Jamie Drysdale snapped a 20-game goal drought with his game-winner late in the third period Tuesday against the Washington Capitals.
The goal was critical to keeping the Flyers competitive in the Metropolitan Division standings, snapping the team’s four-game losing streak and helping build some momentum heading into the Olympic break.
But it was also important personally for Drysdale, as it marked his first goal since returning from an upper-body injury on Jan. 14, and doubled as a sign of the progress he and the power play have been making in recent games.
“I think I had my chances, to be honest with you, I just couldn’t put the puck in the net,” Drysdale said. “Guys did a great job of finding me, finding holes, and it was nice to see one go in.”
Coach Rick Tocchet has praised Drysdale’s growth as one of the locker room leaders, including an important speech on the bench against Colorado. But the 23-year-old is also quietly having his best season on the ice, as he is on pace for a career high in points in addition to improving his game on the defensive side of the puck.
According to Natural Stat Trick, the Flyers’ top three performing defensive pairs this season, with more than 30 minutes played, have included Drysdale. Cam York, Nick Seeler, and Travis Sanheim have all generated more expected goals with Drysdale than without.
“Such a good skater, really high IQ,” York said of what makes Drysdale easy to play with. “He can be a one-man breakout when he wants to. Being close friends helps, too, because I feel like the communication is really good.”
The last piece for Drysdale to unlock is the power play. The Flyers have converted on 16.3% of their power play opportunities, good for 26th in the league, but they’ve slowly improved in recent weeks, scoring six power play goals over their last seven games.
Over that last stretch of games, Drysdale has anchored the top power-play unit of Trevor Zegras, Christian Dvorak, Bobby Brink, and Travis Konecny, which Tocchet first pivoted to in earnest against Vegas on Jan. 19. In 20 minutes, 45 seconds of ice time on the power play, that unit has scored four goals, including a goal in each of the last two games.
Flyers defenseman Jamie Drysdale (9) scored the game-winner with just over five minutes left against the Washington Capitals.
Drysdale’s shot from the point on Tuesday was an example of exactly what Tocchet wants to see the defenseman do on the power play: take point shots that are low enough for a deflection opportunity.
“Teams will pre-scout you, and we’re trying to explain to the players that on the pre-scout, if you’re overpassing, they won’t respect the middle shot,” Tocchet said. “That’s the hardest thing to defend is a middle shot when you’re out of position. If we can get those types of goals and build on it and get some guys confident with that shot, you can get those types of goals.”
Just five of Drysdale’s 22 points this season have come on the power play, including three in the last seven games. Since his draft year in 2020, Drysdale, due to his skating and playmaking ability, has possessed the potential to be a strong offensive defenseman.
If he can continue to improve the Flyers’ power play, he could surge far past his career high of 32 points, set in 2021-22.
“It’s not easy to get pucks through,” Drysdale said. “Obviously, it’s guys’ jobs to get in front of them, but at the same time, it’s your job to get them through and try and create. It’s a little give-and-take, and you’re constantly working and building and trying to create more.”
Breakaways
Konecny did not skate Wednesday for maintenance reasons. … Emil Andrae has been a scratch the last five games and could sit again on Thursday against Ottawa (7 p.m., NBCSP), Tocchet said. … The Rangers traded All-Star winger Artemi Panarin to the Los Angeles Kings on Wednesday for a third-round pick and prospect Liam Greentree.
It was a huge game against a team above them in the standings, but also on the outside of the Stanley Cup Playoff picture. The win moved the Flyers within seven points of the Metropolitan Division’s third spot, currently held by the New York Islanders, and the Boston Bruins, who are sitting in eighth in the Eastern Conference.
The Orange and Black had more energy, held off a surge by the Capitals in the third, and were able to snag the all-important two points.
Here are three things to know from the win that saw the Flyers score four goals for just the second time since beating the Anaheim Ducks on Jan. 6.
Matvei Michkov played almost 16 minutes
Hitting the ice just minutes after general manager Danny Brière spoke about the latest Michkov-Rick Tocchet discourse, the Russian winger played 15 minutes, 54 seconds across 21 shifts. It was the highest total since he played a little over 16 minutes against the New York Islanders on Jan. 26 and his 12th-most minutes this season.
Michkov averaged 45-second shifts after he averaged 34 on Saturday against the Los Angeles Kings, when he played a controversial 10:21. Was it a point of focus to have him take longer shifts?
“Yeah, a little bit,” coach Rick Tocchet said. “We talked yesterday, too, a little bit about if you feel like staying, get out there. Obviously, if you’re winded, get off. But, I thought he was moving.”
Michkov played well at times. He set up Bobby Brink for a chance late in the third and was a key contributor to Owen Tippett’s goal that opened the scoring just under six minutes into the game, marking the 19th time in 55 games that the Flyers scored first — and their 11th win.
On the goal, Trevor Zegras gained the zone and dished to Michkov, who carried the puck around the net. He took it around and up the right boards before threading the needle through two Capitals to Travis Sanheim at the left point. The defenseman then threaded the needle himself to Tippett in the right circle before the forward went across the crease and scored on the backhand.
