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Rick Tocchet’s Philadelphia Flyers (43-27-12, 98 points) had a much-deserved complete day off on Wednesday. The previous night, they completed their 2025-26 regular season with a 4-2 win over the Montreal Canadiens.
Come Thursday, the team reconvenes at the FTC in Voorhees (11:30 a.m. EDT) for its first playoff series preparation to play the Pittsburgh Penguins (41-25-16, 98 points). Pittsburgh holds the home ice advantage in the season series by virtue of their 34 regulation wins to the 27 by Philadelphia. During the head-to-head season series between the teams, the Flyers went 2-2-0.
Flyers vs Penguins season series recap
October 28: Flyers 3 vs. Penguins 2 (SO, 2-1)
The Flyers took a 2-1 lead into the third period on goals by Bobby Brink and Travis Konecny. A mid-third period tying goal by Sidney Crosby sent the game to overtime. After a scoreless sudden death, shootout goals by Matvei Michkov and Brink secured the bonus point. Samuel Ersson earned the win in net.
December 1: Flyers 1 vs. Penguins 5
This was the game where Tyson Foerster scored a 5-on-3 power play goal. However, on the ensuing 5-on-4, Foerster suffered a serious arm injury attempting a one-timer from nearly the exact same spot. The injury kept him out for four months before his recent return. Meanwhile, Pittsburgh scored three power play goals of their own and pulled away. Crosby had two goals that night. Evgeni Malkin and Erik Karlsson collected two assists apiece. Dan Vladar took the loss in net.
January 15: Flyers 3 @ Penguins 6
This game coincided with Philly’s roughest stretch of the entire 2025-26 season: a run of five straight regulation losses amid an 0-5-1 winless nosedive. Another stretch of three straight regulation losses followed about a week later. On this night, the Penguins jumped out to a 3-0 lead and never looked back. Crosby had a goal and an assist.Justin Brazeau, who scored in the first meeting of the season series, tallied again in this one. Denver Barkey chipped in two assists in a losing cause. Matvei Michkov scored a late goal. Vladar was out with an injury at the time. Ersson started and lasted 22 minutes. Aleksei Kolosov went the rest of the way. Stuart Skinner made 30 saves for Pittsburgh.
March 7: Flyers 4 @ Penguins 3 (SO, 1-0)
Trevor Zegras notched the lone shootout goal to cap a comeback win. Neither Crosby (injured during the Olympics) nor Malkin (suspended by the NHL) played in this match. Owen Tippett, starting to heat up offensively, notched his 20th goal of the season. However, it was the youngsters who lifted Philly to comebacks from 1-0, 2-1, and 3-2 deficits. Alex Bump notched his first NHL goal, while Barkey scored his third. Vladar (20 saves through 65 minutes, 3-for-3 in the shootout) defeated Skinner (12 saves, 2-for-3).
Flyers scoring leaderboard
Travis Konecny — 68 points (27g, 41a)
Trevor Zegras — 67 points (26g, 41a)
Owen Tippett — 51 points (28g, 23a)
Matvei Michkov — 51 points (20g, 31a)
Christian Dvorak — 51 points (18g, 33a)
Noah Cates — 47 points (19g, 28a)
Travis Sanheim — 37 points (11g, 26a)
Sean Couturier — 36 points (12g, 24a)
Jamie Drysdale — 32 points (8g, 24a)
Cam York — 26 points (4g, 22a) in 74 games
Tyson Forster — 17 points (13g, 4a) in 29 games
Denver Barkey — 17 points (5g, 12a) in 43 games
Beyond the top 12
Nikita Grebenkin — 14 points (4g, 10a) in 55 games
Rasmus Ristolainen — 14 points (1g, 13a) in 44 games
Carl Grundstrom — 13 points (9g, 4a) in 47 games
Emil Andrae — 13 points (2g, 11a) in 61 games
Porter Martone — 10 points (4g,6a) in 9 games
Nick Seeler — 10 points (4g, 6a)
Rodrigo Abols — 10 points (3g, 7a) in 42 games
Noah Juulsen — 10 points (1g, 9a) in 52 games
Alex Bump — 9 points (5g, 4a) in 17 games
Like Glendening — 5 points (2g, 3a) in 18 games
Garnet Hathaway — 3 points (1g, 2a) in 66 games
Flyers goaltender stats
Dan Vladar — 52 GP, 29-14-7, 2.42 GAA, .906 SV%
Samuel Ersson — 32 GP, 13-11-5, 3.15 GAA, .867 SV%
Aleksei Kolosov — 4 GP, 0-2-0, 4.00 GAA, .830 SV%
Season-ending lineup
The Flyers rested a host of regular starters in Tuesday’s finale against Montreal. The lineup from Monday’s playoff spot clincher against Carolina shoud be close to the Game One arrangement in Pittsburgh this weekend. The only question is who will be the third member of the fourth line with Sean Couturier. Different players — Garnet Hathaway or Carl Grundstrom mostly but also Denver Barkey if he started outside the top nine — saw time on that line late in the season.
Tyson Foerster – Trevor Zegras – Owen Tippett
Travis Konecny – Christian Dvorak – Porter Martone
Denver Barkey – Noah Cates – Matvei Michkov
Luke Glendening – Sean Couturier – Garnet Hathaway
Travis Sanheim – Rasmus Ristolainen
Cam York – Jamie Drysdale
Nick Seeler – Emil Andrae
Dan Vladar
Samuel Ersson
Available: Carl Grundstrom (healthy), Alex Bump (healthy), Noah Juulsen (healthy), Nikita Grebenkin (upper body), Garrett Wilson (healthy).
O&B Puckcast: Looking ahead to ECQF
In Wednesday’s live edition of O&B Puckcast, Isaiah, Chef, Dan and I discussed the key factors that drove the Flyers’ turnaround after the Olympic break. We also preview the upcoming playoff series with Pittsburgh: matchup strengths, concerns, and X-factors.
Phantoms eliminated from playoff contention
The Lehigh Valley Phantoms entered Wednesday needing a road win over the Springfield Thunderbirds to stay alive in the push for the final Calder Cup playoff spot in the American Hockey League’s Atlantic Division. It didn’t happen. Springfield laid a 7-1 drubbing on John Snowden’s team. Springfield goals late in the first period and the opening minute of the second period turned a 1-0 deficit into a 3-0 crater. The Thunderbirds added four more goals in the third period, including another opening-minute goal that quickly put to rest any remote hopes of a miracle comeback.
Noah Powell (2nd AHL goal) notched the lone tally for the Phantoms.
Aleksei Kolosov was strafed for six goals on 27 shots. Carson Bjarnason (seven saves on 8 shots mopped up) for the final 14:10.
It seems likely that most or all of the call-up players who suited up for the Flyers before returning to the Phantoms for this game will be Black Aces in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. That includes defensemen Oliver Bonk, David Jiricek, and Hunter McDonald, forwards Jacob Gaucher and Anthony Richard plus goaltender Kolosov. It’s also possible that defensemen Adam Ginning and/or Helge Grans could be on the deep depth playoff list as Black Aces.
First, however, the Phantoms (30-34-6) have back-to-back road games in Charlotte to end the season.
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