Perhaps the worst thing you can do when it comes to thinking about the NHL is take the first week of action as concrete evidence of things going well or terribly. The Edmonton Oilers being 0-3-0 after a trip to the Stanley Cup Final, and the Calgary Flames earning a 3-0-0 start after being projected as one of the league’s worst teams, are two perfect examples of the first couple of games not telling the complete story — and that’s just what is happening in Alberta.
Assuming that the same trends will continue that are occurring in the very first instances of hockey that actually maters going on in the NHL, is just a little foolish. Hell, the Buffalo Sabres were undefeated in the preseason and are now a flaming pile of garbage that spread out their trash from Czechia to New York state.
So when it comes to the Philadelphia Flyers and their first two games; two, incredibly late games over in Western Canada against the Vancouver Canucks and said undefeated Calgary Flames, we shouldn’t just take everything as full truths. Maybe, if we want to be incredibly optimistic, we can take them as half-truths. And if we’re doing that, we have to be overjoyed with how the power plays looks to start this transitional 2024-25 season.
Coming into the season, we all know that the power play was something that needed to be addressed. Having the worst success rate on the man advantage for two consecutive seasons — and it not just being bad luck either; it was truly terrible — and it just looking awful meant something had to change. And the Flyers could not just rely on newcomer and phenom Matvei Michkov to singlehandedly change how it operated and actually lead to some goals. The system had to change, and we’re seeing a slight change that is leading to some success.
Through the first two games, the Flyers have a 25% success rate on the power play. Currently, that has earned them the 11th spot in the NHL, with teams like the Chicago Blackhawks and Colorado Avalanche scoring in almost half of the opportunities they get. That’s a little nutty.
But when it comes to our beloved Flyers, things are appearing repeatable. No insane inflation that is driving this success that would have doubled their production on special teams compared to last season, it feels different and real. Take, for instance, the very first goal of the Flyers’ season. Tyson Foerster netted a beautiful power-play goal while on the rush as he linked up with Joel Farabee and Bobby Brink for a near-perfect passing play that would not have showed up last year.
Gorgeous. Crisp passing through the zone and an entry that should have hockey strategy nerds drooling. And again, for the second of their two power-play goals this season (where Michkov earned his first NHL point), it was a passing play that just felt so purposeful. While last year it felt like the team was lucking into some goals on the man advantage — either from perimeter shots or just jamming the puck over the line — this feels like an actual drawn-up play that rightfully earned a goal.
Beyond the beautifully executed plays that earned the Flyers some actual goals on the power play, the underlying numbers appear to be even stronger. Meaning, that all this success is certainly earned.
According to Natural Stat Trick, what the Flyers are doing on the power play is among the top teams in the NHL. Instead of trying to weave through the numbers for everyone to try and parse what it means, we are just going to lay it all out as plain as day for everyone.
This is all data of per 60 minutes, since teams have played between three to nine minutes on the power play. In the Flyers’ six minutes and 52 seconds of having one more player on the ice than their opponent, they have been able to put up some damn good numbers (again, per 60 minutes):
- Shot attempts: 104.74 CF/60 — 10th in the NHL
- Unblocked shot attempts: 87.27 FF/50 — 7th in the NHL
- Shots on goal: 69.82 SF/60 — 4th in the NHL
- Goals for: 8.73 — 12th in the NHL
- Expected goals for: 10.72 xGF/60 — 5th in the NHL
- Scoring chances for: 69.82 SCF/60 — 6th in the NHL
- High-danger shot attempts: 43.64 HDCF/60 — 3rd in the NHL
This is all to say: The Flyers power play has been very good and through the first week of the NHL season, they should be considered one of the best.
The Flyers are not only getting a quantity of chances — which can be seen in their overall shot attempts being in the top-third of the league — but the quality of them is pristine. Both the high-danger attempts and expected goals being in the top-five of the NHL is an incredibly good sign. They are getting straight to the net and getting in the areas of the ice where they can actually score. And they did exactly that on both power-play goals this season.
It just feels so different. Instead of shooting pucks from the point and hoping that they get a bounce in their favor, or are able to get a tap-in from a juicy rebound, these are steadfast scoring chances; the types you see from the best teams in the league with the best players and the only player the Flyers added was Matvei Michkov. Now, they’re able to break down penalty kills to get these scoring chances.
We will have to wait and see if this trend continues (and please do not make any automatic assumptions) but the early signs are looking great.