“We knew we would have a little bit of room coming out of the corners there,” Tippett said. “I think that was a great pass to find Sanny, and Sanny made a great play to kind of calm it down and pass it right back to me.”
In hindsight — and after taking a deep breath from a busy night — Dan Vladař should have gotten one of the three stars of the game from this reporter.
The Czech goalie stopped 26 of 28 shots to win his 17th game of the season. He raised his save percentage to .904 and dropped his goal-against average to the 10th-best in the NHL (2.49) among goalies who have played at least 20 games.
Flyers goalie Dan Vladar (left) helped lift Owen Tippett and the Flyers to a much-needed win.
He allowed two goals — one a short-handed goal by Aliaksei Protas and the other a rebound goal by Anthony Beauvillier, who was left all alone in front. But while the team was facing some adversity, Vladař was pumping them up, too.
“He’s a leader,” said Tocchet, adding that while Vladař doesn’t wear a letter — goalies aren’t allowed — for him, he has one.
“I forget when he came by our bench [but] he said, ‘Guys, why are you guys holding your head down? Let’s go here.’ And I love that. It’s good to hear that. He’s our goalie, and [has] a lot of character. He’s been like that all year.”
Vladař was solid in net. In the first period, he made a save with 15:53 left, sliding across to rob Dylan Strome on a power play. Later in the frame, while shorthanded, he stopped Strome again as the puck popped up and he swiped it away with some help from his defenseman, Travis Sanheim, who swiped it further away — but he won’t be doing that in a few days.
“We play him in Game 1, too. I won’t be helping him out like I did,” he joked, noting that Sanheim’s Canada squad will be taking on Vladař and the Czechs on Feb. 12 (10:40 a.m.)
In the third period, he stopped Brandon Duhaime’s shot after Rasmus Ristolainen couldn’t get the puck out, and with six attackers on for the Capitals, off a faceoff deep in the Flyers’ end, Vladař stopped an Alex Ovechkin slapshot. It was one of nine low-danger shots he faced; however, according to Natural Stat Trick, he did see seven high-danger shots.
“That’s one thing that you cannot really control as a goalie,” he said about facing high-danger shots. “You’re there to stop the puck, no matter where the shots are coming from. Mentality is still the same for me, trying to keep as many as I can out of the net. And then having the confidence in the group that I think that we can be scoring two or three every single night.”
Jamie Drysdale (9) has helped power-play goals become a recent and much sought-after habit for the Flyers.
A power-play goal!
Jamie Drysdale has been on and off the power play all season, but lately he’s been getting power-play time. On Tuesday, he finally got on the board.
Zegras got the puck in the corner and threw a reverse hit into Martin Fehérváry to create time and space for himself. He skated up, utilized that time and space to find Drysdale as he slid into the spot atop the circles and fired off the one-timer that popped off the top of the pad of goalie Clay Stevenson and in.
The goal is Drysdale’s fourth of the season and first on the man advantage, giving him five power-play points.
“I think I had my chances, to be honest with you, I just couldn’t put the puck in the net,” Drysdale said. “Guys did a great job of finding me and finding holes, and it was nice to see one go in.”
Philly went 1-for-3 and has now scored on the man advantage for three straight games (3-for-8).
“Well, I like the shot by Jamie. That’s what we need is that … three feet [off the ground shot],” Tocchet said, using his hands to show the amount. “It’s that hard [shot] so we can get a tip on it. I think sometimes our shots are a little high, blocker side, and we talked about, before the power play, what we wanted, and we executed.
“I thought Trevor did a really nice job, like he was excellent. He went low. He body positioned the guy, the guy goes down, he doesn’t do that, maybe they get the puck out. So Trevor did a nice job to set that play up, and then obviously, Jamie, that’s the shots we need.”
The Flyers were desperate to pick up momentum heading into the Olympic break, especially against the Washington Capitals, a Metro Division opponent that they’re chasing in the standings.
The Flyers got out to a strong start, building a 2-0 lead in the first period before conceding two Capitals goals to tie the game. But the Flyers finally snapped their four-game losing streak with the 4-2 win thanks to Jamie Drysdale and an empty netter fromRasmus Ristolainen to earn two points and keep their playoff hopes alive.
Owen Tippett opened the scoring, tucking one past Washington rookie goalie Clay Stevenson, who was starting his second game in as many days. Travis Sanheim and Matvei Michkov, who general manager Danny Briere came out to publicly defend after warmups, picked up the assists.
Carl Grundstrom, back in the lineup after missing the last two games, scored a goal in his return. His shot from the circle bounced off the skate of Capitals defenseman Jakob Chychrun to make it 2-0.
But the game changed during the Flyers’ second attempt on the power play. The Flyers are among the league’s worst on the power play, converting on just 15.9% of their opportunities heading into Tuesday’s game.
Their woes continued in the second period, after Washington’s Aliaksei Protas scored on a shorthanded rush to pull the Caps within 2-1. Things went from bad to worse when Anthony Beauvillier picked up a Dan Vladař rebound and buried it to tie the game at 2-2.
