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  • Trevor Zegras is finally getting a chance to prove he’s a center ― and his new roommate is along for the ride

    Trevor Zegras is finally getting a chance to prove he’s a center ― and his new roommate is along for the ride

    Trevor Zegras went over to Denver Barkey after a morning skate at Xfinity Mobile Arena a few weeks ago and asked the rookie if he wanted to live with him.

    Since being called up on Dec. 19, and making his Flyers debut the next day at Madison Square Garden, the 20-year-old has been living out of a suitcase in a hotel.

    “Couldn’t really turn that possibility down? And I was quick to say yes. And then we started to plan on when I move in,” Barkey said.

    “I’ve been chipping in,” he continued when asked if he was doing the dishes. “We’ve got to clean now. It’s getting a little messy, trying to do my chores here and there.”

    The two are hoping they can clean up on the ice now, too.

    Zegras and Barkey will be on a line with Owen Tippett against the Washington Capitals on Tuesday (7 p.m., NBCSP).

    Sean Couturier hopes ‘getting back to the basics’ will help him snap his 27-game goal drought

    According to Natural Stat Trick, at five-on-five, the trio has played just 3 minutes, 25 seconds together. That came during the Flyers’ 6-3 loss to the New York Rangers on Jan. 17. The line had nine shot attempts to the Rangers’ three, including five shots on goal. The trio generated five high-danger chances, held an eight-to-one advantage in scoring chances, and outscored New York, 1-0.

    Zegras had the goal, with Barkey and Tippett getting the assists. Tippett went to put the puck on goal but it deflected off the stick of Barkey and then the boot of Urho Vaakanainen to Zegras sitting wide open atop the crease at the right post.

    “Yeah, pretty fortunate to be on the line with someone like him,” Barkey said of Zegras, calling it an exciting opportunity. “I think just tonight, play my game, try to find open space for him to find me, because I know he makes those crazy plays. He sees the ice at an insane level. So just trying to get open and create time and space for him to have the puck.”

    Dating back to when Zegras was acquired from the Anaheim Ducks in June, and entering training camp, the consensus from the player and the front office was that Zegras would get a chance back at his natural position of center. That hasn’t been the case, but Tuesday will mark the third straight game Zegras will play down the middle. He had moments when he played there this season, but they were few and far between; Flyers coach Rick Tocchet is sticking with it for now.

    Trevor Zegras, whom Rick Tocchet called a joy to coach, will play his third straight game at center on Wednesday.

    “For the first 30 games, he was going so good I didn’t want to make that [change]. I think he would have looked at me like I was crazy. I mean, he was filling the net and he was doing really well,” Tocchet said when asked why he decided now was the time to experiment with Zegras down the middle.

    “I thought we were good and we had it locked down [with] the centers, and I thought the lines were good. So then, out of necessity a little bit now, yeah. See if he can hold that position now for us.”

    Tocchet and Zegras talk often — the coach was late to Monday’s availability with reporters after practice because the two were chatting — and they talked the other day about his faceoffs. After going 1-for-12 at five-on-five against the Boston Bruins, and losing the one faceoff he took in the defensive zone, he went 4-for-6 at five-on-five against the Los Angeles Kings on Saturday.

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    “I think he’s been doing OK,” Tocchet said before adding about Zegras’ faceoff percentage rising: “That’s a positive; that was one thing that he was worried about the draws — and some coverages down low.

    “But I didn’t see a guy confused out there. I think there’s some runway there, let’s see if he can hold on to this position. He’s got a couple of good linemates today, so maybe he’ll get some offense for us.”

    Breakaways

    Dan Vladař (16-8-5, .903 save percentage) will start in net. He is 3-2-0 with a 3.59 goals-against average and an .871 save percentage in five career games against the Capitals. His last start against Washington was Feb. 25, 2025, in which Alex Ovechkin scored goal No. 883 in a 3-1 win for the Calgary Flames. Ovechkin, who has 919 career goals entering Tuesday, has scored 52 times in 78 games against the Flyers, his second-best mark against any team. … Carl Grundström will slot in for Garnet Hathaway. The forward last played on Wednesday against the Columbus Blue Jackets. He has seven goals and nine points in 25 games this season.

  • The Flyers need their top line of Trevor Zegras, Travis Konency, and Christian Dvorak to rediscover its game — and fast

    The Flyers need their top line of Trevor Zegras, Travis Konency, and Christian Dvorak to rediscover its game — and fast

    It’s been a roller coaster of a January for the Flyers.

    Within 27 days, the Flyers have claimed wins against the two-time Stanley Cup finalist Edmonton Oilers and Anaheim Ducks, endured a six-game losing streak, and snatched five of six points across the new Death Valley.

    Monday brought a reality check as the Flyers faced a division opponent, the New York Islanders, and were handed a 4-0 loss. But coach Rick Tocchet has emphasized how important it is for his club to remain at an even keel.

