The Flyers blogs on Hockey Hot Stove are powered by Phans of Philly, Liberty Valuation Group, New Balance of Mount Laurel, The Mens and Boys Store, Carl’s Cards and Collectibles, Team Toyota, Brian Propp’s Guffaw Cigars, Summit Public Adjusters, Marat Ioshpa’s State Farm Insurance agency and our newest sponsor, Joe Rivera of Coldwell Banker Realty.
The Philadelphia Flyers (6-10-6) closed out their week-long road trip with a critical 4-3 win over Columbus Blue Jackets at Nationwide Arena on Saturday. The Flyers overcame an early two goal deficit and win their first game when tied heading into the third period this season.
Winger Denver Barkey led the way with his first two goal game of his career (including the game winning goal). Matvei Michkov and Trevor Zegras also scored for the Flyers.
It was a see saw game, as the Flyers scored three times to take the lead early in the second period. Columbus took an initial 2-0 lead with goals from wingers Dmitri Voronkov and Matthew Knies. However a late period goal by Zegras off a great pass from Tyson Foerster cut the Blue Jackets lead in half.
Michkov scored on a brilliant breakaway goal 1:19 into the second period. Barkey would follow a little over a minute later with a power-play goal to give the Flyers a 3-2 lead.
However, a neutral zone hiccup by defenseman Cam York allowed center Adam Fantilli to score the tying goal. Momentum swung back and forth for the late second and early third period, before Barkey scored the game winner at 11:54 of the third period.
Key to the Flyers win was the performance of goalie Joseph Woll (28 saves). The Flyers netminder overcame a couple of stoppable goals to make some big saves late in the game. The win gave the Flyers a 2-1-2 record on their five game road trip, as they return home Sunday to close out this weekend ‘s set of back-to-back games.
For an in-depth period-by-period recap of the game, read it here.
The Good
- What other superlatives can you put to Michkov goal to tie the game? The explosive burst after causing the turnover and the slight of hand on his backhand to beat Greaves. It was something he would not have been able to pull off last season. His 11th goal of the season put him in front of Beckett Sennecke and Macklin Celebrini for most goals scored by a player under 22 years old this season.
- “Bumper Barkey” continues to be a successful power-play experiment, as he put himself into the slot and one-timed a slip pass from Porter Martone to beat Greaves in the second period to put the Flyers in front.
- After a rough start to the season, Tyson Foerster seems to be coming on. One area where that’s really showing is his board work in the first period on Trevor Zegras’ goal. He made a great pass off the side boards after he intercepted Ivan Provorov’s attempted clear. Then he found Zegras with a great pass in the slot.
- Noel Acciari’s awareness and hand eye coordination in keeping the puck in the Blue Jackets zone directly led to Barkey’s game winning goal.
- Woll’s critical stop on Damon Severson’s late point shot with Kent Johnson on top of him. It didn’t look like he saw it, but he was able to keep himself in position as the puck bounced off his left pad as time expired.
The Bad
- Head coach Rick Tocchet’s decision to use the power-play to salt time off the clock, by putting Travis Sanheim and Jamie Drysdale instead of Martone really threw off the units rhythm. That said, it’s the coach’s “play it safe” baseline and they hung on for dear life at the end. Moments like that aren’t going to send “seize the moment” vibes to his players.
- On Columbus’ second goal, Woll got scorched as Knies beat him with a no-look wrist shot in transition. The third goal he was left pretty much alone with Fantilli following the neutral zone turnover, but he had a chance to stop it and didn’t. That said, the Flyers don’t win this game without his performance after that.
- Defenseman Nick Seeler made a key shot block late in the second period that helped the Flyers keep the game tied. However, he was slow to come off the ice and got his team flagged for too many men on the ice. Considering Fantilli’s goal only minutes earlier, it could’ve been a game turning penalty call had Columbus taken advantage of the ensuing power-play.
The Ugly
- How do the Flyers continue to struggle with starting a game “on time?” With two days of rest, there’s just no excuse for it, unless you’re just a bad hockey team. They looked asleep at the wheel as Columbus struck quickly to get a 2-0 lead with goals less than a minute apart.
- Not a night to write home about for Cam York. (You probably could say the same for his season so far). He got crossed up on Knies second goal as his hesitation after Michael Bunting came across to cover Luca Bel Belluz. Later, he got caught out of position on Fantilli’s tying goal.
- Ugly night at the face-off dot for the Flyers, losing 31 of 51 draws (after being up 8-6 after the first period). Christian Dvorak was the only Flyers center to win his draws (going nine of 14).
Flyers Lineup
Tyson Foerster – Trevor Zegras – Travis Konecny
Michael Bunting – Christian Dvorak — Owen Tippett
Porter Martone – Noah Cates – Matvei Michkov
Denver Barkey – Sean Couturier — Noel Acciari
Travis Sanheim – Jamie Drysdale
Cam York – Oliver Bonk
Nick Seeler – Rasmus Ristolainen
Joseph Woll
[ Daniel Vladar ]
Team Toyota Spotlight: Flyers Overcome Themselves & End Jackets Skid
It wasn’t pretty, but the Flyers were able to snap the Blue Jackets six game winning streak against them (which started January 14, 2025). The game threatened to be a carbon copy of their first meeting of the season, when the Flyers fell behind by three goals in a 4-3 overtime loss to Columbus in late October.
As mystifying as they were in falling behind yet again (with two days) rest, they seemed to really lock in during the later part of the first period and into the second period. They got good performances from Barkey, Michkov, Foerster, and Martone. The latter two in particular were strong along the walls and made excellent passes on their assists.
But the Flyers’ focus still comes and goes, even in Game 22 of 84. They still showed their fragility following Fantilli’s game tying goal, as Columbus dominated the back half of the period. After Barkey’s second goal, Philadelphia played the game on a tight-rope and the Blue Jackets had some late chances.
In the end, the win felt more like an escape than a confident step forward. But after a week of tumultuous moments both on and off the ice, they’ll take what they get at this point of the season.
<Dorshimer Section>
Tocchet Post Game Video
Weekend Off The Post Radio
The midweek edition of Off The Post Radio, powered by Team Toyota, is coming your way Sunday at 9:30am ET. Join me, Michael Augello, Russ Cohen, and I will discuss the latest goings-on in the NHL and beyond.
Watch the show here:
Home › Forums › Flyers Beat Jackets As Barkey Bites Twice