one-timer. Couturier and Michkov were in front, creating traffic with two defenders.
It is the Russian winger’s first multi-goal game since the 2024-25 season finale.
Later in the period, Zegras gave the Flyers a 4-1 lead with a one-timer off a nice feed from Tippett, who broke out of the Flyers’ zone with the puck and took off down the left wing. His speed led to a two-on-one and finished with a cross-crease pass to Zegras for his ninth goal of the year.
The goal came after Bratt hit the post at the other end on a breakaway. But while Dan Vladař didn’t make the save on that one, he did come up big despite allowing three goals.
With 16 seconds left in the first period, he robbed Hischier backdoor off a cross-crease pass during Michkov’s penalty. In the middle frame, again with the Flyers shorthanded, he stoned Dawson Mercer on another two-on-one.
Vladař did eventually allow a power-play goal to Timo Meier with 27 seconds left in the second period. And in the third period, Mercer scored to cut it to a one-goal game.
But it was Markstrom who made the most spectacular save of the night as he robbed Noah Cates with the glove during an odd-man rush with 3 minutes, 26 seconds left.
Tippett was credited with a goal with 1:15 remaining when he was tripped by Arseny Gritsyuk on a breakaway with Markstrom pulled for the extra attacker. It was his second multigoal game of the season, the last coming on Oct. 20 against the Seattle Kraken, and he now has eight goals on the year.
Forward Nic Deslauriers and defenseman Noah Juulsen were the healthy scratches. … Vladař finished with 28 saves, and the Flyers put 32 shots on Markstrom.
Up next
The Flyers return home to host the Pittsburgh Penguins on Monday (7 p.m., NBCSP).
NEWARK, N.J. — Flyers forward Tyson Foerster sat down for locker clean-out day in April and noted that despite finishing with 25 goals and 43 points in 81 games yet again, it took some time to find the back of the net consistently.
Last season, it was Game 33 when he scored his ninth goal of the season. It was a step up from his rookie year, when it took him 49, despite scoring three times in eight games in March of the previous season.
“I think I was getting chances earlier before, too, [but] I just wasn’t able to score. But finally, the puck started going in for me in waves,” Foerster said back in April about his end-of-season surge.
Right now, the waves are coming in hot and heavy, like there’s a hurricane brewing off the coast. Foerster has scored nine goals so far this season, including five in the past five games.
Skating in just 19 of the Flyers’ first 23 games this season due to a lower-body injury, Foerster is becoming the sniper everyone envisioned when he was drafted 23rd overall in the 2020 NHL draft.
“His release of his shot is really elite … but when he gets that puck in the slot or these prime areas, his release, really, it’s an elite shot, so I give him a lot of credit,” coach Rick Tocchet said.
Foerster will credit his scoring prowess to the bounces he’s been getting, but he’s also creating opportunities. His goal in the first period on Friday in the Flyers’ 4-3 shootout win against the New York Islanders was because of the forward, who is known for his high hockey IQ, poked the puck away from Emil Heineman of the Islanders after he couldn’t handle an errant pass by Travis Konecny.
Flyers right wing Tyson Foerster back-hands the puck against the St. Louis Blues on Nov. 20.
He had the perfect shooting lane, and he beat goalie David Rittich glove side easily.
“He’s a scrappy [player],” Tocchet said. “Even on that goal, there’s a blind pass in the middle, the Islanders had it, but he knocked it off the guy and scored. I mean, that’s a big, huge play for us. I call him, he’s just a hockey player.”
Foerster didn’t spend time working on his shot over the summer; he spent the majority of the time recovering from an elbow infection. And his linemates have shifted from Noah Cates and Bobby Brink to Cates and Konecny.
According to Natural Stat Trick, the trio has played 63 minutes, 34 seconds together at five-on-five. Although the opposition has 61 chances to the Flyers’ 55 when they are on the ice, they have outscored other teams, 5-0.
Tocchet credited Foerster for being someone who can find the open space to maintain the foundational triangle. It is one of the most basic offensive-zone strategies in hockey, having forwards create the shape of a triangle, as it is not only about puck support and having a high man, but also creating a bit of turmoil for the team defending.
“I feel like I can read off Catesy and TK,” Foerster said. “TK likes to go high sometimes, and I like to go high. And Catesy is usually in the corner battling it up and getting the pucks up to us, so he’s done a great job of that. But, if I see TK going high, I usually try and go to the net and, you know, hopefully bang one in that way.”
Former coach John Tortorella heavily relied on Foerster when he was behind the Flyers bench. Now Tocchet is doing the same.
Foerster plays power play, is now on the second pairing for the penalty kill, and in the last minute of a game, unless Tocchet puts three centers out on the ice, “He’s probably the next guy, so he’s a guy that we really rely on, and he wants that responsibility.”
Breakaways
Dan Vladař will start in goal. He was in the net when the Flyers beat the New Jersey Devils, 6-3, last Saturday.
ELMONT, N.Y. — Despite giving up a 3-0 lead, the Flyers turned the lights back on when it mattered most Friday to defeat the New York Islanders 4-3 in a shootout.
Trevor Zegras and Travis Konecny scored in the shootout, and goaltender Sam Ersson stopped Islanders’ Bo Horvat to clinch the game.
The Flyers are a perfect 5-0 in shootouts this season. They have won two straight and four of their past five games overall.
“There’s going to be ups and downs throughout the course of a game and a season,” defenseman Travis Sanheim said of the Flyers’ resiliency. “Just resetting and getting your head back on straight and sticking with what’s been working for you, and just get back to your game.”
Ersson allowed three goals on 13 shots in the second period, but he came up big in the third, stopping all nine, and saved three more in overtime. Then, he stopped the final shot in the shootout to seal the win. The Swedish netminder is now 12-3 in the skills competition.
“Yeah, there could be some prescout on him,” coach Rick Tocchet said about Ersson’s expertise in the shootout. “He looks big when you go down, and I’m watching like, I don’t know much about Erss this year, but he looks big in the net on those breakaways. He just looks big, it looks like there’s not room, and there could be some psychology when it comes to that.”
But it was the saves that Ersson made across the first 60 minutes that kept the Flyers in the game. He made a nifty save on a Jonathan Drouin tip-in attempt off a Scott Mayfield shot from the point in the first period, before robbing Horvat’s one-timer at the right post in the second; Ersson slid across to make the split save off the tip of his left pad with the Flyers up 3-1.