    Flyers takeaways: ‘Some guys accepted it,’ and more quotes from a disappointing loss to the Islanders

    “It’s huge,” forward Travis Konecny said when asked about Tocchet’s approach, which was also stated by Jamie Drysdale after the game Monday.

    “I mean, even during a game, I know, I get pretty intense and frustrated, but it’s important to just reset every shift and not let things drag on. Especially coming in this morning, a positive attitude, be excited to play, be excited to practice, and on we go.”

    The Flyers now head to Columbus to face a Blue Jackets team that has only lost once in six games since Rick Bowness took over following the dismissal of former coach Dean Evason on Jan. 12. And it’s another critical game against a division foe that trails the Flyers by just two points in a tight Eastern Conference. The Flyers are currently two points back of the Islanders for the final playoff spot in the Metro, albeit with a game in hand, and six points back in the wild card, also with games in hand.

    While Tocchet likes that his team is so close and has been resilient, he did say Tuesday that part of being close is holding each other accountable when warranted.

    “I’d like to see them get on each other a little bit. In a positive way — I’m not saying yell and scream — but whether it’s practice, or if somebody makes a mistake after the first in the dressing room after the coaches leave don’t be afraid to make your friend accountable,“ the coach said. ”Sometimes we’re all buddies and they’re scared to say something. I find that a little bit with this team. The teams that I’ve played or coached with the leadership gets on each other, in a good way. That’s probably the next level for this team.”

    If the Flyers are to stay in playoff contention, one thing they’ll need is the top line of Konecny, Trevor Zegras, and Christian Dvorak to rediscover its game. Since Jan. 1, Konecny has nine points in 11 games (he missed one game with an upper-body injury), and Zegras and Dvorak have seven apiece across 12 contests. From the outside, those numbers don’t look bad, but the glaring issue is their plus-minus; Konecny is a surprising minus-3, Zegras is minus-4, and Dvorak is minus-8.

    According to Natural Stat Trick, when the trio has been on the ice as a line at five-on-five since Jan. 1, the Flyers have allowed a greater share of shot attempts (54.34%), shots (53.49%), scoring chances (54.08%), and more high-danger goals (2-3). The one plus: they have managed to outscore opponents, 6-4.

    After averaging a point per game through his first 41 games as a Flyer, Trevor Zegras has two goals, five points, and is a minus-five over his last 10 games.

    But it’s a marked difference from the 38 games before the flip of the calendar. In those games, with that trio on the ice, the Flyers scored nine goals and allowed nine, but outshot (52.29%), outchanced from high-danger areas (63.01%), and outscored opponents from high-danger spots by a wide margin (7-2). They were also even in scoring chances.

    “I hate to use the word cheating; they’re cheating for offense,” Tocchet said of his top line’s game recently. “You’ve got to go through the procession to get offense. … And I think they put pressure on themselves. It’s not like a lot of guys are filling the net. So they feel that they have to be that line, but you can’t be that line that just cheats for offense.

    “You’ve got to play the right way. You’ll get the same amount of chances in the long run, and that’s the way you’re supposed to play the game anyway.”

    The Flyers need their top line to produce. Konecny played well during his latest streak, a four-game one with six points, which ended on Monday. But Dvorak has just two goals and one assist in the past seven games, all of which came in the OT loss to Utah, including one tally on the power play. Zegras has also cooled off considerably. He had 41 points in the first 41 games of the season, but has scored only twice in the 10 games since his emotional multi-goal game against his former club, the Anaheim Ducks.

    The Flyers will be irrelevant as long as they lack a No. 1 center. A trade for Robert Thomas could change that.

    “I think get to the inside with the puck. I feel like we’re kind of one-and-done plays right now, which is something we know, and we’re talking about,” Zegras said of his line.

    “It’s not like, ‘oh, we think we’re perfect and then we don’t have to do the little things or the hard things.’ I just think it’s that next play that we have to get back to making, whether it’s beating a check or supporting a guy in a corner. But I think just getting that puck to the inside.”

    Breakaways

    Dan Vladař participated in practice again but remains listed on injured reserve. Aleksei Kolosov was at the team’s practice, too. … The defensive pairings had Emil Andrae on the outside looking in. Tocchet said on Tuesday he felt the Swedish defenseman “seems to skate into trouble and he’s been losing the puck a lot.” … Defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen returned to the lineup on Monday after missing six games with an upper-body injury. He said it “[stunk] to kind of watch from the couch,” but said, while it’s never easy, he was able to slide right back into the lineup because the “last couple of years, I’m kind of used to it [but] it was a lot easier to come back after missing 10 days than when I was out for nine months.”

  • Dan Vladař injured, Flyers’ skid reaches four after 5-2 loss to Sabres

    Dan Vladař injured, Flyers’ skid reaches four after 5-2 loss to Sabres

    BUFFALO ― They say when it rains, it pours.

