With just two games on the schedule, it looked as if this might be a bit of a quiet week for the Flyers. But boy was that not the case. Dan Vladar bounced back in a big way after a tough outing in Dallas, they made history with three quick goals, and they may have found a new defensive pairing. With an overtime win against St. Louis and a regulation win — yes, a regulation win — against New Jersey, they finished the week with a perfect 2-0 record. With that, let’s take a look at the standouts.
3. Emil Andrae
0 goals, 1 assist, 1 point, 2 games played, 18:52 average time on ice
This spot could’ve gone to a number of players: Noah Cates had a three-point game, both Sean Couturier and Travis Konecny had three assists this week, and Travis Sanheim scored an overtime game-winner. However, one of the biggest takeaways from this week is the emergence of one of the Flyers’ newest defensive pairs. Emil Andrae has been on quite the positive run of late, so much so that midway through Thursday night’s game against the Blues, Rick Tocchet elevated Andrae to the second pair alongside Jamie Drysdale. Andrae responded to the promotion well, with the new pair driving play the rest of the way, eventually leading to Andrae setting up the game-tying goal in the back half of the third period. Soon after, he also made a game-saving block with three minutes left in regulation.
While he didn’t put up any points against New Jersey, he finished with a position-high 64.81 expected goals for percentage at five-on-five, and one of his takeaways in the neutral zone is what began the possession that led to the Flyers’ first goal of the game. Only time will tell how long this new defensive pair will last, but they’re apparently going to get a real chance to make this stick. Tocchet was seemingly happy with his new defensive pair after Saturday night’s game, calling Drysdale their “best defender.” He then went on to mention Andrae’s lack of fear going into the corners and how well they defended together. So while there were plenty of good options here, this was a standout week from Andrae, and maybe most importantly, one that caught his head coach’s attention.
2. Tyson Foerster
3 goals, 0 assists, 3 points, 2 games played, 17:41 average time on ice
On Saturday night, the Flyers made team history when they scored 3 goals in just 26 seconds, and Tyson Foerster had two of them! After Matvei Michkov got the party started with a breakaway tally, Foerster added his first with a one-timed blast off the rush, beating Jake Allen on his blocker side. Noah Cates and Travis Konecny picked up the assists on the goal. Just 17 seconds later, Foerster would strike again, this time from outside the faceoff circle, on a shot that he himself said was intended to be a pass off of Allen’s pad to Konecny.
TWO GOALS. 17 SECONDS.
— Philadelphia Flyers (@NHLFlyers) November 23, 2025
THAT'S RIGHT, TYS. 😤#NJDvsPHI | #LetsGoFlyers pic.twitter.com/Uc9Mm4wXXb
Intentional or not, Foerster’s shot is a real weapon, and with 7 goals in 16 games, he’s on pace to set a career high in goals. It’s still too early to look that far into the future, but it’s certainly nice to see. He briefly had the team lead in goals, until Trevor Zegras drew even with his breakaway goal in the third. Obviously the 26 second goal parade was crucial to the final result against the Devils, and Foerster was a huge part of it. It’s worth mentioning that Cates made two really pretty passes directly leading to both goals, and that it was a great showing from him as well.
But before that chaos, it was Foerster who also tied the game against the Blues with another one-timer from a similar spot. It may have taken him a couple of games to get back on the scoresheet after coming back from injury, but it looks like Foerster’s back in his groove, and that’s great news for the Flyers.
1. Dan Vladar
2 wins, .922 save percentage, 5 goals against, 2 games played
After giving up early goals in both contests, Dan Vladar locked in the rest of the way and was a huge reason why the Flyers finished the week with a perfect record. Against the Blues, Vladar stopped 27 of the 29 shots he faced (.931 save percentage), including a huge stop in overtime against Jordan Kyrou just moments before Sanheim’s winner. There’s been a lot of talk about the Flyers as a team bouncing back in games and their ability to mount great comebacks, but Vladar himself has repeatedly shown that on an individual level, he won’t let a rocky start affect him.
Despite giving up one more goal than he had against St. Louis, his performance against the Devils was arguably even more impressive. The Devils generated a lot of offense in this game, especially in the third period as score effects began to really kick in. A standout moment from Vladar was when he made an excellent post-to-post stop to rob Jesper Bratt midway through the third period.
You knew our netminder would show out on Bernie's night. 👊#NJDvsPHI | #LetsGoFlyers pic.twitter.com/wTRsRGiRhL
— Philadelphia Flyers (@NHLFlyers) November 23, 2025
While the offensive explosion was obviously great to see and welcomed, one could argue that the story of this game was the goaltender battle. Jake Allen had a tough night, allowing 6 goals against 29 shots. A .793 save percentage speaks for itself, but it looks even worse when it comes to shot quality. The Flyers generated 3.65 expected goals at all situations, suggesting that Allen allowed two more goals than he should have, based on the quality of the shots that he faced. His struggles were clear, from Foerster’s second goal coming from a pretty unlikely spot, to basically setting Noah Cates up for the Flyers’ first goal of the game. Conversely, Vladar allowed 3 goals on 35 shots, and finished with 1.59 goals saved above expectation. All of this is to say that Vladar was absolutely vital in the Flyers’ victories over both the Blues and the Devils this week, and has continued his run as one of the best goaltenders in the league through the first two months of the season.
All data via Natural Stat Trick
