The Philadelphia Flyers come home with a respectable 0-1-1 record after facing off against the reigning Stanley Cup champions in the opener and the Eastern Conference favorites on Saturday night.
While wins and losses are important, this season is still mostly about the Flyers finding out what they have and where they need to upgrade to become a constant contender like the Florida Panthers and Carolina Hurricanes.
It will take much longer than two games to find that out, but why not overreact to what we’ve seen so far?
Here are five totally irrational overreactions to the Flyers’ first two games of the season.
The Goaltending is Good
Through two games, both Dan Vladar and Sam Ersson have looked solid between the pipes. They combined to allow six goals on 73 shots, good for a .918 save percentage thus far.
That may not mean much, especially given the small sample size, but the first time that the Flyers allowed fewer than six goals in consecutive games last season came in games 10 and 11 against the Bruins and Blues.
The goaltending is always going to be a huge storyline in Philadelphia, and it became one before the puck dropped on the season when Rick Tocchet named Dan Vladar the opening night starter. But both Vladar and Ersson have looked like they can form a solid tandem while playing against two of the best teams in the league.
Special teams success
If you have good goaltending and special teams, you’re usually going to be a pretty good hockey team. Well, the Flyers only have one point to show for it, but they had just that to start the season.
The Flyers scored their first power-play goal of the season — and Owen Tippett’s first since March 2024 — on Saturday night, and are now 1 for 5 for the season. They’ve also taken a lot of penalties, but have killed off eight of nine of them.
After years of putrid power-play performances, including an uptick to 15% last year, and a penalty kill that took a step back last season, it was good to see both units find success in the early going.
Center depth is still an issue
The Flyers added a few centers over the summer in Trevor Zegras and Christian Dvorak, to go along with Sean Couturier, Noah Cates, and guys like Rodrigo Abols and Jett Luchanko.
Only one of those centers has played up to (and above) their expectations through two games, and that, of course, is Noah Cates. The Cates line is the only trio that is consistently winning their shifts and putting the puck on net and in the net.
Couturier has looked especially slow, contributing to his wingers not exactly putting up strong performances. Zegras got a point on the power play after winning the faceoff, but he, too, has been rather invisible in his first two games as a Flyer.
I’m not sure if we can really call Dvorak a disappointment, but at the same time, he doesn’t look like someone who can move up the lineup in a pinch like some may have thought. He’s best suited as the fourth-line center, but that’s not going to be an option as long as Luchanko is with the team.
Speaking of, the 19-year-old pivot has looked … fine? … in his one game this season. He had a bad turnover that led to a goal against, and didn’t really use his speed to his advantage. The Flyers want to control his development, but he also needs to play enough minutes to do that.
Magician Matvei Michkov’s disappearing act
Once again, I am going to stress that this is an overreaction to two games of hockey against two of the best teams in the Eastern Conference. However, the Flyers’ sophomore phenom has not looked up to snuff.
Playing with Couturier certainly didn’t help him on Saturday night, as alluded to above, but he did make a nice pass or two — like that one to spring Konecny on a semi-breakaway — in an attempt to create offense.
Perhaps teams like the Panthers and Hurricanes, in particular, can use their size and speed to take Michkov out of the game and force the other Flyers’ forwards to beat them.
Of course, we can’t forget about Michkov’s late turnover in the third period and subsequent benching for overtime. I can’t imagine the bosses liked that too much, and I don’t think it’d happen on home ice, but it’s something to keep an eye out for. If Michkov wants those minutes, he’s apparently going to need to earn them.
Foerster – Cates – Brink can be a top line
We’ll end this on a positive note, and that’s with the only line that has stuck together through two games.
Cates scored the Flyers’ lone goal in the season opener off of what appeared to be a set faceoff play with Foerster picking up the assist on the shot. That line once again helped create all three goals on Saturday night as Cates drew the penalty that led to the power-play goal, Brink ripped a shot in the second period, and Foerster and Brink combined to set up Travis Sanheim for the game-tying goal in the third period.
It would’ve been nice if Brink’s overtime goal stood, but goalie interference is a mystery in today’s NHL (for the record, I don’t have a problem with the call by the letter of the law, unfortunately), but it was still a banner game for the budding winger.
I said after Thursday night’s game that the Flyers can’t be a one-line team if that line is this one, but they’re looking more like a top line than a third line to start the season, that’s for sure.