In the third period, he made the biggest save of the night during a two-on-one. Islanders forward Anthony Duclair skated up the ice and made a move that saw Noah Juulsen fall. Flyers defenseman Nick Seeler went to Duclair, but he was able to drop the puck around Seeler to Calum Ritchie, who was stopped by Ersson.
Flyers goaltender Samuel Ersson, shown against Tampa on Nov. 24, stopped 28 of 31 shots against New York on Friday.
After the save, Matvei Michkov carried Ritchie into the boards and hit him up high with his stick, resulting in a four-minute power play for the Islanders. The Flyers entered the game with the fourth-best penalty kill (86.2%) and held the Islanders, who entered the day with the 31st-ranked power play (12.6%) — but did have one power-play goal already — to six shot attempts. Ersson stopped two shots, one being a tricky tip-in attempt from Ritchie.
“You’ve got to give guys credit, because we’re hanging in there. That’s a [heck] of a PK,” Tocchet said. “It’s four minutes, that could be the game, and to me, that shows a lot of character. Those six guys with the four D, and Erss making those stops. You’ve got to be proud of the team for that, that PK.”
Ersson made a nice save on Drouin in the extra session before stopping his countryman, Simon Holmström, with the blocker. And then he did what he does best in the shootout — but not before Zegras did what he does best in the shootout.
Among players who have at least 15 shootout attempts, Zegras ranks No. 1 all-time at 68%. He has 17 goals on 25 shots, and has scored 70.6% of his shootout attempts on the road. Zegras is 4-for-4 this season.
“Especially when you have Trevor Zegras on your team, you start almost with one up. So we like our odds in shootouts, but at the same time, we don’t want to always be going to that point,” captain Sean Couturier said. “Regulation wins are huge down the road, so we’ve got to find a way to close those games out, and not give out points to, especially, divisional opponents, but at the same time, it’s a huge win.
“The way the game kind of went, we were all over them early, and then they get a goal there early in the second. And we kind of lost our cool for a little bit there. But, we regrouped in the third and stuck together and found a way to get that extra point.”
Long Island’s Billy Joel famously sang, “Don’t go changing,” and while the Flyers made one significant change — it’s only the seventh time in 23 games this season they scored first, snapping a nine-game streak — there’s one aspect they shouldn’t. For the second straight game, Tyson Foerster and Couturier scored seconds apart.
On Wednesday, it gave the Flyers a 4-2 win against the two-time defending champion Florida Panthers when they scored 21 seconds apart. On Friday, their goals 22 seconds apart gave the Orange and Black a 2-0 lead.
Foerster opened the scoring 8 minutes, 30 seconds into the game. Sanheim got the puck in his own end, skated around the net, and carried it up the left wing with Islanders forward Emil Heineman hounding him.
He entered the zone and dished the puck to Konecny, who sent a turnaround pass right to Heineman. But it wasn’t a clean pass, and Foerster poked it away as the Swede fell. It gave Foerster the perfect shooting lane, and he beat Islanders goalie David Rittich glove side for his ninth goal of the season.
“Obviously, we’d like to do it more often,” Sanheim said about scoring first. “And, in saying that, when you get out to a good lead, you want to be able to keep your foot on the gas and not allow a team to get back into it. So just continue to keep growing and get better as a team.”
Couturier snapped a 17-game goal drought on Wednesday and scored in consecutive games for the first time since March of last season. His goal came after Juulsen defended New York’s Mathew Barzal against the wall in the Flyers’ zone, allowing Michkov to scoop up the loose puck.
Bobby Brink put pressure on Tony DeAngelo, causing the former Flyers defenseman to turn the puck over to Couturier, and the Flyers captain scored past the glove of Rittich from the left face-off circle.
Tyson Foerster, shown on Nov. 14, opened the scoring for the Flyers on Friday night against the Islanders.
An Innocent Man
Before getting to one of the worst calls this season — and there have been plenty to choose from — the Flyers looked in control when Zegras extended the lead to 3-0 on a power play 1:55 into the second period.
The New Yorker took the puck off the wall after Emil Andrae carried it deep and was stopped by Rittich. Zegras curled in the left circle and scored off the skate of Islanders defenseman Ryan Pulock.
But then things started to go awry.
Heineman exacted some revenge and scored to make it 3-1. Andrae got the puck and skated backward into his own zone. He didn’t realize that Kyle Palmieri was still in the Flyers’ end after getting tangled up with Jamie Drysdale. Palmieri picked his pocket and fed Drouin, who dropped the puck for Heineman to finish.
The referees missed a call as the Islanders had six guys on the ice when Palmieri played the puck as he was skating to the bench.
Rookie sensation Matthew Schaeffer cut the Flyers’ lead to one with his eighth of the year. He got the puck at the left point and skated down into the left circle before firing off a wrister past Ersson. There was a delayed penalty on Garnet Hathaway, but the Islanders didn’t have the extra skater on yet.
And then, with the momentum swinging in the Islanders’ favor, Konecny was called for a phantom hold on Holmström during a Flyers power play.
The call was questionable as Holmström sold it and the referee above the blue line — not the referee standing right in front of the players — made the call.
After skating four-on-four on the ensuing power play for the Islanders, Schaefer put a point shot that Max Shabanov tipped up and off the body of teammate Anders Lee past Ersson.
“Obviously, the second was a little bit, you know, some penalties, a couple of misfortune plays, but hung in there,” Tocchet said. “Little bit ugly, but give the guys credit for scratching and clawing. That’s a big two points for us.”
New York Islanders center Kyle Palmieri left the game against the Flyers on Friday with an injury.
Breakaways
Palmieri did not return after playing a role in the Islanders’ first goal due to a lower-body injury. … Forward Nic Deslauriers and defenseman Egor Zamula were healthy scratches for the second straight game. They did participate in warmups. … Couturier played in his 896th NHL game, all with the Flyers.
Up next
The Flyers get right back to it on Saturday against the Devils in New Jersey (7 p.m., NBCSP).
Terrence Wallin stood on the home team’s bench at the PPL Center for warmups in early September.
He looked around the arena in Allentown, the home of Lehigh Valley of the American Hockey League, and saw the Flyers logo everywhere. It was on the jerseys that the rookies were wearing as they prepared to play their New York Rangers counterparts. It was on the clothing that fans donned in the crowd.
