The Philadelphia Flyers started their 2026-27 season on an embarrassing note, falling to the Pittsburgh Penguins 7-0 on Wednesday night at the Xfinity Mobile Arena. It was tied for the worst season-opening loss in franchise history (a 7-0 loss to the Los Angeles Kings on October 21, 1971).
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It was a rematch of their Eastern Conference Quarterfinals Series, which the Flyers won in six games. But Philadelphia didn’t look anywhere close to the confident club they were in the spring. It was apparent from puck drop that the Flyers were not ready to win puck battles with the Penguins.
And it was evident that their loose defense was going to be a problem for goalie Dan Vladar, who was forced to make a series of tough saves to keep things level.
Eventually, the dam was going to break. And it did, as the Flyers would find themselves down by five goals at the end of 40 minutes of hockey.
Pittsburgh was paced by their new look third line of Hendrix Lapierre, Filip Hallander, and Ville Koivunen. Hallander looked especially effective with a goal, three points, and a plus four rating.
Winger Nick Robertson scored two goals in his Penguins debut.
And goalie Arturs Silovs had a relatively easy night in net with 19 saves.
It was the definition of a non-competitive game for the Flyers, coming off the heels of a bad final preseason game. And it’s one that they can’t afford to fester with the second half of a back-to-back against the New Jersey Devils facing them on Thursday.
“At some point, we’ve got to learn here, we’ve got to wake up,” Flyers captain Sean Couturier said, after the game. “The last exhibition game we played, it was the same way. Everyone’s like, ‘Oh, it’s training camp, we’re going to ease our way into the season.’ But we’ve got to wake up here.”
Flyers Game Summary
First Period
Pittsburgh built an early 4-1 shot advantage in the opening four minutes, which was indicative of what was to come. Penguins winger Nick Robertson opened the scoring by deflecting home a point shot from Kris Letang past goalie Dan Vladar at the left post at 7:26 of the first period.
The Flyers sloppiness was on full display on the Penguins next goal. Koivunen creased the Flyers for a breakaway off a line change in the neutral zone. On replay, it looked like center Trevor Zegras got caught in the middle of it and tried to peel back to catch the Finnish winger.
Regardless, it was an ugly sequence that put the Flyers on their heels. Pittsburgh ended the period with an 11-5 shot advantage.
Second Period
After the Flyers came out with a bit more skating speed, they once again got themselves in trouble. Winger Porter Martone got called for a blatant cross check during a scrum in the Flyers crease. On the ensuing power-play, Evgeni Malkin got a centering pass and fired a hard shot past Vladar’s glove at 5:03.
After that, the Flyers’ play noticeably sagged, and the Penguins would press their advantage. A little over two minutes later, Lapierre beats Vladar on his shortside for a backbreaking fourth goal.
The Penguins added to their lead at 10:23 when Hallander jammed a shot past Vladar. The goal came as a result of a failed clearing attempt by Jamie Drysdale.
As the period closed down 5-0, the Flyers came off the ice to a cascade of booing from the Xfinity Mobile Arena crowd.
Third Period
The Penguins seemed content to take a controlled defensive posture in the final period, seemingly confident.
However, with 8:08 left in the game, Robertson got his second goal of the game off a fluky bounce. Drysdale was able to keep pace with Robertson on a rush chance and forced a shot wide. But the puck caromed off the back boards, off of Vladar’s outstretched right skate and into the net.
Pittsburgh would later make the Flyers pay for a frustrating roughing penalty by Travis Konecny. Winger Egor Chinakov deflects home an Erik Karlsson point shot on the power-play to set the final score.
The Good
- It was a tough night to figure out the “good,” but the Flyers did win the face-off battle against the Penguins (36 for 58 for 62 percent). Noel Acciari was their ace in that department, winning 11 of his 14 draws (79 percent). Christian Dvorak also had a good night at the dot, winning 10 of 15 draws (67 precent).
The Bad
- The Flyers were happy to have Dan Vladar back as their starter following his preseason upper body injury. However, he struggled mightily in his first game back, giving up five goals on 26 shots through the first two periods alone. While he stabilized in the third period, his rebound control was spotty throughout. It’s a possible product of rust following his injury. With a back-to-back game situation to start the season, Tocchet opted to keep Vladar in for the third period. The Penguins scored two more goals, and he finished with an unsightly 31 saves on 38 shots.
- Flyers got a legitimately dangerous rush chance down 1-0 in the first period that could’ve galvanized them. But on the play, Travis Konecny chose to attempt a difficult cross-ice pass to Tyson Foerster, who was closing towards the right post. If the puck somehow hit Foerster on his stick, he would’ve easily beaten goalie Arturs Silovs. But it would have been better for Konecny to take the shot himself and use Foerster as a decoy, rather than a low-percentage play. It was another baffling decision in a night full of them.
- It was a tough night to evaluate the Flyers power-play, as they got their first opportunity already down five goals. Other than a couple of decent passing sequences, it was largely ineffective, going 0 for 3, while the Penguins finished 2 for 4.
The Ugly
Oh, where to start?
- Philadelphia were playing from behind in so many aspects of this game. They were beaten soundly on the boards, to loose pucks, and their effort lagged in the offensive zone. Passing wasn’t crisp, their overall play was disjointed, and they made it an easy night for Silovs. It was a true team loss for any player wearing an orange uniform.
- Philadelphia had 21 giveaways to Pittsburgh’s 11, a stark contrast. One team was running on all cylinders; the other sputtered and stalled.
- Flyers head coach Rick Tocchet’s post-game quotes say it all: “When we were down 4-0, even some plays we were making, just disturbing plays.” “Obviously we’ve got to figure this out quickly. Since I’ve been here, it’s the worst D-zone (play) I’ve ever seen.”
- Flyers rookie forward Porter Martone had a poor performance in his first season opener. He finished with zero shot attempts, two penalty minutes and three giveaways in 14:05 of ice time. His early second-period penalty directly led to the Penguins third goal. He was bad enough that Tocchet benched him during the latter part of that period. A hard learning experience for the 19-year-old.
- Philadelphia’s neutral zone play was really poor in this game. Pittsburgh seemed to force the Flyers into ill-advised decisions, and things spiralled from there. The big mistake was on Koivunen’s breakaway goal. But another glaring example came in the second period when Tyson Foerster’s attempted between-the-skates pass was easily picked off and led to a Penguins rush chance.
- In the third period, Konecny decided to take out his frustrations on defenseman Sam Girard near the benches. Konecny and Girard had several battles throughout the evening. His blatant roughing penalty led to the Penguins seventh goal on the power play that almost seemed like a point of emphasis on a bad evening.
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