    And while it was raining and sleeting outside the KeyBank Center in Western New York for most of the game, it was stormy inside for the Flyers, too.

    Handed a 5-2 loss by the Buffalo Sabres, extending their losing streak to a season-high four games, the Flyers also lost two key players in the process — although Jamie Drysdale returned after missing three games with an upper-body injury.

    Rasmus Ristolainen didn’t even make it onto the ice for warmups. The defenseman was a full participant and was on the point for one of the power-play units during morning skate, but did not dress for the game. He is listed as day-to-day with an upper-body injury.

    Jamie Drysdale returns but Flyers lose Rasmus Ristolainen before Sabres game to an upper-body injury

    Goalie Dan Vladař got the start but did not return after the first period with an undisclosed injury. According to the Flyers, he will be re-evaluated after the game. Coach Rick Tocchet did not have an update when he spoke postgame.

    On the first Sabres goal in the first period, during a power play, it appeared that Vladař moved awkwardly when he wasn’t sure where a missed shot by Josh Doan went. He was slow to get up and was able to reset, but Rasmus Dahlin beat him from the point with Jason Zucker setting a screen.

    It was just the second shot of the game for the Sabres. Buffalo then scored on its fourth shot. Mattias Samuelsson, the son of former Flyers defenseman Kjell Samuelsson, made it 2-0 with a sweeping snap shot from the inside of the right circle. The goal came after Travis Konecny and Trevor Zegras had a two-on-one but lost the puck in the neutral zone to Doan.

    “I think right from the start, I think we maybe respected them a bit too much,” forward Owen Tippett said. “Few of those guys, you kind of have to play hard and take their time and space away. I think some penalties crept in that might have ended up hurting us, too. But, yeah, at the end of the day, I think we just need to be ready to play right from the start.”

    Vladař allowed two goals on five shots. Sam Ersson entered at the start of the second period and allowed two goals on six shots in the middle frame.

    Buffalo’s Jack Quinn made it 3-0 when he was left alone in front as the Flyers’ defense collapsed. Ryan McLeod got the puck behind the net and fed the open Quinn for a quick shot past Ersson.

    Flyers goaltender Samuel Ersson replaced Dan Vladar in the second period and allowed two goals.

    The Sabres’ power play, which entered the game ranked 22nd in the NHL and had one goal in the last 21 opportunities dating back to Dec. 21, got its second on the man advantage off the stick of Dahlin, too.

    Dahlin got the puck above the circles, walked down, and sent a wrister past Ersson with Zucker atop the crease again. The Flyers’ penalty kill fell into the box setup, which allowed Dahlin the time and space to skate down the middle to make it 4-1.

    “Yeah, just really disappointed, like, I’m pretty disappointed,” said Tocchet. “I’m a PK guy, and the reads that we gave them weren’t good. They’re just unacceptable for me, so we’re going to have to tidy that up.”

    The penalty kill went 4-for-6. The Flyers’ power play had chances, too, but only capitalized on one of five opportunities.

    Philly got an early power play when Sabres goalie Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen wrapped his arms around Christian Dvorak as he tried to corral the puck and do a wraparound. But the Flyers’ power play is struggling, and entered the night 31st in the NHL (15.3%).

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    On the first power play, they did have two shot attempts, with Zegras’ shot forcing Luokkonen to stop it. A positive was that it looked better than Monday against the Tampa Bay Lightning when it went 0-for-2 with two shot attempts, zero shots on goal, and an icing.

    After going 0-for-3, the power play finally cashed in with Zegras scoring — albeit off his skate in the third period. With the Sabres focusing on the other side of the ice, the forward crashed the net with Konecny’s pass going off his skate and past Luukkonen.

    The goal, to make it 4-2, was Zegras’ 18th of the year and seventh on the power play. Konecny now has 39 points in 44 games.

    In the second period, Tippett got the Flyers on the board to make it 3-1 with a pull-and-shoot.

    The forward started the play when he deflected a pass by Dahlin near his own blue line that was intended for Tage Thompson diagonally at the Flyers’ blue line. The puck bounced to Noah Cates, who sent it up to Tippett, and he used Samuelsson as a screen.

    Flyers right wing Owen Tippett scored his 15th goal of the season against the Sabres on Wednesday night.

    The goal is Tippett’s sixth in the past 12 games. Postgame, he gave Nikita Grebenkin — who was on his line for the first time this season — credit for driving through the defense and creating a bit of a distraction on his goal.

    “I think if you have that guy going to the net, it kind of switches things up,” Tippett said. “At that point, you just want to try and create as much as you can and try and impact the game and crawl back. So, yeah, obviously, whenever I have a chance, I’m going to try and shoot. But that one worked out being a good opportunity.”

    It’s hard to gauge when things went off the rails, as the Flyers put up shots quickly. And things would have probably gone differently if Luukkonen hadn’t committed highway robbery on Grebenkin 6 minutes, 5 seconds into the game.