Flyers’ Rasmus Ristolainen (center) celebrates after scoring an empty net goal in the third period on Tuesday.
The Flyers got a third chance at a power play late in the third period, and this time, it was clinical. Drysdale buried a shot from the point 30 seconds into the man-advantage to give the Flyers the 3-2 lead, which was ultimately the game-winner. Ristolainen sealed the win for the Flyers with an empty-net goal, his first of the season.
Breakaways
Garnet Hathaway was a healthy scratch … Travis Konecny played in his 700th NHL game. He ranks 13th among Flyers players all-time in games played for the franchise … A source tells the Inquirer that Ty Murchison is out for the year after undergoing surgery for an upper-body injury, and Alex Bump is expected to return for Lehigh Valley on Feb. 14.
Up Next
The Flyers will play their final game before the Olympic break against the Ottawa Senators (7 p.m. ET, NBCSP) on Thursday.
BUFFALO ― Jamie Drysdale is back. But Rasmus Ristolainen is out.
Drysdale was activated off injured reserve after morning skate Wednesday and is back in the lineup. He suffered an upper-body injury in the Flyers’ win on Jan. 6 against his former team, the Anaheim Ducks, after absorbing a high hit well away from the puck by forward Ross Johnston.
Without him in the lineup, the Flyers lost three straight, including two in a row to the Tampa Bay Lightning, in which they were outscored by 12-3. Getting the fleet-of-foot defenseman, who is having a breakout year on the defensive side of the puck, back in the lineup is a big lift.
“Oh, man, he has such an impact on our back end. He plays with speed. He helps our offense, so it’ll be good to have him back,” said forward Travis Konecny, who added he is good to go after dealing with his own ailments, including an upper-body injury, a lower-body injury, and a good slash to the leg on Monday.
But now they have to get back on track without Ristolainen, who was not on the ice for warmups before the Flyers faced the Buffalo Sabres at KeyBank Center. The team announced he is day-to-day with an upper-body injury. He was a full participant at morning skate and was on the point for one of the power-play units.
It’s another unfortunate setback for the 31-year-old blueliner. He returned to the Flyers lineup on Dec. 16 in Montreal after missing the start of the season and the end of last season after undergoing surgery on a right triceps tendon rupture in late March. It followed a pair of procedures in 2024, which also repaired a ruptured triceps tendon. Flyers general manager Danny Brière said last April that the injury was similar, although he wouldn’t confirm whether he suffered a torn tendon again.
In 13 games this season, Ristolainen has three assists and a plus-minus of minus-3 while averaging 20 minutes, 59 seconds a game.
Before the announcement, Rick Tocchet was planning on shaking up his defensive pairings because, “I think during the season maybe things get stale [so] you want to move it around stuff,“ he said.
Ristolainen would have been paired alongside Travis Sanheim and Drysdale with his good buddy Cam York. The other pairing would have been Nick Seeler and Emil Andrae. Instead, York and Sanheim remain together, Drysdale is back with Andrae, and Seeler will skate with Noah Juulsen.
Jamie Drysdale (left) and Cam York are close friends and will get a chance Wednesday to be paired together.
Although Bobby Brink was not on the ice for morning skate and is expected to miss his fourth straight game with an upper-body injury, Denver Barkey will be a healthy scratch on Wednesday.
“He just played junior last year, so I think it’s important that he gets a little bit of a break,” Tocchet said. “I told him work out this morning, and go watch the game up top [in the press box]. I think that’s important for young guys to go watch, it slows the game down up top.”
“I think it’s important that even the young guys go up there and just take a look at it. Well, it looks easy up top. It looks a lot slower,” Tocchet said.
“Obviously, on the ice, it’s different. But you can learn from up top. I think it’s important that he does that. I’ll go the next day [and say], ‘What did you see?’ It’s almost like a homework assignment. … He’s a pretty smart kid. … That’s why he was drafted, for his hockey IQ.”
Rick Tocchet thinks rookie Denver Barkey can benefit from a break and watching the game from up in the press box.
Barkey has one goal and three points across 11 games since being called up and recording two assists in his NHL debut on Dec. 20. He has struggled the last two games and had the puck stolen by Brayden Point ahead of Nikita Kucherov’s first goal on Saturday and Nick Paul’s goal later in the game.
Breakaways
Dan Vladař (16-7-4, 907 save percentage) will start in goal. He is 2-1-1 with a .902 save percentage in four career games against Buffalo.
Between now and the Olympic break, the Flyers have 14 games in 26 days. It’s a bit of a gauntlet as they come across red-hot teams like the Buffalo Sabres, Pittsburgh Penguins, and Colorado Avalanche.
The stretch begins Saturday (7 p.m., NBCSP) with the first of two straight home meetings against the Tampa Bay Lightning, winners of eight straight.
And the Flyers will have to do it without three of their top players. Defenseman Jamie Drysdale was placed on injured reserve with an upper-body injury on Friday, and forwards Bobby Brink and Travis Konecny are day-to-day with upper-body injuries.
