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Rick Tocchet’s Philadelphia Flyers enter the NHL’s leaguewide Christsmas break with a 19-10-7 record. They are in second place in the Metropolitan Division: two points plus a tiebreaker disadvantage behind the Carolina Hurricanes.
Philly is one point ahead of the New York Islanders.New York has also played one more game than the Flyers.
On Tuesday, the Flyers defeated the Chicago Blackhawks, 3-1, at the United Center. Chicago, playing without Connor Bedard or Frank Nazar, has lost six consecutive games in regulation.
Travis Konecny (11th goal of the season) gave the Flyers a 1-0 lead midway through the first period. The Flyers extended the edge to two goals in the middle stage of the second period, courtesy of Noah Cates (PPG, 9th) converting a feed from Konecny. It was Konecny’s 300th career assist.
Late in the second period, Ryan Donato (9th) narrowed the deficit to 2-1 with both teams skating at 4-on-4. Carl Grundstrom (ENG, 5th) iced the win for the Flyers in the latter stages of the third period.
Samuel Ersson made 20 saves on 21 shots to earn the win in goal. For Chicago, Spencer Knight turned back 23 of 25 shots in a losing cause.
The Flyers were 1-for-4 on the power play. They went 4-for-4 on the penalty kill.
Flyers vs. Blackhawks: Highlights and Stat Card
Tuesday’s game was the third and final match of a TNT triple header. The start time was delayed until the other games were finished. Consequently, the opening faceoff was not until 9:15 p.m. EST. With Bedard unavailable and Matvei Michkov having a roller coaster second NHL season, the matchup may have lost some of the theoretical appeal that put it on the preseason schedule for national telecasts.
Nevertheless, from a Flyers’ standpoint, this was an important match. Following the disappointing outcomes against the Sabres and Rangers last week, Philadelphia needed to finish strong ahead of the Christmas break. Tocchet’s team delivered. On Monday, the Flyers cranked out a solid all-around performance to end the Vancouver Canucks’ five-game winning streak. On Tuesday, the Flyers handled the fatigue factor and avoided the lurking “trap game” pitfall.
The Good
- Tuesday’s game was solely about standings points, not style points. The Flyers managed their their energy decently as they built a 2-0 lead and did enough in the third period to earn the regulation win. Heading into the holiday break, it was mission accomplished.
- Samuel Ersson wasn’t tested much but he stepped out when he had to. Most notably, the goalie made an outstanding save on Louis Crevier to protect the one-goal lead in the third period.
- The duo of Trevor Zegras and Travis Konecny clicked once again. Zegras takes a nine-game point streak into the break. Meanwhile, Konecny shook off his so-so start to the season. He’s now up to 33 points (11g, 22a) through 36 games. Over the last five games, Konecny has three goals and three assists.
- Rasmus Ristolainen had a third period sequence in which he stopped a one-on-one rush cold at the defending blueline. Despite his absence for the first two-plus months of the season, the Finnish veteran has largely picked up where left off last season.
- The Flyers’ fourth line made a positive impact in each of the last two games heading into the break. All three forwards — Rodrigo Abols, Nikita Grebenkin and Carl Grundstrom — contributed positive shifts throughout the games on Monday and Tuesday. Meanwhile, Grundstrom chipped in his fifth goal and sixth point in nine games since his second recall from Lehigh Valley. Tocchet gave the line the first shift of all three periods against Chicago. They were also the first line out after a goal was scored by either club.
- Welcome back, Tim Saunders!
The bad
- Denver Barkey left the game in the second period and did not return. He appeared to take a forearm up high from Wyatt Kaiser. Barkey received a boarding minor on the same sequence. He appeared to try and shake off the effects while in the penalty box. He may have been held out of the rest of the game for precautionary reasons.
- Travis Sanheim was also shaken up in Tuesday’s game. He took a hit — well away from the puck — from Chicago’s Alex Vlasic at 7:29 of the third period. He, too, was done for the night.
- On a team-wide level, Tuesday’s tilt was a positive. Individually, though, it was another frustrating night for Michkov. Coming off a strong performance against Vancouver on Monday, Michkov skated 10:52 across 17 shifts. He attempted four shots (one on goal, three that missed the net). He took an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty but also took Chicago’s Nick Lardis with him.
The ugly
- This wasn’t exactly an artistic or smooth game from either club. However, the Flyers took care of their main objective, whether it looked pretty or not.
- The phantom hooking penalty called on Sean Couturier at 15:36 of the third period — in a one-goal game — was a botch job by the officiating crew. First and foremost, Couturier wasn’t the guilty party. It was Grebenkin. Secondly, it was a rather marginal infraction from which to make a call in that situation. Ultimately, it had no bearing on the outcome of the game. Actually, when Couturier excited the box, he sprung Grundstrom for an empty net goal.
Postgame Reaction: Tocchet, Konecny, Ersson
Head Coach Rick Tocchet
Travis Konecny (one goal, one assist)
Samuel Ersson (20 saves on 21 shots)
Flyers Daily: December 24, 2025
On the Christmas Eve Day edition of Flyers Daily, Jason Myrtetus breaks downs Tuesday’s 3-1 win in Chicago. He also has a special holiday message for all Flyers fans.
As a team they have had a very good start to the season. A lot of credit goes to the new arrivals ….the top 3 in Zegras, Vladar and Dvorak have addressed 3 issues the Flyers have had to a certain degree. Skill, Center depth and “sound” goaltending. Although I’m concerned with the handling of Michkov I still think he will have a better 2nd half of the season. Obviously he’s in shape by now, even if just using the eye test. It will be interesting to see if Tocchet can do a better job with this situation then he did with Pettersson in VCR or Keller for the Yotes (now mammoth). Frankly I could care less if Tocchet’s feelings are hurt by the media doing their job. He knew the drill when he took the job. When a future cornerstone of the franchise is regressing under his direction that’s going to be questioned…be it fair or not.
Over all I think the Flyers have bought into his coaching and systems and it shows in the results. I enjoy watching a lot of these young guys take steps and improve. It will be interesting to see how the next phase of the rebuild goes….Briere has a lot of assets and still some major things to address, but the ammunition’s there. Obviously a true # 1 Center would be a god send. A Franchise D man would also be nice but the progression of York and Drysdale has really helped the D core….Throw in Andrae and I think the D has really played a steady brand of hockey so fat…Obvioysly Sanheim has been an anchor and hopefully Risto stays healthy, because he adds that physical element with size and decent mobility.
So far this season gets an “A-“ from me….
Looking forward to watching the World Jr’s from a beach in the Dominican….a lot of exciting prospects.