    Tippett drew the attention of the Sabres’ goalie and sent a backhand pass over to a wide-open Grebenkin at the right post. A left-handed shot, Grebenkin attempted a shot off the pass, but Luukkonen flashed the leather and stole a sure goal.

    Rick Tocchet wants the scuffling Flyers to simplify: ‘We’re going to have to really dummy it down a little bit’

    The Flyers had a six-on-four power play chance with 2:15 left in the game with Ersson pulled, but were unable to score. McLeod added a short-handed empty-net goal.

    “I don’t know,” Zegras said when asked what went wrong. “I just think maybe we’ve got to get like, our spark, our mojo back a little bit. We just got to, I guess, reboot our brains a little bit, and know that it’s a hard league, and that you’re going to go through these tough stretches, and that’s part of it.

    “And we’re a pretty young team, and I know we have played well up to this point, but we haven’t really accomplished a whole lot. Got to keep the foot on the pedal and just keep going.”

    Breakaways

    The Flyers had 22 shots on goal and allowed 14. … Noah Juulsen had a shot go off the post with 9:58 left in the third period. … Forward Denver Barkey was a healthy scratch for the first time in his NHL career.

    Up next

    The Flyers get right back to it on Thursday in Pittsburgh, facing the Penguins (7 p.m., ESPN), who have lost three straight.

  • Flyers takeaways: Trevor Zegras’ knack for the big moment and three other reasons this team has staying power

    Flyers takeaways: Trevor Zegras’ knack for the big moment and three other reasons this team has staying power

    The Flyers beat the Anaheim Ducks on Tuesday night, 5-2.

    But hockey is all about the details. So, as the Flyers hit the halfway mark with a 21-12-7 record, let’s take a look at why the small details from Tuesday night matter in the big picture.

    Trevor Zegras is a lightning rod

    The Flyers forward conceded postgame that he was downplaying how important the game was to him when he spoke to the media earlier in the day.

    “It was a tough ending with my time there, and I’ve been thinking about this game for a long time,” said Zegras, who was acquired by the Flyers from the Ducks in June. “It was one that meant a lot to me, and it was cool to get one and then, obviously, two.”

    Trevor Zegras scores twice against his old team in the Flyers’ 5-2 win over the Ducks

    “Playing against your old team, that kind of shoved you out the door, that third one would have been pretty cool,” he added. “But we got the win, so that’s what matters.”

    Despite coming out hard, the Flyers trailed 1-0 after public enemy No. 1, Cutter Gauthier, scored a power-play goal. They needed a boost and got it with Zegras scoring not once, but twice, each via a one-timer from beneath the right circle that coach Rick Tocchet said “looked a little [Leon] Draisaitl-ish.” Indeed.

    Zegras is the game-breaker the Flyers have been craving for years. He is someone who can change the course of a game in an instant, pressuring and creating turnovers with his deftness and quick footwork, setting up his teammates with his creativity, or having the drive to find the back of the net.

    He’s never played a Stanley Cup playoff game, but that doesn’t mean Zegras has not starred on some of hockey’s biggest stages. The New York native — who said Philly “is home for me” on Tuesday — helped USA Hockey defeat Canada to win gold at World Juniors. He is back to being the guy who dazzled fans when he entered the NHL, and it’s clear he is someone who won’t shy away from strapping the Flyers to his back and carrying them when it matters — maybe in late April?

    The Flyers can play a heavy game

    The Flyers have one of the NHL’s youngest teams, and they might not be giants, but it is clear that they are up to the task of playing the heavy game that successful teams tend to deploy in the postseason.

    Typically, a heavy game is described as a physical one in which teams are aggressive on the forecheck, lay big hits, win puck battles, and consistently pressure. Tocchet equates a heavy game to good body positioning and being tough to play against.

    If the NHL provided the information on zone time for individual games, the ice would have noticeably been tilted in favor of the Flyers. They outshot the Ducks 39-18, limiting them five shots in each of the first two periods.

    And, unlike the Ducks, who seemed to be head-hunting the whole game, the Flyers delivered clean, hard checks.

    In the last few games, Owen Tippett has played like a true power forward by using his speed, skill, and 210-pound body to throw huge checks and create time and space for scoring opportunities. He had 10 shot attempts (four shots on goal and five that missed the net) and three hits.

    But the player who stood out the most was Garnet Hathaway, who showed why he has been a hot commodity at past trade deadlines when teams want to bulk up for the postseason.

    The forward, who was playing in his second game since being a healthy scratch for six, and doesn’t have a point thus far this season, threw several bone-crunching — but legal — hits. He had six hits, including ones on Olen Zellweger and Ian Moore that could be heard vividly in Xfinity Mobile Arena.

    Reevaluating the Flyers-Ducks trades involving Cutter Gauthier, Trevor Zegras, and Jamie Drysdale

    “Garny laying two huge hits,” Cam York said. “That’s playoff hockey, and we feel like we’re a playoff team.”