“I talked to Drysie and Brink; they felt better today. So, that’s a real good sign,” coach Rick Tocchet said on Saturday after the team’s morning skate, which Brink and Drysdale participated in wearing green noncontact jerseys.
“TK said he felt a little bit [better] yesterday, but not good enough to play.”
Konecny, who did not participate in the morning skate, was injured in Thursday’s overtime loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs after scoring the Flyers’ lone goal.
Since Nov. 29, when he had two assists in the win against the New Jersey Devils, Konecny is tied for 20th in the NHL in points (21) with names like Mitch Marner, Kirill Kaprizov, Nick Suzuki, Sam Reinhart, and Sam Bennett. His nine goals in that timeframe are tied for 19th with several players, including Sidney Crosby, the Lightning’s Nikita Kucherov, and Trevor Zegras.
Konecny has been playing with Christian Dvorak and Zegras, who called his loss “terrible.”
“Yeah, it’s a big hole. He’s a big part of our team offensively, especially,” added Sean Couturier. “So it’s going to be next-man-up mentality. He’s not an easy guy to [replace], you don’t just fill in with one guy. But, I think collectively, we can all step up and take over.”
Flyers head coach Rick Tocchet will shuffle his lines and power-play units without three key regulars on Saturday.
With Konecny and Brink out of the lineup, Matvei Michkov has been moved to Konecny’s spot. According to Natural Stat Trick, Michkov, Dvorak, and Zegras have played 39 minutes, 15 seconds together this season, with the Flyers having 40 shot attempts for and 40 against and potting two goals while allowing one.
“When you have four or five guys out, you get the bingo balls going, right?” said Tocchet about reuniting Zegras and Michkov. “You’re trying to put chemistry and thought process. So, yeah, we’ll see how it works.”
As Couturier said, it is a next-man-up mentality, but the Flyers will assuredly also be looking for Owen Tippett to continue his charge.
Since Dec. 20, his four goals are tied atop the team’s leaderboard with Konecny and Carl Grundström. His 32 shots during that span rank No. 1 on the Flyers and are tied for the 13th-most in the NHL, but the problem has been his finishing. His 12.5 shooting percentage across those nine games ranks eighth on the team. (Tippet is scoring on an almost identical 12.6% of his shots for the season, also eighth among Flyers.)
Tippett has been flying of late, using his speed to create chances for himself and his linemates, Denver Barkey and Couturier. Does he feel pressure to produce without Konency in the lineup?
“I don’t want to put that pressure on myself. But I think I said the same thing when [Tyson Foerster] went out, he’s one of those guys that we have to kind of pick up a little bit where we can and contribute where we can,” he said.
“Obviously, I know I’m capable of doing it, but I think the moment you start putting pressure on yourself to fill that void and fill that gap, it can tend to kind of take away from your game. [Konecny is] a big loss in the room, we all know that, so we’re all going to have to kind of step up and chip in where we can.”
Breakaways
Sam Ersson (6-5-4, .868 save percentage) will start against the Lightning. He was in net for the Flyers’ 3-0 loss on Nov. 24 in Tampa Bay, Fla., allowing two goals on 17 shots. … Defenseman Adam Ginning, who was recalled from Lehigh Valley of the American Hockey League on Friday, is expected to be a healthy scratch. … Forward Nic Deslauriers will slot back into the lineup after being a healthy scratch for the past eight games. … With the power play having plummeted — it is tied for second worst with the Washington Capitals (15.0%) — and guys who normally play on the man advantage out, Tocchet has two new units: Tippett, Michkov, Zegras, Dvorak, and Rasmsus Ristolainen are on one, and Noah Cates, Cam York, Barkey, Travis Sanheim, and Nikita Grebenkin are on the other. Couturier, despite being a net-front presence on Thursday and consistently screening the goalie — something Tocchet has preached this season — is not on a unit. “He’s played a lot of power play this year, and I think he’s just getting overused,” Tocchet said. “It doesn’t matter who, you’ve got to get in front of the net.”
Tuesday’s Flyers-Ducks game was always going to have extra emotion and intensity given the connections and bad blood between the teams after Cutter Gauthier demanded a trade from Philadelphia two years ago.
That bad blood quickly ratcheted up another level when two Flyers were injured by blindsided hits. Bobby Brink and Jamie Drysdale each left the game and did not return.
“Still getting evaluated, type of thing,” coach Rick Tocchet said on Wednesday. “I don’t want to say it’s a day-to-day. I don’t know yet. So it’s kind of one of those things. … I really don’t know. I talked to them today; they’re in a half-decent mood. Still being evaluated, so we’ll see.”
Brink was blindsided by a Jansen Harkins hit just 2 minutes, 38 seconds into the first period.
Off the rush, the Flyers winger received a pass from Nikita Grebenkin and was skating toward the slot when Harkins cut across the slot and clipped Brink up high. The Flyers winger did not return to the bench in the first period and was later ruled out with an upper-body injury.
