Last night’s Game 3 for the Flyers was little short of an event. Between some interesting penalty calling, a whole lot of brawling, and a host of different faces stepping up in meaningful ways on the way to that victory, the return of playoff hockey to South Philadelphia was something to remember.
The night was downright overflowing with storylines, but as far as the game itself goes, some of the very best of the game, and the very worst, unfolded for the Flyers on opposite sides of the special teams coin.
Penalty kill falters
While the Flyers were able to build their game well in the right direction as they went on, this one had a real chance to go sideways on them for a period of time, and much of that came from the two bad blips that were the power play goals allowed to the Penguins, keeping them hanging around in that game longer than the Flyers would have liked.
It was a couple of tough breaks for the Flyers on the penalty kill that ended up burning them — the first was a bit more egregious, with a breakdown in awareness in front let the cross-ice pass in front to Malkin happen, and that just cannot happen, and the second came after a block up top was laid out but ultimately missed, and then the puck pinballed around in front off of the shot from distance before sneaking in — and while the Flyers will certainly take some lessons in how to best approach tackling their coverages of the Penguins shooters next time around, so too can there be some lessons taken in how to manage these games so as not to put themselves in these positions in the first place.
“There’s some… there’s some scrums and some things that yeah,” head coach Rick Tocchet said, “you know, you want to hold your ground and there’s sometimes you just got to be, you know, you got to be savvy and you know, and kind of see the temperature because, you know. And there’s some refs you just got to, some refs won’t tolerate stuff, and they get antsy, too. So, you learn that from experience, I think, and we’ll learn from it.”
The Flyers have seen well how quickly that Penguins power play, even if they’re not firing on all cylinders, can make them pay for a mistake, and a big challenge for the team going forward will be to find and toe the line between playing a disruptive and physically engaged game and getting goaded into unnecessary penalties by a team that doesn’t have as much going for them, that is growing increasingly desperate as the series gets away from them. This group has shown as resilient and adaptable time and again this season, but this is going to be one of their biggest tests, to date. They’re in the driver’s seat here, and whether they stay there is completely in their hands.
Power play gaining speed
But, for their own part on the flip side, the Flyers’ power play unit stepped up for them in a big way, just when they needed it most. For all of the struggles that they had through the first pair of games to get their units clicking, to sustain pressure in the offensive zone and create dangerous chances in bulk — and, indeed, some struggles that they had in these very same areas at 5-on-5 through the early goings last night — the Flyers took a marked step forward in their play on the man-advantage in this third game of the series. They didn’t see heaps of opportunities laid before them to see what their power play could do (just three chances across the whole of that penalty bespotted affair), but they made the most of what they were given.
Across those three attempts — during which the Flyers played 2:44 — they looked right from the jump noticeably sharper, moving the puck around with more urgency and purpose and making things much more challenging on the Penguins penalty killers. And for that work, too, they were rewarded well — they generated nine shot attempts and six scoring chances, really testing Stuart Skinner, and indeed getting the better of him, as they picked up two huge goals from Trevor Zegras, for an at-the-time game-tying goal.
Z TEES IT UP. #PITvsPHI | #IgniteTheOrange pic.twitter.com/Y6Im3R8OMZ
— x – Philadelphia Flyers (@NHLFlyers) April 23, 2026
And later another from Noah Cates, what would become the insurance goal.
Noah's Spark. 💥#PITvsPHI | #IgniteTheOrange pic.twitter.com/AaM4e2Cv7H
— x – Philadelphia Flyers (@NHLFlyers) April 23, 2026
This made for a couple of big moments in the game itself, but it was also a major boost for the Flyers for their power play situation broadly — they’d put in some really good work through the final week and change of the regular season to get rolling and producing again, but they had really struggled to get much of anything going throughout the first two games of this series. It’s been a process building to this moment, and the players have certainly felt the weight of it.
“[We] kind of struggled a little bit the first couple games,” forward Trevor Zegras acknowledged after the game. “Thought we had some good looks, but obviously just didn’t capitalize. So, nice to see one go on the power play.”
The recipe for success in this series for the Flyers has always been somewhat complicated, requiring a number of elements, but a piece of particular importance was the need to find a way to get their power play going again. There’s still certainly room for improvement here, but the team saw quite clearly last night how much of a boost a working power play can give — their even strength scoring is still plugging along, but the effectiveness of their power play effectively allowed them to erase the mistakes made on the penalty kill, and that was a key factor in securing that win.
For a young team like this, a playoff series is a learning experience, and even if they haven’t been perfect, it’s been encouraging to see them developing and coaxing more out of certain areas of their game as they go. It’s making for a well-balanced approach to their team game, and if they’re able to keep this rolling, while shoring up a couple of other trouble spots along the way, they can find themselves in a prime position to make things interesting as these playoffs continue.
All stats via Natural Stat Trick and the NHL.