That’s when it started to sink in for Wallin. In a few short weeks, the 33-year-old would stand on that same bench as the new assistant coach for the Phantoms, playing a key role in the Flyers’ rebuild.
But then he peered across the rink and saw his 2-year-old son. For Terrence, it was an unforgettable moment, but not just because his son, who loves the rink, was there. Little Wes Wallin was wearing a Flyers jersey. Terrence’s Flyers jersey. The same one he wore when he was 4 years old growing up in Yardley.
Terrence Wallin’s son, Wes, is his biggest fan and loves being around the rink.
“The Flyers have always kind of been in the background of who I am as a person growing up here,” Wallin said, sitting at the Flyers Training Center in Voorhees during rookie camp.
“Growing up a Flyers fan, you dream of being a part of it somehow,” he added. “Obviously, when you’re young, you hope it’s as a player, but to get the opportunity to do it now as a coach is something that I don’t take for granted.”
Chris Barcless’ excitement poured through the phone even via text. The hockey director at the Ice Land Skating Center in Hamilton Township, N.J., was looking forward to speaking about one of his favorite players across his 31 years with the Mercer Chiefs organization.
“I loved coaching him [and] he loved to play,” said Barcless, who is coaching the 2013 and 2014-born players this season for the Chiefs, over the phone. “At a young age, not only was [Wallin] one of the best kids, but he absolutely loved to play. [He was the] first guy on the ice, last guy off the ice type of player, eager to learn, listen, real coachable, worked hard, and we had a lot of success together.”
Raised about 30 miles outside Philly, Wallin’s older brothers, Tim and Chris, played hockey, so it’s no surprise that the youngest of Mike and Alice’s three boys was thrust into it, too. Terrence Wallin joked that he didn’t have much of a choice, but he fell in love with the sport.
Wallin skated for Pennsbury at a young age before switching to Mercer around the age of 10. He spent his childhood playing hockey all over New Jersey and Pennsylvania, even hitting the ice in Voorhees.
Skilled offensively, he was also known as a responsible 200-foot player. His strong work ethic and never-quit attitude stood out to Barcless, specifically during a championship game for the Atlantic Youth Hockey League. With a minute or two to go, and Mercer up by one, Wallin was one of the team’s two forwards on the ice during a six-on-four.
Terrence Wallin played minor hockey for the Mercer Chiefs, where he became “a sponge,” says former coach Chris Barcless.
“For the first minute, they killed the penalty. They’re dead tired, and they can’t breathe. There’s a whistle and the other coach changes lines, puts their second power play on,” Barcless recalls.
“… I’m like, ‘Listen, guys, we got one minute to go. I know you’re tired. If you cannot go for the next minute, I’ll use my timeout, because I’m not changing lines. So if you cannot go, we’ll use the timeout. But I strongly urge you to get back out there and just kill the last minute without calling a timeout so their first power play can’t get back on the ice.’ And they did. … We ended up winning the championship that day.”
Before moving to Connecticut to play at The Gunnery (now known as the Frederick Gunn School), the forward brought that same mindset to La Salle College High School. Wallin was so committed to his game, he would often go to La Salle’s practices and then, driving in his hockey gear, head to Jersey to skate with Mercer.
Although he played only two years at La Salle, the school competed in the Flyers Cup twice, winning the Class AAA Flyers Cup and the state championship in 2008. A sophomore on a team loaded with upperclassmen, he played a big role in the Explorers’ success as a playmaker, whether on the wing or at center, while skating on the penalty kill and power play.
“He was very skilled, and his hockey IQ was off the charts, and his compete level was high,” said Wally Muehlbronner, his coach at La Salle. “So the three of those things certainly blended together made for a really good hockey player. When he was with me at La Salle, he hadn’t had a growth spurt yet. He’s still not the biggest guy, but back then, he was definitely a little bit smaller. But made up for that with his IQ, his skill level, and his compete level.”
Listed at 6-foot, 204 pounds, Wallin went on to play four years of Division I hockey at UMass-Lowell. Across 138 games, he had 16 goals and 34 assists and helped lead the River Hawks to two Hockey East championships. Named Hockey East’s rookie of the week three times, he scored in UMass-Lowell’s 4-2 loss to Union College and Shayne Gostisbehere in the 2012 NCAA regional final.
Terrence Wallin played four seasons at UMass Lowell before embarking on a pro hockey career.
Between 2015 and 2020, Wallin played as a pro, skating in the Southern Professional Hockey League, ECHL, and AHL. In September 2018, he was acquired by the Maine Mariners of the ECHL in the franchise’s first-ever trade.
The guy who pulled the trigger on the deal was current Flyers general manager Danny Brière.
I Go Through
The trade began a relationship that has now spanned almost a decade between Brière, Wallin, and the Flyers’ director of player development, Riley Armstrong. In 2018, Brière was the Mariners’ vice president of operations — i.e., general manager — and Armstrong was the head coach.
“He was one of our leaders. He was one of our best players in Maine, and had scored the most goals the year before,” Brière said of Wallin, who tied for the team lead with 23 goals in 2019-20.
But the then-28-year-old Wallin decided he was ready to begin his climb up the coaching ranks.
“We didn’t want to lose him, and he came to us [to say] that he wanted to get into coaching,” Brière recalled. “So that showed how much he wanted to get into the coaching side of things that he was willing to leave his career when he was one of the best players in the league, in the ECHL at the time, and played some games in [the AHL] … to get into coaching. So it was a big career move for him, and showed a lot of passion for the coaching side.”
Danny Brière first got to know Terrence Wallin when they he worked with the Maine Mariners of the ECHL.
After spending a year working with youth hockey in Maine, he was back with the Mariners as an assistant coach. A year later, he was running the show.
“If you told me way back that he was going to eventually be a coach, I would say I could see that,” Barcless said. “He was a sponge. He listened. He played in all aspects for our teams. … His IQ was good. He learned the game. I remember when he first started with me, he was all about offense and skill. But for many years, and sticking with it … he became a really well-rounded hockey player.”
Wallin was behind Maine’s bench for three seasons, leading the squad to its best season in franchise history in his first year (42-27-3). His first two seasons, the Mariners made the postseason, losing in the North Division semifinals, and he finished with a 107-94-15 record.
This past summer, after going through the interview process with new coach John Snowden and Flyers assistant general manager Alyn McCauley, who runs the Phantoms, he was hired as Lehigh Valley’s newest assistant coach. “They came back to me and said they felt Terrence was the guy for the job, so that made my life a lot easier, knowing that it was him … and obviously I was on board right away,” Brière said.