Noah Cates went right after Harkins, and the two dropped their gloves. Both players received five-minute majors for fighting, and Cates was handed an extra two minutes for instigating. Harkins was not assessed a penalty for the initial hit.
According to Hockeyfights.com, it is Cates’ first pro hockey fight. The site says he logged one fight when he was with Omaha of the United States Hockey League in 2018, dropping the gloves with Paul Cotter, who now plays for the New Jersey Devils.
Injury struck for the Flyers again in the second period, as Drysdale went down after a cheap hit well away from the puck by Ducks forward Ross Johnston.
Johnston was skating into the zone and ran over an unsuspecting Drysdale, who was curling up top near the blue line. The puck was deep in the Ducks’ zone at the time. Johnston appeared to be pleading that the hit was incidental and just a collision between two players who didn’t see one another. On replay, it appeared that Johnson had enough to see and avoid Drysdale and that he even stuck out an arm and threw it into Drysdale. The two seemed to bang knee-to-knee, with Drysdale also absorbing a blow up high.
Garnet Hathaway steamrolled Owen Zellweger.
Ross Johnston retaliated with a cheap shot on Jamie Drysdale. The stretcher came out for Drysdale who refused to get on it then went down the tunnel with Tommy Alva. Johnston got a game misconduct for the hit. pic.twitter.com/abzrsLQqPn
Johnston was handed a five-minute major for interference and a game misconduct. The play by Johnston came after Garnet Hathaway drilled Olen Zellweger — cleanly — in the offensive zone. The Flyers failed to score on the five-minute power play.
Drysdale, who was acquired in the deal for Gauthier almost two years ago to the day, laid on the ice and did not move for a considerable amount of time. The stretcher did come out, and the doctors came out of the stands, but Drysdale sat up and skated off the ice with help.
He did not return and was officially ruled out at the start of the third period with an undisclosed injury.
There was no supplemental discipline handed out by the NHL on any of the hits.
That was the message from Flyers fans for former top prospect Cutter Gauthier on Tuesday in his second career game in Philadelphia — at least on some of the pregame signs.
If fans had somewhat gotten over the whole ordeal in warmups, Tuesday’s game — a 5-2 Flyers win over the Anaheim Ducks — unfolded perfectly to hook them back in.
“The crowd was outstanding,” Flyers coach Rick Tocchet said. “I remember the days when I played, that’s a loud building tonight. They were awesome. I think they really gave our team some juice. Even when they scored the first goal, they didn’t let up.”
Colin Meehan, a 19-year-old St. Joseph’s student, came armed with a sign he made with a picture of Jamie Drysdale and a picture of Gauthier to support the player the Flyers received in the trade out of Philly that Gauthier forced nearly two years ago.
Drysdale is having the best season of his young career, but Meehan still wondered pregame what could have been if Gauthier hadn’t asked out.
“Imagine if we had Trevor Zegras, [Matvei] Michkov, Cutter, [Travis] Konecny, we would have been unstoppable,” Meehan said. “I feel like we would have been first in the league.
“Jamie, he’s not a quitter,” Meehan added. “I’ll tell you that. He tried with the Ducks. The Ducks didn’t want him. We’ll happily take him.”
St. Joseph’s student Colin Meehan yells at Anaheim’s Cutter Gauthier as he skates by during warmups before Tuesday’s game.
While Gauthier still got a healthy round of boos as the Ducks took the ice for warmups, most of the signs lining the glass weren’t about him at all. Many celebrated the addition of former Duck Trevor Zegras, who was playing his first game against his old team.
Gauthier did have a small group of supporters in the form of two Boston College students from Philadelphia who, for the second year in a row, made a sign supporting the player who’d brought their college hockey team to the national championship game.
“I think it’s a lot to put on someone who’s 21, 22 years old,” one of the students said. “It might be really loud in here and people are rooting against you, but there is someone in the building who’s rooting for you.”
Compared to his first game here last year, the proceedings in warmups were civil. Instead of a raucous crowd shouting expletives the entire warmup, fans mostly stayed quiet after the Ducks had taken the ice.
When the puck dropped, though, fans started chanting “We want Cutter!” Once Gauthier was on the ice, he was greeted by a loud chorus of boos.
But Gauthier quieted the crowd by scoring the first goal of the game to give Anaheim an early lead, and he gave it back to the crowd.
Not to be outdone, Zegras scored against his former team to tie it at 1 later in the first, and then hung up the phone on the Ducks, which he said postgame was meant to mimic the length of the phone call he got when he found out he was getting traded.
Zegras scored his second goal of the game from the same spot a few minutes later, pumping up the already-juiced crowd even more.
“This is home for me,” Zegras said. “I love being here. These guys are amazing. I’m having a blast, but it’s always going to feel good playing them for sure.”
But the game took a more somber turn after Ross Johnston checked Drysdale behind the play. Drysdale was down on the ice for a long time and nearly left the game on a stretcher, but he ultimately stood up and left the ice on his skates with assistance. The crowd rang out with a supportive “Jamie’s better” chant.