    “[Hathaway] dragged a lot of people in the fight with us,” Tocchet added.

    Hathaway ended up dropping the gloves with former Flyers defenseman Radko Gudas after his hit on Moore, and Noah Cates — Noah Cates! — had a tilt of his own with Jansen Harkins after the latter’s high hit on Bobby Brink in the opening minutes. Brink ended up leaving the game with an upper-body injury.

    “I don’t know, just kind of, I guess, maybe, speaks to the confidence and strength I kind of put on and different things like that,” said Cates, who joked that the one fight HockeyFights.com has him listed as having, which was in juniors, wasn’t really a fight.

    “But, just wanted to defend a teammate. With Bobby [it] looked like a bad hit [but] wasn’t a penalty. … But I think the boys respect it, and it’s kind of a necessary thing in the game.”

    The bench boss liked what he saw Tuesday and if the Flyers play as they did against Anaheim, good things should happen.

    Rick Tocchet has raved about Travis Konecny’s development as a leader and key locker room voice.

    Focus and unity

    Whether skating as a five-man unit or going to bat for one another, the Flyers are united. They cheered when Hathaway and Cates dropped the gloves.

    They chirped at Gauthier, who didn’t want to play for the Flyers, and got in his face any chance they could. Aside from Cates going after Harkins, they tried to get at Jacob Trouba and Ross Johnston after they threw high, dirty hits.

    And they checked on one another. Travis Konecny was seen going up to Denver Barkey, appearing to ask if he was OK, as he got on the ice for a power play. The power play happened after Trouba went headhunting on him.

    Flyers fans still don’t like Cutter Gauthier. Trevor Zegras has made it sting a little less.

    Konecny, 28, has become a true leader in every sense of the word for the Flyers.

    “I love the kid. I can understand how [John Tortorella] loves him, too, in the sense of — what did he call him, a wing nut?” Tocchet said. “For me, he does some stuff that you go, ‘What are you doing?’ And then he does some stuff like, wow. So, there’s a balance there.

    “But he’s an unreal guy in the room. This is a close team, and I think he’s one of the reasons why, whether it’s a football pool or whether it’s a dinner, he’s leading the brigade, or whether it’s, hey, unacceptable first period, he’s saying it.”

    Home-ice advantage

    The Flyers are now 12-5-4 at Xfinity Mobile Arena and, for the second straight game, sold out the building.

    It’s a major step for a team that hasn’t packed the barn consistently for a while. And from the moment the puck dropped Tuesday, the faithful were into the game.

    The fans at Xfinity Mobile Arena were up to the task on Tuesday, something the Flyers players hope to see consistently as they push for the playoffs.

    A lot of the attention was directed at Gauthier, but that didn’t stop them from cheering and booing other aspects.

    “The fans were just electric all night,” Christian Dvorak said. “It was a lot of fun.”

    “The crowd was outstanding,” said Tocchet, who is in the Flyers Hall of Fame as a player. “I just remember the days when I played; that’s a loud building tonight. They were awesome. I think they really gave our team some juice.”

    York said it felt like a playoff atmosphere and that he would “wish it [would] maybe happen more than once a year.” Well, if the Flyers keep playing the way they’re playing, it should.

    Flyers’ Bobby Brink, Jamie Drysdale ‘still getting evaluated’ after injuries

    It did give the players a look into what could be the future. Most of the Flyers have not played in a playoff game, and only Konecny, Travis Sanheim, and Sean Couturier were on the roster the last time Philly made the postseason in the 2020 bubble.

    “We don’t want to be satisfied here,” Couturier said after the game. “We’ve got to keep pushing, take it to another level. It’s going to be tight till the end of the year. Look at the standings, doesn’t matter if you win one or you lose one, it’s so tight. So we’ve got to focus one game at a time.”

    Before the Olympic break, the Flyers play 15 more games. That leaves 26 when the schedule picks back up at the end of February. Forty-one games down. Forty-one to go. It’ll be an interesting journey.

  • Flyers fans still don’t like Cutter Gauthier. Trevor Zegras has made it sting a little less.

    Flyers fans still don’t like Cutter Gauthier. Trevor Zegras has made it sting a little less.

    Cutter who?

    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.”

    Trevor Zegras scored twice against his old team in the Flyers’ 5-2 win over the Ducks

    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.”

    Flyers’ Bobby Brink, Jamie Drysdale exit Ducks game early with injuries

    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.”

  • Trevor Zegras scores twice against his old team in the Flyers’ 5-2 win over the Ducks

    Trevor Zegras scores twice against his old team in the Flyers’ 5-2 win over the Ducks

    Ed Snider would be proud.

    The crowd brought it. The Flyers brought it.