At just 33 years old, Terrence Wallin (left) is already on an AHL bench as an assistant coach. His coaching rise has happened quickly.
Of a Revolution
Heading into Thanksgiving, Wallin certainly has a lot to be thankful for. It probably also helps that the Phantoms have the sixth-best record in the AHL (11-5-1-1) and that he’s coaching the next generation of Flyers stars.
Wallin runs the forwards, including prospects like Alex Bump, Denver Barkey, and Karsen Dorwart, as well as the power play for Snowden, who also made the jump from the ECHL as a head coach to the AHL as an assistant. Wallin runs video with the groups and “is a calming influence” on the bench.
As Muehlbronner said, “I think he gained a lot of wisdom along the way, but it’s his personality and the way he sees the game that I think probably is making him a very effective coach.”
Coaching is obviously in his blood, but so are the Flyers.
“I think there’s an extra passion there with the Flyers organization,” Brière said of Wallin, who listed guys like John LeClair, Jeremy Roenick, Peter Forsberg, Scott Hartnell, and Claude Giroux as his favorite players.
“He understands it, knows it having grown up with the Flyers in his backyard. So yeah, that’s a big plus.”
Added Snowden: “I do think there’s a sense of pride for him, knowing that this is what he kind of grew up watching and knowing, and now he gets to put himself in the middle of it and really try to help the Phantoms win a championship and develop the best players possible for the Flyers. I would assume, as a kid from the area, that’s a great opportunity and a big moment, and he’s done a really good job at grasping on and taking advantage of it.”
There is a massive thread that ties Wallin to the organization, one that’s been getting thicker and thicker since those days as a 4-year-old wearing the jersey his son Wes sported in September. And he’s looking forward to playing a role in helping the Flyers get back to being a contender.
“They dropped the article that I was the assistant coach, and I got a couple of texts from kids growing up like, ‘Wow, that’s so awesome to see how all your hard work has paid off,’” Wallin said.
And then came those other texts.
“I did get [those] texts like, can you help turn this around?” he added with a chuckle.
“I hope so. And I think that we can, I think there’s a lot of fun prospects in this organization, too.”
Terrence Wallin is someone the organization thinks very highly of and believes has room to grow.
SUNRISE, Fla. — Standing outside the locker room on Wednesday night in the bowels of Amerant Bank Arena, Flyers coach Rick Tocchet asked if his team was done playing the Florida Panthers.
When told the season series was complete, he said, “Thank God.” But hold on there. The Flyers took two of three games against the two-time defending Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers with a last-minute 4-2 victory on Thanksgiving Eve.
Tyson Foerster scored the game-winning goal with 45.2 seconds left in regulation, and Sean Couturier added a deflection up and over goalie Sergei Bobrovsky with 25 seconds left to give the Flyers the win.
Foerster’s goal came after his initial shot was blocked by Panthers defenseman Aaron Ekblad, and the puck went right back to him. He patiently waited and picked his spot to give the Flyers a 3-2 lead.
Couturier’s goal came off a heads-up play by Christian Dvorak to put the puck on net. Up by a goal, Tocchet also had Noah Cates on the ice, and the center was ready to pounce just in case.
The Flyers have won three of their past four games and four of their past six. They also lead the NHL with 10 comeback wins.
The Flyers came out ready to play. Before the Panthers got their first shot on goal 4 minutes, 33 seconds into the game, the Flyers had four shots on goal and six more that were either blocked or missed the net.
But, like usual, the Flyers fell into a 1-0 hole in the first period.
“Yeah, I liked our start, and then obviously they flipped the table on us. [Dan Vladař] was unreal, and of course, he saved our bacon,” Tocchet said. “Getting out of [the first period down] 1-0, kind of regrouped, and made a couple of adjustments, and stuff like that. But I thought the resilience of the guys, give them a lot of credit.”
The ice started tilting when Emil Andrae skated out from behind the net, and the puck slid off his stick. It led to a barrage of shots by the home team.
Within 19 seconds, the Panthers put six shots on Dan Vladař, with another hitting the crossbar. The Flyers got the puck out, and at the other end, Nick Seeler had his stick break on a point shot, creating a turnover.
The Panthers skated out with Sam Bennett eventually getting the puck back in the Flyers’ end. Bennett skated around Matvei Michkov, who got back but pulled down the forward as he cut across the crease with the puck sliding under Seeler. Michkov would have been called for a penalty if Brad Marchand hadn’t buried the puck.
It is the 16th time this season the Flyers have trailed 1-0. They have played only 22 games. They are 9-5-2 when trailing first.
“Yeah, we always get scored on first, it seems like,” Foerster said. “But it’s not a good thing, but it’s great that we always come back and we give a good effort every night.”
Flyers right wing Matvei Michkov scored his fifth goal over his last nine games on Wednesday night against the Panthers.
Andrae the Giant
The Hockey Gods certainly love to dole it out. Andrae had a rough start and was also on the ice for the Panthers’ second goal in the second period, with Carter Verhaeghe finishing off a pretty passing play.
But he bounced back with authority.
“What I really like about that is, yeah, he had a tough first, right? But the game’s not over. There’s 40 minutes left, and he was a factor,” Tocchet said.
Andrae cut the Panthers’ lead in half with his first goal of the season. After some sustained pressure by the Flyers, Andrae got the puck at the left point and threw it on net. With a ton of traffic in front, which included Trevor Zegras, Dvorak, and two Panthers, the puck threaded the needle and got past the former Flyers goalie Bobrovsky, who did not have his stick.
“Obviously, you have your ups and downs in your season and in the game. So it was a little slow start in the first there, and just trying to get back to simple and hard, and let the game come to me,” Andrae said. “So think that worked pretty well tonight.”
Less than a minute later, Andrae was in the penalty box for high-sticking, but the Flyers entered the night with the fourth-best penalty kill (85.5%) — it finished a perfect 3-for-3 — and held the Panthers to one shot on goal and one blocked shot.
On his next shift after serving his time, Andrae helped tie the game up. Controlling the puck, Andrae and Jamie Drysdale used their best commodity — their footwork — to cross atop the circles. Andrae then got the puck back and sent a shot on goal that Michkov deflected in. The goal is Michkov’s sixth of the year and his fifth in the last nine games.