Anaheim’s Cutter Gauthier carries the puck during second period while facing the Flyers on Tuesday.
Drysdale’s injury took some of the bite out of the crowd, but, as the game continued, Flyers fans got back in the hating spirit.
As the Flyers closed out their win, chants cursing Gauthier continued to ring out, and the team left the ice to a standing ovation from the sold-out crowd.
It wasn’t quite as raucous as a year ago, but the crowd still created a playoff-type atmosphere. Cam York said postgame that what’s important now is continuing to play meaningful games so that Xfinity Mobile Arena doesn’t get loud only once a year.
“Pretty crazy, great atmosphere, felt like a playoff game,” York said. “It was really cool, a little bit different when there’s so much noise during the play, but I think I’d probably rather have it that way.”
Danny Brière has officially been the Flyers’ full-time general manager since May 11, 2023. In the two-plus years since, he has made 27 trades, with most involving draft picks or swapping players in the AHL.
But that doesn’t mean there haven’t been splashy deals. And two of the biggest ones are with a little guy he doesn’t hate working with, Pat Verbeek of the Anaheim Ducks.
As the Flyers get set to host the California team, let’s revisit them:
Who was involved in the Flyers-Ducks trades?
Trade 1: Jan. 8, 2024
Flyers received: Jamie Drysdale and a second-round pick in the 2025 NHL draft
Ducks received: Cutter Gauthier
Trade 2: June 23, 2025
Flyers received: Trevor Zegras
Ducks received: Ryan Poehling, a second-round pick in the 2025 NHL draft (Eric Nilson), and a fourth-round selection in the 2026 draft.
As for Gauthier, Flyers fans may want to look away.
Selected with the No. 5 overall pick in 2022, Gauthier never played for the Flyers after forcing a trade out of Philly.
“We tried to give him space,” Brière said the night the trade was made. “We tried to get in touch with him many times. They would not communicate, as far as the Gauthier side. So at some point, we had to make a decision.”
Why? No one knows.
“It wasn’t one specific reason why I asked for a trade,” Gauthier said on a Zoom with Anaheim’s media after the trade. “It was multiple, [recurring] issues that I’d seen over the past year and a half, two years of being under the Flyers organization. It kind of hit me all at once, thinking, ‘I can’t move forward with this, and I really need to step up for myself and see what’s best for my future,’ and that’s what I did.”
Last season, Gauthier notched 20 goals and 44 points in 82 games, finishing fifth in Calder Trophy voting with 92 votes — well behind fourth-place finisher Matvei Michkov — and was named to the All-Rookie Team. Amid that, he returned to a city that did not show him any brotherly love on and off the ice in a 6-0 thrashing by the Flyers last January.
Cutter Gauthier, once the Flyers’ top prospect before forcing a trade, has 19 goals this season for Anaheim.
This season, he already has 19 goals and 39 points in 42 games for an upstart Ducks team that is tied for third in the Pacific Division. Gauthier, who turns 22 this month, is on pace for 37 goals and 76 points.
In October, Gauthier had an eight-game point streak, helped by his first NHL hat trick against the Florida Panthers. He skates on the left wing of the Ducks’ top line, alongside Leo Carlsson and Alex Killorn, while also getting time on the second power-play unit, where he has tallied four power-play goals and eight points.
Poehling, a first-round pick in 2017 for the Montreal Canadiens, resurrected his career in Philly after being signed to a one-year, bet-on-himself deal on July 1, 2023.
The speedy center, who collected 28 points in 77 games that season, became a favorite of then-coach John Tortorella and earned himself a two-year extension on Jan. 26, 2024. The following season, despite being impacted by injury, he set career highs in goals (12) and points (31) in 68 games with the Flyers.
Across his two seasons, Poehling was heavily relied on to kill penalties. He skated the second-most shorthanded minutes among forwards (235 minutes, 17 seconds). He tied Scott Laughton and Garnet Hathaway for second on the team with three shorthanded goals during that time frame and tied Hathaway, with whom he was often paired, for third with five shorthanded points.
Poehling, who has two goals and 14 points this season, has eight points across his last 12 games while centering Anaheim’s fourth line with Jansen Harkins and tough guy Ross Johnston.
What happened to Drysdale and Zegras?
In summation, two words: good things.
The two buddies have been key to the Flyers’ good vibes this season, with Zegras leading the team in goals (15), points (39), power-play goals (five), and power-play points (12) through 40 games.
While Zegras has officially put his last two years in Anaheim behind him, Drysdale has quietly shifted from being just a purely offensive blueliner who is questionable on defense to a guy who can play a complete 200-foot game.
Jamie Drysdale, who is still just 23, has improved defensively in his first year under Rick Tocchet.
With Drysdale paired with Emil Andrae since Nov. 22, the two have skated more than 300 minutes together and have been on the ice for 18 goals by the Flyers and just nine against.
So does Drysdale like being the veteran on the pairing with Andrae, who is the same age as him (23) but has played 182 fewer NHL games?