    On what would have been the founder and late owner’s 93rd birthday, in front of a sellout crowd at Xfinity Mobile Arena, and with the faithful amped up, the Flyers dominated the Anaheim Ducks 5-2. It was their second straight win and fifth in the past seven games.

    In between boos and words not safe for print, former Flyers prospect Cutter Gauthier struck first for the Ducks with a power-play goal, celebrating with a “mark it” reaction. But the Flyers answered with four straight goals.

    Flyers’ Bobby Brink, Jamie Drysdale exit Ducks game early with injuries

    Trevor Zegras, who was acquired from the Ducks in June and has been off to a red-hot start with his new club, scored twice past goalie Lukáš Dostál in the first period — each from the same spot.

    The first came at even strength, when Christian Dvorak, who signed a five-year extension on Monday, kept a bouncing puck in at the Ducks’ blue line. He carried it down and sent a no-look pass to Zegras between the bottom of the right circle and the goal line. The New York native sent a one-timer past Dostál from the sharp angle.

    On the celebration, he “hung up the phone” on the Ducks. He said on NBCSP’s postgame show, “That’s how quick the phone call was before.”

    Just over four minutes later, Zegras did it from almost the exact spot on a Flyers power play to give the home team a 2-1 lead. On this goal, it was Cam York who skated down and sent a no-look pass over to Zegras for the one-timer from the bottom of the right circle for his 17th goal of the season.

    Zegras now has four games with two goals this season and 11 in his career. He has never had a hat trick.

    Early in the second period, York got the puck at the point, and after walking the line a few steps, he put it on net. The puck appeared to be deflected on the way in, but York was awarded his third goal of the season.

    Travis Sanheim pushed it to 4-1 after Noah Cates won a faceoff deep in the Ducks’ end back to him. The defenseman stepped into the puck and fired it home.

    Anaheim’s Alex Killorn scored a power-play goal to cut it to 4-2 early in the third period, but Nikita Grebenkin added an empty-netter with 1 minute, 14 seconds left in the game.

    And the Flyers dominated the game despite a decimated bench.

    Goalie Dan Vladař earns Czechia Olympic nod amid breakout season with the Flyers

    Already without Matvei Michkov, who is day to day with a lower-body injury, the Flyers lost two more players in the game.

    Bobby Brink left the game and did not return after a blindside hit by Jansen Harkins just 2:38 into the first period. Off the rush, Brink received a pass from Nikita Grebenkin and was skating toward the net when Harkins cut across the slot and clipped Brink.

    Noah Cates went right after Harkins, and the two dropped the gloves. According to Hockeyfights.com, it is Cates’ first pro hockey fight. The site says he had one fight with Omaha of the United States Hockey League in 2018, dropping the gloves with Paul Cotter, who now plays for the New Jersey Devils. Cates said postgame he “wouldn’t consider that [USHL one] a fight,” and he doesn’t think he got a five-minute major.

    In the second period, Jamie Drysdale was curling high in the offensive zone without the puck. Anaheim forward Ross Johnston was skating into the zone and appeared to stick out his right arm as Drysdale skated by. The puck was deep in the Ducks’ zone.

    Drysdale, who was acquired in the deal for Gauthier almost two years ago to the day, lay on the ice and did not move for a considerable amount of time. The stretcher came out, and the doctors came out of the stands, but Drysdale sat up and skated off the ice with help.

    But he did not return, and 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.

    Flyers’ Noah Cates (right) shown during the second period of Tuesday’s game against Anaheim.

    Breakaways

    Hathaway also threw a huge hit into Ducks defenseman Ian Moore in the third period and dropped the gloves with former Flyers defenseman Radko Gudas. … Forward Nic Deslauriers and defenseman Noah Juulsen were healthy scratches. … Before the game, Flyers Charities presented the Ed Snider Youth Hockey Foundation with a $300,000 donation for assistance with programming and operational support for four Philadelphia ice rinks.

    Up next

    The Flyers host Scott Laughton and the Toronto Maple Leafs on Thursday (7 p.m., NBCSP).

  • Reevaluating the Flyers-Ducks trades involving Cutter Gauthier, Trevor Zegras, and Jamie Drysdale

    Reevaluating the Flyers-Ducks trades involving Cutter Gauthier, Trevor Zegras, and Jamie Drysdale

    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.

    Trevor Zegras has fit in seamlessly with the Flyers. What will it cost to keep him long-term?

    What happened to Gauthier and Poehling?

    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.

    Trevor Zegras is even better than the Flyers thought, and other things we know as the calendar flips

    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.

    For Trevor Zegras, the trade to the Flyers is not just a refresh, it is also a homecoming of sorts

    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.”

  • Flyers takeaways: Trevor Zegras on pace for a career season; Dan Vladař continues to be ‘amazing’

    Flyers takeaways: Trevor Zegras on pace for a career season; Dan Vladař continues to be ‘amazing’

    RALEIGH, N.C. — On Sunday night, the Flyers dropped their third straight game, and their third straight after regulation, with a 3-2 shootout loss to the Carolina Hurricanes.

