The Philadelphia Flyers walked through the quicksands of increasingly tough opponents last week and proceeded to do everything that they are known to do this season. Nothing major was figured out — there were no breakthroughs or discoveries that have us all giddy at the thought of going through more of this campaign. It was the Flyers trying to play Rick Tocchet-style low-event hockey against some of the NHL’s best teams and getting some loser points out of their efforts.
A nice and tidy 4-1 win over the San Jose Sharks was a nice little establishing note — to recognize that despite some improvement, that team is still below them in terms of overall talent and ability — but then with three games against the Vegas Golden Knights and Carolina Hurricanes to wrap up the week, it was staring down the barrel that could send us tumbling down some real pessimism.
Well, an overtime loss to Vegas and then back-to-back shootout losses to the intradivisional Hurricanes gave the Flyers three points in the standings and three performances that were neither comfortable or concerning. There were no signature games woven in the week but instead we got some Flyers examples of withstanding and pushing through .
Four points in those four games is just about what we kind of expected.
Anyways, let’s look at some players who did some stuff.
3. Carl Grundstrom
2 goals, 3 points, not scored against while on the fourth line
Carl Grundstrom is my third star for just being able to come up in a bad situation. The Flyers’ fourth line was a complete disaster and while fourth lines are not really consequential in the grand scheme of things, to have zero goals scored while that bottom-tier trio was on the ice for this team, was just overall bad.
So, in walks Grundstrom to take over for Nikita Grebenkin as he tries to do a Tyson Foerster impression for the time being, and almost instantly he makes an impact. Grundstrom scored in the Flyers’ win over the Sharks for the first goal from the fourth line of the season.
Not a bad way to greet your former team! #SJSvsPHI | #LetsGoFlyers pic.twitter.com/0jWvEe5k4G
— Philadelphia Flyers (@NHLFlyers) December 10, 2025
Thankfully, he wasn’t done there. The 28-year-old winger managed to score again with an absolute snipe off the rush, to tie the first game against the Hurricanes and eventually force the extra period.
For doing this, he has more than earned a regular spot in the lineup (while there is one). Pushing the Flyers’ fourth line into not being a complete disaster offensively felt like a Herculean task and Grundstrom was able to have a very good week to at least temporarily calm down that pressing need to change something up with that trio.
2. Christian Dvorak
1 goal, 5 points, 9 shots, and looked good
Dvorak has done everything asked of him and then some and last week was a great example of that. His line basically drove the Flyers offensively and while there’s nothing flashy coming off the stick of the veteran center, he was just there a whole lot and that is why he managed to score five points in the four games against some tough opponents last week.
It is truly hard to really expand on Christian Dvorak of all players when the reason he got a whole lot of those points, that led him to being the second star of the week, is the first star of the week.
1. Trevor Zegras
3 goals, 3 primary assists, 6 points, and was clearly the Flyers’ best player in most games
It certainly feels like Trevor Zegras is just driving this whole thing right now. Sure, some players are chipping in but this week was really just Zegras trying to control a whole lot for the Flyers and converting a solid amount of his chances.
ZEGRAS TIES IT WITH LESS THAN 2 MINUTES LEFT 😵🚨 pic.twitter.com/7oLgaDKC9x
— B/R Open Ice (@BR_OpenIce) December 15, 2025
And right now, the puck is ending up in the back of the net when Zegras is out there. And with three goals and all three of his assists being primary, when those goals happen it is because of things that Zegras specifically does. He’s not just skating by and managing to pick up some points — Zegras is the focal point of the offense when he is on the ice and this past week a whole lot of goals happened when he was out there.
Simply for that, Zegras more than earns the first star of the week in what ended up being a mildly interesting week for the Flyers.