“A little bit, I do, yeah, I like it,” Drysdale said. “I love playing with Emil. He’s got a good mind, and I think that we have similar mindsets as well on and off the ice. And it’s good to build off each other.”
Drysdale is known to be a quiet guy, but he says he’s been more chatty on the ice, which is important as the veteran in the pairing. And a lot of it is to remind himself what to do, too, which seems to be working.
He takes a lot of pride in his trajectory, noting that the defensive side is “coming to me more naturally now.” And while Drysdale’s power-play time is up and down, coach Rick Tocchet likes that he is consistent at five-on-five and is very good at following his philosophy of skating forward to defend.
“Well, I had heard a lot of different things, but what’s his identity?” Tocchet said when asked what he knew of Drysdale before coming to Philly. “And I didn’t really know that, but I know the one thing is that he came to camp in really good shape and he wanted to shake the tag that he wasn’t a good defensive player.
“So he corrected those two things, right? Came in great shape. He’s been really good [at] defending, so now we’re going to ask him [for] a little more offense eventually, but that’s a work in progress. I don’t want him to suffer in his other parts of the game to try to get the other part. I think he’s just got to chip away at that part, and he’s a very coachable kid.”
What is the trade grade today?
Originally, our Drysdale-Gauthier trade received an A-minus grade, and the Zegras trade an A. Today, almost two years after the former and just over six months after the latter, it’s an overall A.
Why?
Although Gauthier would rank No. 2 in scoring on the Flyers behind Zegras across several categories and has a promising career ahead of him as a goal scorer, the forward made it clear he didn’t want to play in Philly. So why keep a malcontent?
Trading him away became inevitable, and it made sense to bring in another young guy with pedigree like Drysdale, who has not only shown a stark improvement — and a desire to do that — but is good in the room. He has become a key defenseman for the Flyers while skating an average of 21:35, tying his career high from 2023-24. And he has worked so well with Andrae that the Swede has finally become an everyday defenseman on a pairing earning top-four minutes.
And what can one say about Zegras? The New York native has been a revelation on the ice and in the locker room.
Those 39 points in 40 games are setting him up to demolish his previous career highs — he’s on pace for 31 goals and 80 points — set in 2022-23, before then-Ducks coach Greg Cronin moved him to the wing. Is he playing the wing in Philly? Sure. Is he also playing some center? Absolutely. And he’s in a spot where he’s able to shine with his creativity and awareness while also having buddies like Drysdale, Cam York, and linemate Christian Dvorak around.
Flyers players and close friends (from left) Trevor Zegras, Cam York, and Jamie Drysdale have had a strong season since being united.
“You’re always looking for high skill level, talented players, and at the time, he was a distressed asset. … You have to be thoughtful and a little bit lucky, and provide an environment where the player can shine,” Flyers president Keith Jones recently told The Inquirer.
“He’s done a great job,” Jones added. “It’s really proof of Danny’s willingness to wait for the right time, and he was really patient on this one. It’s been well-documented that it was a long process. Trevor kind of fit what we were looking for, and he has been all that and more with what he’s done for us.”
RALEIGH, N.C. — It’s a good thing hockey games are 60 minutes.
After a dreadful opening 19 minutes, the Flyers picked up the pace. Although they did not get the win, they did earn yet another point in a 3-2 shootout loss to the Carolina Hurricanes on Sunday.
Andrei Svechnikov scored the winner in the shootout. Trevor Zegras hit the post, and Christian Dvorak and Matvei Michkov were stopped by Carolina goalie Brandon Bussi.
The Flyers have lost after regulation in each of their three meetings with Carolina, including Saturday night in a 4-3 shootout in Philly. There is one more meeting in Game 81.
Although they extended their point streak to four games, the Flyers have now lost three straight — all after regulation. It is the longest losing streak of the season.
Zegras tied the game with 1 minute, 52 seconds left in regulation.
Dvorak split the defense and had a good chance stopped by Bussi. But the Flyers maintained possession and, with a six-on-five, got to work by controlling the boards.
The puck ended up on Travis Sanheim’s stick, and he put a shot on goal at the boards near the left faceoff circle that was deflected in front by Dvorak. The puck popped out to Travis Konecny, who went cross-crease to the open Zegras for the easy goal.
It was Zegras’ 13th goal of the season, and he had an assist on the night too, giving him 32 points in 31 games.
Just over five minutes into the game, and on their eighth shot of the period — the Flyers had zero and didn’t get their first until 7:09 into the game — William Carrier gave the Hurricanes a 1-0 lead.
Carolina captain Jordan Staal won the faceoff back to former Flyers defenseman Sean Walker, who walked the line. His pass attempt from just inside the blue line went off Konecny, slowing the puck down. Dvorak, with his back turned, tried to knock it away, but Carrier was able to get the shot off quickly and past Dan Vladař.
Entering the night, Carolina ranked 29th on the man advantage (15.1%), and the Flyers’ penalty kill had fallen to 15th (81.5%). It did stop Carolina on the only pair of power plays on Saturday in Philly.