    Yes, it’s a losing streak, but the Flyers were facing the Eastern Conference’s best for the second straight night. And while things started slowly for Philly, it was able to find its footing and snag a point.

    Here are two players who played a big role.

    The Flyers’ Trevor Zegras has a four-game points streak.

    Storm front

    The Flyers may have been playing the Hurricanes, but there’s a storm front coming from Trevor Zegras. Acquired in June, the 24-year-old from New York is on pace to smash his career highs.

    Zegras is riding a four-game point streak (three goals, three assists) and has 13 goals and 32 points in 31 games. He has already tied his point total from last season in 57 games.

    If he maintains this pace, he will score 34 goals and 85 points. His career highs are 23 goals and 65 points, set in the 2022-23 season.

    Flyers drop second straight game to Hurricanes in 3-2 shootout loss

    Coach Rick Tocchet agreed that Zegras was one of the better players for the Flyers right from puck drop.

    “He wants the puck. He wants to make plays,” Tocchet said. “That’s what we want from him; he’s been doing it all year. And then when he gets the puck, he’s making plays through the middle of the ice, which is nice.”

    Trevor Zegras was very active around the Carolina Hurricanes’ net, and he finished with a goal and an assist.

    Zegras tied Nick Seeler for the team lead on Sunday with seven shot attempts. Although three missed the net and two shots were blocked, two more were on goal, with one finding the back of the net.

    That goal came in the last two minutes of the game to tie it up and force overtime. But it was one moment of many by Zegras that set the tone.

    In the first period, with the Flyers trailing 1-0 and having just one shot on goal, and on their second straight power play, Emil Andrae was struggling with Seth Jarvis deep in the Flyers’ zone.

    Zegras came over and followed one of the fundamentals when there is a man advantage: If you lose possession, you need two players on the puck. He threw a hit on Jarvis — just the 11th by the lithe forward this season — with Andrae squeezing him out on the other side, ending the Hurricanes forward’s possession.

    Cam York returns to lineup for Flyers’ rematch with Hurricanes

    It wasn’t the most altering moment of the game, but it seemed to say that it was time to end the Flyers’ poor play. And the Flyers did start to pick up the pace after that, powered by Zegras.

    “I mean, it’s a team game,” he said when asked about carrying the load. “It’s a team effort, especially if you’re talking power play. I definitely just try to do what I can to be the best for my teammates. But I mean, those guys were making plays all night.”

    According to Natural Stat Trick, Zegras had one rebound attempt and created another two, with one coming from Noah Cates atop the crease as the Flyers looked for the equalizer in the third period.

    He also led the team with six scoring chances. None came during five-on-five play. Most came during six-on-five action — the Flyers scored both goals at this strength, one on a delayed penalty and the second with the goalie pulled.

    After a slow start, the new power-play units started to gel with Zegras (4:47), Cates (4:22), Tippett (4:22), Drysdale (4:02), and Brink (3:55) getting the most time with the man advantage.

    Originally, with Andrae on the power play alongside Zegras, Cates, Bobby Brink, and Owen Tippett, the Flyers had one missed shot and two more blocked. But Tocchet moved Andrae off the unit — and also off the second pairing.

    “I thought Emil was struggling,” he said about Andrae being moved down to play with Noah Juulsen. “He’s been struggling the last couple of games; not struggling, but has been a little bit off. Just trying some different things.”

    Zegras’ old power-play buddy with the Anaheim Ducks, Jamie Drysdale, was moved to the unit, and things started to pick up. This unit had eight chances, including three shots on goal.

    “I think the power play was good tonight,” Zegras said. “I think we got some looks that we wanted to.

    “We had the prescout on their penalty kill for the last couple days, so we kind of knew what to expect, and just finally broke through on the six-on-five, which was good.”

    Flyers goaltender Dan Vladar made 30 saves against the Hurricanes on Sunday.

    Here I am

    In Star Wars: A New Hope, Darth Vader says, “I find your lack of faith disturbing.” He’s a lot nicer than the villain, but Dan Vladař could probably say the same to those who doubted his signing in July.

    You cannot lay any blame at Vladař on the two goals he allowed to Carolina — one off a broken play and the other a deflection on a power play — but you can assuredly praise him for the 30 shots he bested.

    “He’s a stud,” Drysdale said. “There really is no other way around it. Both of our goalies have been great this year and really, really give us a chance. So that also instills a lot of confidence in our group, for sure.”

    The Carolina Hurricanes are known for shooting from everywhere, and they did that on Sunday.

    In the first period, he faced 14 shots on goal, nine in the second, seven in the third, and a pair in overtime. He got a lot of work in the opening 5 minutes, 44 seconds, facing eight shots on goal compared to zero for the Flyers.