“I think that’s something we’re trying to emphasize in our offensive game as a team. So yeah, I mean, we’re both good at moving our legs and trying to create shooting lines that way,” Andrae said. “So, yeah, it was a great play, and glad it went in.”
Andrae’s miscue tilted the ice away from the Flyers, but his offensive game tilted it right back as the visitors started to take over control of the game.
Vladař comes up big again
People questioned the signing of goaltender Vladař on July 1, but he has been nothing short of the Flyers’ best player this season.
“Just from the beginning of the year, just the buy-in, the excitement he brings to our team as a goalie, coming by the bench [during the] timeouts and obviously standing tall for us when it wasn’t good for the last 10 minutes of the first,” Tocchet said. “We had a little rope-a-dope, and he kind of held it together for us.”
The Panthers put 15 shots on goal in the first period, with several coming from high-danger areas, and he allowed just one goal. He stopped a Gustav Forsling point shot with his pad before robbing Verhaeghe from seven feet out. Vladař also stopped Noah Gregor as he weaved through the Flyers’ defense.
Despite trailing 1-0 after the first period, Vladař stayed positive.
“At the end of the day, it’s just hockey,” he said. “We are here for each other. And I’m pretty sure if we’re going to keep sticking up for each other, then good things are going to happen to a good team. So I think we are a good team.”
In the second period, things settled down, and he faced just five shots on goal. But it’s about quality and not quantity, and Vladař robbed A.J. Greer as he sneaked behind the defense and tried to score on the backhand.
And with the game tied 2-2, he reached back to make a sliding glove save on Uvis Balinskis. Vladař finished with 25 saves to earn his ninth win of the season in 13 games.
While there is the “Great 8,” in Alexander Ovechkin, according to Foerster, his teammates call Vladař, “The Great 8-0.”
“Don’t want to get it too high and at the same time too low,” the goalie said. “As I’ve said a lot of times, [it’s] a long year. So got to keep grinding, keep getting better every day. And, hopefully, we are going to accomplish something till Game 82.”
Flyers goaltender Dan Vladar earned his ninth victory Wednesday night in 13 games this season.
Breakaways
Defenseman Egor Zamula and forward Nic Deslauriers were the healthy scratches. … Forward Owen Tippett had the secondary assist on Andrae’s goal for the 100th of his NHL career. … Couturier snapped a 17-game goal drought with his third of the year.
A little nugget from NHL stats on the #Flyers win.
SUNRISE, Fla. — There are a few X accounts that ask the question, “Is [blank player] playing today?”
It’s starting to feel like one of those accounts should be made for Nikita Grebenkin. If it were to be up and running on Wednesday, it would simply say, “Yes.”
After sitting for the last three games, the Russian left winger will slot back in on the fourth line alongside Garnet Hathaway and center Rodrigo Ābols when the Flyers take on the Florida Panthers tonight at 7 (NBCSP). Nic Deslauriers will come out of the lineup.
So what does Rick Tocchet want to see from Grebenkin?
“I’ve got to see some good forechecking. He’s got to know where he goes sometimes in the D zone,” Tocchet said after morning skate. “Obviously, I want him to play mind-free. And just really, kind of don’t think too much.
“I think when he’s out there, sometimes he thinks too much, and he plays a slower game. So I think if he just kind of reacts off a puck and just goes, that’s when he’ll be at his best.”
This is a game in which Grebenkin can show what he can do. The Panthers like to play man-on-man in the defensive zone, and the key to beating that, according to Tocchet, is to keep the feet moving, beat your check to the net, and bring energy.
Enter Grebenkin, who is not only an energy guy but excels below the hash marks.
“Plain as day, is very good,” Hathaway said of Grebenkin’s play in the bottom half of the offensive zone. “It’s a big part of his game, and it can allow us to create offense. We’ve played together against a few man-on-man teams, I think, and it’s our job now to say, hey, how can we get the puck down there? How can we puck possess? And then how can we get a guy like Grebby the puck who can puck protect and then create offense out of that?”
According to Natural Stat Trick, the line of Grebenkin, Hathaway, and Ābols has played 26 minutes, 16 seconds together this season. They have allowed one goal and have been out-chanced, 12-6. But they do have 22 shot attempts to the opposition’s 20.
Flyers coach Rick Tocchet wants Nikita Grebenkin (left) to be more predictable and responsible.
Grebenkin has played in 12 of the Flyers’ first 21 games and has just 19 total NHL games under his belt. He notched his first NHL point in his season debut on Oct. 11 against the Carolina Hurricanes and his first NHL goal on Nov. 4 in Montreal.
Tocchet recently said the 6-foot-2, 210-pound Grebenkin needs to be more predictable, which is something he has wanted to see more of from his group as a whole. The Ābols line will meet before puck drop to discuss how to hit Tocchet’s request.
“We’ll talk about the keys that as a line we need to focus on that will make us more predictable,” Hathaway said. “I think that’ll allow us to keep our speed, stay in lanes to support each other. We’ve talked a little bit about having our toes facing the same way when we’re forechecking. We’re in there together and a closeness that allows us to keep puck possession and hold on to pucks.”
Skating with the veteran Hathaway and Ābols, who doesn’t have many more NHL games than Grebenkin under his belt but played a long time in Europe before joining the Flyers last season, will help Grebenkin. He is under a bit of a microscope and assuredly wants to stay in the lineup. Hathaway said they will pull out the iPad if needed, and when the timing is right, Ābols also speaks Russian and can chat with the young winger.
“Yeah, those situations you can see when they talk to their coaches, and you kind of see their lost face, then I kind of slide in,” Ābols said. “I’m going to try any way I can, whether it’s translating or helping any way I can.”
Dan Vladař (8-4-1, .912 save percentage) will start against the Panthers. He is 1-1-0 this season against them with a 2.02 goals-against average and .933 save percentage. The Flyers lost the season opener, 2-1, and beat Florida, 5-2, in the home opener at Xfinity Mobile Arena. … Defenseman Noah Juulsen will return to the lineup after being a healthy scratch for the last two games. Egor Zamula will sit.
TAMPA — The Flyers have hit the quarter mark of the 2025-26 season.
Sporting an 11-7-3 record, they sit one point back of a wild-card spot in a tight Eastern Conference where the worst team, the Toronto Maple Leafs, are just four points back of the Flyers.
