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The Philadelphia Flyers delivered their first win of the 2025-26 season on Monday night at Xfinity Mobile Arena. In a roller coaster of a home opener, Rick Tocchet’s team (1-1-1) skated off with a 5-2 victory. The Flyers played well in lengthy stretches. They couldn’t get out of their own way at times. Florida dominated other long stretches.
It was entertaining. At the start and the finish, it was emotional. It was sloppy. Most of all, however, it was a win. The Flyers have three of six possible points to start the season. They easily could have four or five. They just as easily could have zero. So, the record accurately describes the team performance on the whole.
Here are the good, the bad, the beautiful and the ugly from the home opener. Normally, of course, the “beautiful” part is folded in with “the good”. On this night, however, there’s reason to separate the two.
The Good
- The captain leads. Sean Couturier produced a monster four-point game (two goals, one primary assist, one secondary helper in the home opener. He led in other ways, too. It was a vintage 200-foot game for the Flyers’ captain.
- Instant pace and pressure. The Flyers came right out from the start up on their skates. They established their forecheck right from the outset and had the two-time defending Stanley Cup champions on their heels.
- Early second period power play. The Flyers’ overall special teams were Jekyll and Hyde. We’ll touch on the not-so-good aspects later. For now, let’s discuss the power play the Flyers had after Sam Bennett tripped Jet Luchanko at 6:33 of the second period. The Flyers didn’t score but their puck movement and quality of chances were excellent. If the power play ever hits that level with anything resembling consistency, they’d be in great shape. Operative word: if. Nevertheless, it was a flash of potential.
- Vladar’s overall game. Dan Vladar delivered much more good than bad in his two starts against the Panthers. Over the first three games of the season, goaltending has been an asset and not a liability. It’s far too soon to heaven a sigh of relief. It’s just three games. But it’s been an encouraging start.
- Grebenkin is always around the puck. He still has some adjustments to make. Nevertheless, the Flyers feel cautious excitement that the Russian rookie winger looks like a bonafide NHLer. He’s relentless around the puck, whether it’s on the walls or getting to the net. Some of his neutral zone play and positional reads are works in progress. On the whole, however, there’s much more good than bad so far. Tocchet loves the word “sticky” to describe Grebenkin’s knack for coming up with the puck in the trenches.
- Foerster’s goal and all-around game. Tyson Foerster scored one hell of a goal moving from circle to slot and writing a shot past Daniil Tarason. The entire Noah Cates line is off to a great start this season. Meanwhile, Foerster looks poised to become a 30-plus goal scorer even though Monday’s tally was his first of the young season.
- Sanheim provides stability. Where would the Flyers be without the play of Travis Sanheim so far this year? They’d be 0-3-0 with few positives to discuss.
- Andrae’s passing touch. Both in the Phantoms’ opener on Saturday and the Flyers’ home opener on Monday, Emil Andrae was a positive. So far, he looks like the pre-injury version of his 2024-25 self. He’s looked fearless despite his lack of size. More importantly, he’s made tough plays with the puck look easy. He didn’t get much ice time on Monday. Nevertheless, it was a huge upgrade on what Egor Zamula showed in camp and the first two regular season games.
- Resiliency. The Pathers got into their all-too-familar “maul and devour” mode by the third period. Somehow the Flyers found a way to stabilize. They scored the winning goal right after their final power play ended. Subsequently, they added a pair of empty net goals. The final score looked comfortable. That was deceptive. Games with two late ENGs tend to distort the picture’s appearance from afar.
The Bad
- Michkov’s early struggle — Part 1. The Flyers kept this publicly kept under wraps until the last few days. Matvei Michkov suffered an ankle injury in the off-season. It happened while playing in a summer hockey event in Russia. The injury set the player back several weeks in his off-season training. He’s fine now but started out behind the 8-ball in his conditioning. I learned about it from a source during the Rookie Series, but it was strictly off the record. Now that Rick Tocchet addressed it matter-of-factly after Monday’s morning skate, the record should be set straight. It was a hockey injury (not from the car accident). Michkov is physically fine now.
- Michkov’s early struggle – Part 2. The 20-year-old Russian is trying to make the adjustments Tocchet and his staff want. The adjustments are related to going to the right places when the situation dictates puck support. They relate to knowing when to leave the defensive zone and certain risk-reward decisions in trying to make a play. Lastly, they relate to tweaking — not overhauling but picking his sports — for when to go north versus when to prove. It will click, hopefully soon. However, it’s hard to ignore the fact that Michkov say in OT on Saturday and the final eight minutes of the home opener. No sugar-coating it: Michkov is trying to get on the same page and it’s a work in progress. That said, he’d made some good plays. His elite skill set and ice vision didn’t just abandon him. He’ll be fine. This, too, shall pass. The Flyers just need it to pass to the next stage sooner rather than later.
- Too many penalties. Philly has played shorthanded 14 times in three games. That’s way too many. The PK is 12-for-14 but it’s a losing formula to play with fire over and over again.
The Beautiful
- No. 1 for No. 1. How fitting that the Flyers won their first game of the 2025-26 season on the same night they unveiled the No. 1 memorial patch for Bernie Parent and debuted the No. 1 painted in the trapezoids behind the two nets. As Bernie himself said countless times, “It’s a beautiful thing!”
- Player of the Game Mask. Each year, the Flyers chaneage up their special honor for the teammate they select as Player of the Game after a win. This year, fittingly, they chose a replica Bernie Parent mask. Team captain Sean Couturier defeated the first honor to goaltender Vladar. After the Flyers’ next win, Vladar gets to pick the next honoree. This goes on for the duration of the season. Recipent 2 will choose recipient 3. Recipient 3 chooses Recipient 4, and so on.
- , A beauiful and tenacious play. Trevor Zegras’ magnificent set up of Couturier for the game winner was a thing of beauty. He battled for space behind the net, accepted a hit to make a play, and made a perfect pass out to Couturier in the circle. Charlie O’Connor said it best: “It was a high-skill play but it was also a hard play.” That took guts and tenacity before the finesse part took over.
The Ugly
- Nearly fatal swing. Late in the second period, the Flyers led 2-0. Seth Jones took a delay of game penalty. The Flyers now had a gift power play with a chance to put a stranglehold on the game. Instead, they coughed up a scrambling shorthanded goal. The score was now 2-1. Even before the buzzer ended the middle frame, the third period felt ominous.
- Third period WAS ominous. The Flyers got absolutely steamrolled for much of the third period. Vladar committed too early on what turned into an easy tying goal. Shots favored Florida, 6-0, and the Panthers seemed poise to take over the lead. These are games the Panthers rarely lose when it comes to crunch time with the outcome up for grabs. Somehow, though, the Flyers found a way.