But on Sunday, Taylor Hall made it 2-0 on a power play, one of five in the first period between the two teams. In the bumper, Hall redirected an Alexander Nikishin point shot.
The Flyers struggled to find their legs early on and only mustered four shots in the opening frame, but one found the back of the net.
Skating six-on-five on a delayed penalty, Zegras and Jamie Drysdale passed it back and forth between the right flank and point before Zegras set up the blueliner for the quick one-timer. Drysdale’s third of the season, which came off the stick of Carrier, cut into the Carolina lead with 53 seconds left in the period.
And it seemed to spark the Flyers, who, while still getting outshot, had not just more chances, but more quality chances too.
Hurricanes’ Jordan Martinook (48) jumps over a shot by teammate William Carrier (28) for a goal during the first period.
They almost tied it with 42 seconds left in the first on a shot by Owen Tippett. But Carolina defenseman Jaccob Slavin, back in the lineup for the first time since Oct. 11 against the Flyers, stuck out his leg to steal a sure goal. Seconds later, Michkov tried to sneak the puck in at the right post but was blocked by Jalen Chatfield.
In the second period, Zegras made a play in the neutral zone that allowed Konecny to skate and put a quality shot on goal. Bussi stopped it, and then the rebound attempt by Dvorak as he crashed the net.
Drysdale had a good chance with just over nine minutes left in the middle period when he picked off a stretch pass and drove to the net. His shot just missed.
And the Flyers’ new power play units started to look better as the game wore on — and they got plenty of chances to build chemistry with four opportunities, although one was cut short. Late in the second period, the unit of Drysdale, Zegras, Bobby Brink, Noah Cates, and Tippett had several good looks with shots just missing. The Flyers missed the net on 13 chances in the game.
But the man advantage in the third period had its best look. Zegras sent a one-timer from the right flank that Bussi stopped, but he couldn’t control it. Cates, atop the crease, was robbed by the Hurricanes’ goalie.
During all this, Vladař played the angles well and was stellar in goal. After allowing two goals on 14 shots in the first period, he stopped the next 16, including a breakaway chance by K’Andre Miller, in regulation.
In overtime, he stopped two shots, with one coming off the stick of Sebastian Aho during a power play for Carolina, which went 1-for-6.
Breakaways
Defensemen Ty Murchison and Egor Zamula, and forward Nic Deslauriers were healthy scratches. … Captain Sean Couturier skated in his 904th career game, surpassing Hall of Famer Bill Barber for third on the Flyers’ all-time games played list. … Sanheim played 31:06, one second shy of his career high set in November 2024.
Up next
The Flyers head north to take on the Montreal Canadiens on Tuesday (7 p.m., NBCSP).
Guests surrounded the roulette tables, lined up their chips, and prepared for a night of giving back at the fourth annual Flyers Casino Night. Each year the fundraiser invites fans to interact with players as they participate in casino-style games, making it a team-favorite event.
“It’s a great night for a good cause,” said goaltender Samuel Ersson. “It’s one of those nights you always look forward to and circle on your calendar. So it’s nice to finally be here.”
Similar to last year’s Casino Night, the event featured a silent auction that included signed memorabilia from a number of different Philly athlete of all sports — including a pair of signed Allen Iverson Reeboks — as well as trips to destination vacation spots such as Italy, Mexico, and Croatia, and plenty of signed Flyers merch.
All proceeds from the event go toward Flyers Charities, to support their mission of “creating strong communities by eliminating financial barriers and reviving play spaces to grow the game of hockey and aiding local families affected by cancer throughout the Greater Philadelphia region.”
According to Blair Listino, the president of Flyers Charities, the event continues to grow each year — adding more sponsors and even more fan activations, including a new venue, a new area for guests to get live watercolor portraits, and a spot to make their own Boxbar charm bracelets.
“Every year we try to be a little bit creative about different prizes,” said Listino, who is also CFO of Comcast Spectacor and the Flyers’ alternate governor. “And every year there’s a lot of new faces. We have a lot of new sponsors and I think it’s really exciting. It’s just showing that this event has been growing every single year and more people want to get involved.”
Jamie Drysdale shows off his new suit on the red carpet.
Vie, located on Broad Street, rolled out the red carpet and players dressed to impress as they prepared to interact with fans. Flyers centers Christian Dvorak and Trevor Zegras arrived in Christian Dior and Ferragamo dress shoes, respectively. Meanwhile, 23-year-old defenseman Jamie Drysdale made a last-minute trip to State & Liberty on Walnut Street.
“Well, I didn’t have a black suit,” Drysdale said. “And I figured Casino Night you kind of need a darker suit — navy, black. So, I went out and got this yesterday.”
Although each player had a different red carpet look, they each shared the same answer when asked what they were looking forward to the most from the night: celebrating a good cause with fans.
“It’s awesome,” said forward Owen Tippett. “The fan interaction is a lot of fun. You get to meet all the fans that come out and support us, as well as mingle around and play games.”
Last season, through fundraising events like their Casino Night, Flyers Carnival, and Gritty 5K, Flyers Charities raised over $1.5 million.