Here’s what is on the mind of the Flyers faithful as The Inquirer opens up the mailbag for the first time this season:
Q: Could you see [Christian] Kyrou as a call-up at some point this year? — Danny Matos (@danmatos_danny) on X
Never say never. Is it a little too early to determine what the season brings? Sure. But across the past two seasons, I don’t get the sense that the Flyers call up players based on merit alone. Like most teams, it always seems to be based on need. But that’s not to say he doesn’t deserve a look.
Since being acquired in the trade that sent Samu Tuomaala to Dallas, Kyrou has 12 points (three goals, nine assists) with a plus-minus of plus-12 in 10 games. Not too shabby. Now, one issue is that Kyrou is 5-foot-10 and the Flyers already have two sub-6-foot defensemen on the blue line in Jamie Drysdale and Emil Andrae. The 22-year-old, who is the younger brother of St. Louis Blues forward Jordan Kyrou, is a right-handed shot and could find a role down the road given his offensive skills.
Defenseman Christian Kyrou has been a revelation with 12 points in 10 games since being acquired from Dallas last month.
Q: Do you feel Tocchet has prioritized player development over immediate journeyman success? — Hockeygobler (@hockeygobler) on X
This question sounds like it is more asking whether Flyers coach Rick Tocchet is focused on the rebuild. And it’s a tough one to gauge where Tocchet’s thinking lies. The whole point of a game is to win, and the whole point of a season is, ideally, to make the playoffs and compete for a Stanley Cup. After all, as former coach John Tortorella always said, winning is important to building culture.
Player development needs to be a multifaceted approach. It’s not necessarily X but X, Y, and Z. Players need to develop not just their individual skills but team concepts and systems that help the team win. Someone like Matvei Michkov needs to continue to develop his individual skills, like his offense, but he also needs to learn things like how to read plays better, like when to — and when not to — leave the zone early. He took a big step in the right direction on Saturday when he played it perfectly, and Sean Couturier fed him for a breakaway goal. It’s baby steps in that regard, but do I personally think some of the younger kids, like Michkov and Nikita Grebenkin, should play more? Yes. Would they maybe benefit from more ice time to correct mistakes? I believe so. Now, if they don’t make corrections and sit, well that’s another part of player development.
Q: Why do you think Tocchet is tougher on the younger kids for making the same mistakes the vets make? — Hassan Goodman (@phillygator1986) on X
Veterans will always get a longer leash. This isn’t a Tocchet thing. It’s a tale as old as time. And there’s a reason they are veterans: They’ve played in the world’s best league for a long time, and although they’ve assuredly made mistakes along the way, they have obviously corrected them to keep playing in the NHL.
Youngsters need to learn and grow, and have mistakes corrected, too. Should they be benched for entire games, a la Joel Farabee was famously under Tortorella? No. But there do need to be consequences for not learning and making corrections, and there’s no book on the younger kids yet to say they will fix things.
Q: Why does Tocchet consistently scratch 29?? It makes absolutely no sense to me. He clearly has skill and would benefit the struggling offense, yet we continue to play 44 over him. — Rich #83 (@dangler83) on X
To start, No. 29 is Grebenkin and No. 44 is Nic Deslauriers. I don’t think it’s fair to say it’s one or the other. Or that Deslauriers should only sit to get Grebenkin in. Deslauriers is a veteran who plays a specific role. There’s a reason he was on the ice on Monday in Tampa Bay — to contain and, if needed, which did happen, fight 6-9 Lightning forward Curtis Douglas. Grebenkin wasn’t going to fight him; it wouldn’t have been fair. And it wouldn’t have been fair to ask Garnet Hathaway or Nick Seeler, who can also drop the gloves, to take on that role.
Flyers winger Nikita Grebenkin has found playing time scarce of late.
Asking why Grebenkin, 22, has only skated in 12 of the Flyers’ first 21 games is a valid question. He’s talented, can play a physical game, and can score. Tocchet wants guys to go to the net and the dirty areas, and he thrives there — a scout told The Inquirer during the preseason they were impressed by his game.
But Tocchet recently said Grebenkin needs to be more predictable — this is something he has preached about his lines, especially the fourth line, which is the only one to presumably have a spot open for the winger. It’s also valid to say that you cannot be predictable if you don’t know how to predict the game, and the only way you can predict the game is by playing in games. Something has to give soon.
TAMPA, Fla. — After a six-goal outburst on Saturday night against a division opponent, the Flyers put up a goose egg Monday for the first time this season.
Here are three things to know from the 3-0 shutout loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning:
Tending goal for the first time in 10 days, and after goalie Dan Vladař had started three straight, Sam Ersson got back between the pipes on Monday. If you look at the stats, you’ll see he allowed two goals on 17 shots, and produced another sub-.900 save percentage outing.
But peer beyond the box score and you’ll see a goalie who played his game.
The Swedish netminder has always been strong at tracking pucks and playing angles. Just 93 seconds into the game, and on the first shot he faced, Ersson made a save on a tricky tipped shot by Dominic James. He kicked out the left pad to rob him on a rebound shot from the slot later in the period. Ersson later tracked the puck well after Jake Guentzel threw it on net from the right wing.
In the third period, he stopped Brandon Hagel — who easily was the Lightning’s best player in the game — as he danced through the defense and fired a shot off Ersson’s shoulder. And late in the game, as the Flyers started to press, he stopped James again on a two-on-one.
⚡️ Anthony Cirelli (#71) taps home the centering feed for his 9th goal of the season! Brandon Hagel (#38) and Nikita Kucherov (#86) pick up the assists.#GoBolts pic.twitter.com/47yxCmTQZs
Ersson likes to see a high volume of shots. This game did not have that, and, to be fair, neither have most of his games this season. Ersson has the lowest shots against per 60 minutes in the NHL (20.9) while not getting much run support. He ranks second in the league, behind Nashville’s Juuse Saros, with the fewest goals for (2.18) among goalies who have played at least seven games.
“I can’t make them manufacture shots,” Ersson said. “They get chances. I know the puck is going to come my way. I think I’ve got to do some stuff different on those goals, from my perspective, and do a better job [and] come up with some saves in those situations.”
The goals he allowed came on a tipped shot by Hagel in the first period, when it looked like there was a double screen, and another in the second by Anthony Cirelli, who was left alone in front for an easy redirect off the rush.