    The Czech netminder, who should be getting a call soon to represent his country in the Olympics, was often spotted using his blocker. He stopped Jordan Martinook in the second period and then Carolina defenseman K’Andre Miller on a breakaway.

    “He’s amazing,” Zegras said. “He saved my butt a couple of times. But, I mean, it’s every night, right? You guys [the media] see it. It’s big saves, timely saves, saves that he shouldn’t even be making.”

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    And while the official play-by-play says Jackson Blake missed the net, it was Vladař’s patience and movement that forced the son of former New York Islander forward Jason Blake wide.

    According to Natural Stat Trick, 19 shots were low-danger shots — and Vladař stopped them all.

    “You look at their shots, their shots are from the corners and stuff like that, like they’re kind of cheap shots. So we’re not too worried about that,” said defenseman Cam York, who returned to the lineup after missing four games.

    “I think we’re worried about trying to make sure those aren’t Grade A chances. And, you know, Vladdy, he’s so good that he’s going to make those saves.”

  • Flyers drop second straight game to Hurricanes in 3-2 shootout loss

    Flyers drop second straight game to Hurricanes in 3-2 shootout loss

    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.

    Cam York returns to lineup for Flyers’ rematch with Hurricanes

    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.

    Flyers winger Carl Grundström brings ‘a lot of energy’ to the ice, and it’s paying off

    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).

  • Flyers hang tough with the Golden Knights but lose on Mark Stone’s overtime game-winner

    Flyers hang tough with the Golden Knights but lose on Mark Stone’s overtime game-winner

    Facing one of the NHL’s perennial Stanley Cup contenders, the Flyers hung tough but ultimately fell 3-2 to the Vegas Golden Knights in overtime.

    The Flyers are now 2-4 in games decided in the extra session. Philly has also lost three of its past five games.

    Travis Konecny fanned on the puck in the Flyers’ zone during the extra period, and Vegas’ Jack Eichel got it before ultimately finding Mark Stone crashing backdoor for the overtime game-winner.

    Flyers defensemen Cam York and Rasmus Ristolainen inching closer to returning from injury

    Vegas took a 1-0 lead 6 minutes, 7 seconds into the game on a goal by Zach Whitecloud. The play started when Golden Knights defenseman Noah Hanifin poked the puck away from Christian Dvorak as he skated down on a two-on-two with Konecny, and it went right to Eichel. Vegas’ center, who has already been named to the U.S. Olympic squad, got the puck and sent a stretch pass up to Braeden Bowman at the Flyers’ blue line.

    A former teammate of Jett Luchanko’s at Guelph of the Ontario Hockey League, Bowman pulled Emil Andrae out of position and dished the puck to Ivan Barbashev. The Russian winger found Whitecloud splitting Konecny and Jamie Drysdale, and the defenseman flipped the backhand past Dan Vladař.

    But, as it usually happens, the line that gave up the goal tied it.

    Travis Sanheim knocked away an Eichel pass attempt in the neutral zone, and the Flyers got to work. They got the puck deep and kept it in the offensive zone for the next 38 seconds. It ended with Sanheim skating to the top of the left face-off circle and threading the needle to Trevor Zegras at the right post for the goal.

    Flyers center Trevor Zegras scored his team-leading 11th goal on Thursday night.

    Zegras now leads the Flyers with 11 goals. He is one off his total from last season, when he scored 12 in 57 regular-season games with the Anaheim Ducks.

    Vegas retook the lead in the second period on a power-play goal by Stone. The Golden Knights’ captain scored on his second rebound attempt after Pavel Dorofeyev put a shot from the high slot on goal off the rush.

    Christian Dvorak has done wonders for Trevor Zegras and the team’s depth down the middle. Should the Flyers consider keeping him around?

    But the never-quit Flyers tied it again. Carl Grundström put pressure on defenseman Brayden McNabb, creating a turnover along the boards in the Vegas zone. Dvorak scooped up the puck and skated around the right circle and up in the zone before feeding Noah Juulsen for the one-timer from the left face-off dot. The goal is Juulsen’s first with the franchise and registered at 92 miles per hour.

    Breakaways

    Former Phillies pitcher Cole Hamels, who was the World Series MVP in 2008, was at the game in a Tocchet jersey; however, Tocchet was misspelled as Tochett. … Actor David Boreanaz, who grew up in the Philly area and is a noted Flyers fan, and Phillies general manager Preston Mattingly were also in attendance. … The Flyers did not have a tribute video for former goalie Carter Hart, who returned to Philly for the first time. Contrary to what was reported on the ESPN broadcast, a source told The Inquirer there was no extra security behind the Vegas bench. It was the normal NHL-required security.

    Carter Hart not made available to the media; will not start Thursday vs. Flyers

    Up next

    The Flyers play a home-and-home with the Carolina Hurricanes beginning on Saturday at Xfinity Mobile Arena (7 p.m., NBCSP). Sunday’s game is at the Lenovo Center (5 p.m., NBCSP).