The Philadelphia Flyers are pulling out all the stops for their Game 4 must win contest Saturday evening against the visiting Carolina Hurricanes. And it appears they’re putting in two young blue-chip prospects for the National Hockey League playoff debuts, while scratching another.
Although nothing was officially confirmed during the pre-game warmup skate, forward Jett Luchanko and defenseman Oliver Bonk are in for contest while winger Matvei Michkov is a healthy scratch. The lines were revealed during the warmup and are as shown below.
Flyers lines & pairs in warmups (Vladar in net):
— Charlie O'Connor (@charlieo_conn) May 9, 2026
Bump – Dvorak – Konecny
Foerster – Zegras – Martone
Grundstrom – Barkey – Luchanko
Glendening – Couturier – Hathaway
Sanheim – Ristolainen
York – Drysdale
Seeler – Bonk
So Bonk & Luchanko make their playoff debuts. Michkov out.
The moves are bold to say the least, but at the very worst, give the two youngsters in Luchanko and Bonk a taste of playoff hockey. Putting both in a must-win game might be a bit much in terms of pressure. However, Flyers head coach Rick Tocchet is all about winning the game tonight to extend the series to Monday and Game 5 in Carolina. Earlier in the week, the Flyers called up Luchanko (who played four games with Philadelphia earlier in the season and went pointless) after his junior season concluded with the Ontario Hockey League’s Brantford Bulldogs. Luchanko was traded during the season after spending 11 games with the Guelph Storm. With Guelph he had two goals and 15 assists for 17 points. With the Bulldogs, the youngster had five goals and 21 assists in 27 regular season games with the Bulldogs. He also had seven points (two goals, five assists) in 15 playoff games.
Luchanko is sliding into the position where Matvei Michkov was slotted. Michkov had a very lackluster Game 3 and had no points against Carolina this series. His lone assist was a primary one on Cam York’s series-clinching overtime goal against Pittsburgh in Game 6 of the opening round. Michkov was previously scratched in Game 5 against the Penguins and seemed to be struggling on the third line that was primarily centered by Noah Cates before he was injured. Hopefully the Flyers can prolong the series and give Michkov another chance in Game 5. Otherwise, a loss this evening makes for a rather interesting conclusion to the season that didn’t get off on solid footing between the winger and Tocchet.
Bonk in, Andrae out
As for Bonk, the defenseman scored his first National Hockey League goal in the Flyers’ season finale against Montreal. Bonk will be put in for defenseman Emil Andrae on the third pair where he’ll be playing with Nick Seeler. Again, the move might be to reward Bonk for a good season in Lehigh Valley. However, his ability on the power play might be put to good use in Game 4 to try and get the anemic special team off the ground. Or at least with some kind of pulse. There’s no word Bonk would be used on one of the two power play units, but it’s a decent bet that he might see some man-advantage action on the backend should the Flyers end up with a power play or two Saturday night.
So, with essentially nothing to lose, the Flyers are giving two youngsters a chance to prove themselves in the proverbial biggest game of the year. It will be interesting to see how they play, and what the end result will be for all parties playing. And scratched.