Flyers coach Rick Tocchet prefers his team to keep opponents’ shots to the outside, but the Lightning clearly had a game plan to drive to the middle of the ice in the offensive zone. Ersson saved all nine mid-danger chances but allowed two goals on five high-danger chances.
Diving in
Coach Rick Tocchet thought Ersson played well and didn’t lay any of the blame on his shoulders. He didn’t lay any of the blame on his defensemen, either.
“It was too many odd-man rushes. That’s not on the D. The second period, we had eight odd-man rushes, that’s on the forwards. So that’s not on the D,” Tocchet said. “We have to have some guys commit to being above [the puck]. You have those types of talented players on the ice, you have to be above. You stand up when you have numbers; we didn’t have numbers because a couple of guys were diving in.”
The speedy Lightning, despite a rash of injuries, have players like Hagel, Nikita Kucherov, Guentzel, and Cirelli, who can make you pay.
Flyers defenseman Emil Andrae, who has been playing well, had a tough game Monday in Tampa, Fla.
“They came with speed right from the gate and definitely pushed us back a little bit, for sure,” said defenseman Jamie Drysdale, who was on the ice for all three Lightning goals and was out there with defensive partner Emil Andrae for the first two. “A few odd-man rushes here and there, and, yeah, they played faster than us, and they were the better team tonight.”
Tocchet mentioned two terms: “stay above” and “diving in.” In layman’s terms, his forwards were not playing smart defensively and were attacking at the wrong moments.
On the first goal, the forwards just got stuck not skating. Hagel easily went around Bobby Brink in the neutral zone as he tried to attack after being at a complete stop. Cirelli’s goal came after the three forwards got trapped deep in the offensive zone, with Sean Couturier “diving in” on Hagel, who made a cross-ice pass to Kucherov at center ice before getting it back as he drove down the right side.
“I’ll take the blame for this one; our line wasn’t good without the puck,” Couturier said. “They had some odd-man rushes on us. But other than that, I thought the other lines were going.
“It was a tight check game, not much going on both sides. Those are the games that you’ve got to find a way to win, and sometimes they go your way and sometimes they don’t.”
Sean Couturier (bottom left in white) tried to create a turnover by “diving in,” but it was too much with Bobby Brink and Matvei Michkov already deep in the offensive zone.
Chances were there
Truth be told, according to Natural Stat Trick, the line of Couturier, Brink, and Matvei Michkov was the Flyers’ best when it came to trying to get them on the board. The trio generated 13 shot attempts to eight for the Lightning and created eight scoring chances compared to five against. The only problem was that the Lightning scored on two of them.
Couturier led the line in scoring chances created with five, while Tyson Foerster, who skated with Travis Konecny and Noah Cates, had six individual chances. One of his chances was on a two-on-one with Konecny, but unlike his quick strike on Saturday against the New Jersey Devils, he waited a second, and Andrei Vasilevskiy made the save.
In the second period, the Flyers and Lightning traded chances, with the Flyers winning the chance battle, 14-9, in the third. Drysdale had several good looks Monday, and in the second period, he skated down the middle of the ice to fire a shot that Vasilevskiy saved. And although he was credited with one shot on goal and two missed shots, Michkov set up chances and had a shot on goal straight down the gullet.
The problem? “The Big Cat” saw everything all the way and didn’t have to move much. To beat the Russian netminder, you need bodies in front and to make him move.
“There were plays to be made, we just didn’t make them,” Tocchet said.
“We’ll learn; we’ll build,” Drysdale said. “We’ll be better and come back against Florida and play a good game.” The Flyers take on the Panthers on Wednesday in Sunrise, Fla. (7 p.m., NBCSP).
Nesbitt suspended
Flyers prospect Jack Nesbitt has been suspended three games by the Ontario Hockey League after receiving a match penalty on Nov. 22 against Saginaw. The match penalty came after he was called for roughing, after throwing a punch in a scrum. Nesbitt has 19 points in 18 games, including eight on the power play, for Windsor. The Spitfires are the top team in the OHL’s Western Conference (17-5-2-1).
The Flyers created too few chances in Monday’s 3-0 loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning.
TAMPA BAY — The Flyers headed to the Sunshine State to begin a four-game road trip, but the nice weather dried out their offense.
After scoring a combined 15 goals in the past four games, the Flyers were shut out for the first time this season, losing 3-0 to the Tampa Bay Lightning. It snapped the Flyers’ two-game winning streak and is their fourth loss in the last seven games.
It wasn’t a barn burner as the teams combined for 38 shots on goal. The Flyers had their chances, like when Matvei Michkov was robbed in the slot and Travis Sanheim was stoned in the high slot in the third period by Andrei Vasilevskiy. But they were few and far between, and the Lightning had better chances and buried them.
Flyers coach Rick Tocchet has spoken out about not wanting his players to back in and wanting them to stand up more at the blue line. Lightning coach Jon Cooper, who was Canada’s bench boss at the 4 Nations Face-Off alongside his assistant Tocchet, must have watched his pressers. The Lightning took a 1-0 lead with 4 minutes, 26 seconds left in the first period, thanks to Brandon Hagel using his speed to push the Flyers back.
Hagel got the puck at the Lightning’s blue line and carried it through the neutral zone. Despite three Flyers at the blue line waiting for him, he carried the puck in and dished a pass to Nikita Kucherov on the wall. As Hagel curled to the front of the net, Kucherov fed Emil Lilleberg at the point for a slap shot that Hagel ended up deflecting past goalie Sam Ersson.
Flyers right wing Owen Tippett (right) attempts a shot at Lightning goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy on Monday.
On their 12th shot of the game, the Lightning made it 2-0. And it was the same line: Brink, Michkov, and Sean Couturier, and the same defensive pairing, Jamie Drysdale and Andrae, on the ice — at almost the same time in the second period.
With four minutes remaining, after some sustained pressure in the Lightning’s end, Hagel sent the puck cross-ice to Kucherov, trapping the three forwards deep. The Russian winger skated up and sent the puck back across the ice to Hagel as the defensemen collapsed around the net, and the backcheck was late. Andrae went down to the ice to take away the pass, but Hagel skated around him and fed Anthony Cirelli alone in front for the easy tip-in.
Hagel added an empty-netter in the final seconds. … The Flyers’ Nic Deslauriers, who is 6-foot-1, dropped the gloves with 6-9 Curtis Douglas in the first period. The elder statesman in the fight by nine years, Deslauriers won the battle against the 25-year-old and yelled at his bench and a fan banging the glass on his way to the penalty box. … Sanheim played in his 600th NHL game, all with the Flyers. He is the sixth defenseman to hit that mark in franchise history.
Up next
The Flyers head to Sunrise, Fla., for a matchup with the Florida Panthers on Thanksgiving Eve (7 p.m., NBCSP).
TAMPA BAY — Look, a power play isn’t expected to score every single time. It would be nice, but it just doesn’t happen.
The best one in the NHL right now has a 32% effectiveness, which means the Pittsburgh Penguins roughly score every three opportunities. Currently, the Flyers’ power play sits at 17.5%. The unit’s not last in the NHL — that belongs to the New York Islanders (13.3%), who the Flyers face on Black Friday (4 p.m., NBCSP) — but it does rank in the lower-third (23rd).
And while the Flyers’ power play struggled before and during the John Tortorella era, the ranking is all-too-familiar. Although the current coach, Rick Tocchet, thinks it’s in a good spot, it can be better.
“Everybody wants plays, but sometimes it’s good old-fashioned beat pressure and then attack, and we’ve got to get that mentality, and we’re close, but we’ve got to keep working,” he said on Saturday morning, adding two days later that he wants his players to play inside more.
Entering Monday’s matchup with the Tampa Bay Lightning (7 p.m., NBCSP), the Flyers have 10 power-play goals. The last one came five games ago against the Edmonton Oilers — they are 0-for-8 since — and Tocchet said his units may be more interchangeable.
Practice on Friday had four more players involved, and on Saturday night in the Flyers’ 6-3 win against the New Jersey Devils, new power-play units were deployed.
Another tweak came on Monday in Florida.
One power play has Noah Cates, Travis Konecny, Tyson Foerster, Trevor Zegras, and Cam York. What? York and Zegras reunited? Makes a whole lot of sense that the two former USA Hockey teammates are together; York has been on the ice for eight power-play goals this season — just one without Zegras.
Konecny was also switched to that unit, and while he has played a lot on the left flank the past two seasons, he is back to his familiar bumper spot.
“I feel a little bit more comfortable in there. I feel like I can make quick little plays, be fast on loose pucks, and recovery, stuff like that. … On the power play, I got to know my strengths. And I think it’s, I don’t have the hands that Trevor has,” Konency said with a grin, alluding to Zegras’ effectiveness on the right flank to draw in defenders, create space, and find seams.
Flyers right wing Travis Konecny says he feels more comfortable in the bumper position on the power play and that he needs to play to his strengths.
The other power play has Travis Sanheim, Emil Andrae, Owen Tippett, Bobby Brink, and Matvei Michkov. No center? “It’s interchangeable,” Tocchet said.
Sean Couturier will be on the ice when there is a face-off, but when they switch units “on the run” or on the fly when play is happening, that is the unit that will be on the ice.
It’s also interesting having two defensemen, with Sanheim being more of the pointman and Andrae on a flank. Tocchet thinks Andrae is not only good with the puck but “his shot’s pretty good,” too. The Swedish defenseman, who has been moved to the second pairing, knew that he had to build up trust with the new coaching staff, and it looks like he has.
“I like to be on the power play,” Andrae said. “I like to make those plays, and like to use my vision and my passing to create chances. So obviously, it boosts my confidence to know that the coaches rely on me on that side of the game. So, yeah, just make the most of it.”
Sanheim, who hasn’t spent much time on the man advantage in his career, is looking forward to the opportunity. It’s something he’s “always wanted to add to my game.”
“I think they’ve been doing a pretty good job in trying to grasp some of the structural components of what they’re trying to get across,” said Sanheim, who has been able to watch a lot of the power plays this season from the bench.
“And I think it’s just continuing to make those reads and understanding certain situations, depending on how the penalty kill is structured. And, maybe that’s a benefit, I guess, [being on the penalty kill] so much and understanding what the other team’s doing and trying to exploit some of the weaknesses that come with that, and, in saying that, [I] just want to have an attack mentality and deliver pucks and hopefully do a good job of doing that.”
Speaking of Sanheim, the defenseman is continuing to build a strong case to be part of Canada’s team at the 2026 Milan Olympics. No pressure, but the guy on the other bench on Monday night just happens to be the one making the decisions. Lightning coach Jon Cooper will be Canada’s bench boss in Italy, but a plus for Sanheim is that they’ve already worked together, snagging a gold medal at February’s 4 Nations Face-Off.
“You see these players, you compete against these players, but you don’t really know till you have them. And I’ve always, I’ve really liked his game,” Cooper told The Inquirer about Sanheim. “I’m a big fan of big D that take up a lot of space, and can skate, and he can do all those things. But his ability to jump into plays, he’s got an offensive mind to him.”
Tampa Bay Lightning head coach Jon Cooper, who will coach Canada at the Olympics, has been impressed with Travis Sanheim’s game over the past few years.
Sanheim seemed a little nervous and wide-eyed at the first practice in Brossard, Quebec, with Hockey Canada ahead of the 4 Nations. And while he didn’t start the tournament in the lineup, by the end — half due to injury and half due to his play — he was not just skating in the championship game but got the first shift of overtime. The familiarity and his ability to play both the left and the right side will help Sanheim once decision day comes.
“Anytime that you get to coach players, and you win with players, I always think there’s a familiarity. Past performance isn’t going to predict future success, and so the guy’s got to keep working, but he’s done a heck of a job so far,” Cooper said.
There’s another familiar face for Cooper on the Flyers bench. Tocchet was his assistant coach at 4 Nations and will be beside him again in Italy, making his Olympic debut.
Tocchet did a lot of the structure, faceoff planning, and in-game adjustments; he was a jack-of-all-trades for Cooper. But what Cooper loved most was how he would often meet with players 1-on-1 or in small groups to watch videos — over a garbage can. As Tocchet explained later, he would put his laptop on a garbage can and go over things, much like he did in his days with the Penguins. His assistants on the Flyers do it now, too.
“I couldn’t have surrounded myself with a better guy,” Cooper said. “I will tell you this, because his eye for the game and what happens in real time, having that talent is a real thing. And Tocc has that. He sees it, he processes it, and then gives you the information.
“And there were countless times at the 4 Nations that he made me think of things, or I saw things in a different light, or I missed something, and he caught it. And so many little adjustments we made in between periods, because of what Tocc did.”
