Flyers head coach Rick Tocchet has seen his share of playoff hockey in Philadelphia. So he knows just how fanatical the city can be when the Flyers begin any post-season. But to see the club secure a playoff spot in this roller coaster season in his first year as coach seemed to be hit him differently. Tocchet and his staff embraced immediately after the Flyers won the 3-2 shootout, and he probably felt like hugging every one of the 20 players who earned the victory.
“I was emotional, I didn’t talk very much,” Tocchet said in the post-game presser on Monday night. “It’s just I’m really proud of those guys just from training camp. It actually motivated some of the guys we actually put up a pre-season prediction and a lot of you guys, a lot of people had us last. I put it up to make those guys understand the position we were in, it was all them. I’m really proud of the way they stuck with it through training camp.”
Brotherly Belief. pic.twitter.com/nABCPxkp01
— Philadelphia Flyers (@NHLFlyers) April 14, 2026
As previously reported, the team wasn’t given much of a chance to do anything when experts filled out their predictions. The Flyers were closer to a lottery team than a playoff team, or at least a year or two away from playoff hockey. Yet here they sit, defeating Carolina who put up a good fight despite going without six regulars from the lineup.
“It was a tough game, Carolina is a tough team. I know they had six or seven guys out but they didn’t give in. We had to earn it and we did. Yeah we’ve come from behind a lot this year, so there’s a lot of fight in this team. Obviously to be down 2-0, a power play goal that was beautiful, to get that, that really helps. So a lot of good things happened for us.”
West Coast trek a turning point
Both Tocchet and center Trevor Zegras pointed to the three-game West Coast trek in March as a pivotal point in the Flyers surprise sprint to the playoffs. The Flyers defeated Anaheim, Los Angeles, and San Jose over four days, sweeping the trip and giving the club a bit of swagger while still being focused.
“Yeah, well I just saw a real grind attitude,” Tocchet said. “You could just tell like, even when we won the next day at practice guys were like, ‘Hey we’re going to dinner.’ It was very even keel and I was talking to the coaches after the second game we won, a tough back-to-back, I said, ‘Man these guys are starting to feel it.'”
“Yeah the California trip was good, it was good to us,” Zegras said after Monday’s game, laughing when reflecting on the trip. “Good team bonding for sure.”
“We knew we had to have a big push here. I liked our start, but that California trip really turned us around,” winger Owen Tippett said. “Any time you go on a trip like that there’s a lot of behind-the-scenes stuff that nobody sees. You come together as a group and to sweep that trip it put a lot of belief back in this room. I think that was a turning point for us.”
The Flyers made the playoffs after sitting nine points out of the second Wild Card spot on March 10. Per NHLStats, Philadelphia became the first team in NHL history to make the playoffs after facing that large of a point deficit through 60 or more games played in a season. pic.twitter.com/Ln429yNLqX
— Flyers Media Information (@FlyersMediaInfo) April 14, 2026
Foerster rewarded with clutch goal
With the Flyers in the fourth round of the shootout, and still looking for their first tally, winger Tyson Foerster stepped on the ice. Foerster missed over half the season with a shoulder injury that many thought would be season-ending. However, he put in the work and scored, putting the Flyers into a playoff matchup against the Pittsburgh Penguins. It was something both Zegras and Tocchet said seemed just.
“I mean honestly it’s a testament to him,” Zegras said. “To go out with that injury and to work as hard as he did to come back and have that moment was incredible.”
“I’ll be honest with you, I didn’t think he was going to come back,” Tocchet said of Foerster. “You had the target dates but he was determined. A lot of lonely days for him working out so I mean he just adds that sniper to us, that’s a hell of a goal. Didn’t seem like there was a lot of room there and the goalie looked big. I don’t know how he found it but it was a great shot.”
Rick Tocchet tried to avoid any doubters
Tocchet said the team fed off the fans energy but the Flyers also managed to ignore a lot of the negativity surrounding where they were (and weren’t) supposed to be going this season.
“Yeah we really tried to block it out,” he said. “There’s a lot of negativity and sarcasm but we kind of grouped together and just believed. It’s hard because you have to have that thick skin and this is pro sports. I thought they did a really nice job of shielding that stuff and to believe in that sort of stuff. It’s been a lot of years, I feel for them.”
While giving kudos to a lot of the youngsters like Matvei Michkov (who scored), Zegras (who also scored), Porter Martone (who assisted on the Zegras goal), and Foerster, Tocchet said the focus now was to get some different guys into the lineup on Tuesday night and then start preparing for the Penguins in the opening round of the Stanley Cup playoffs. It’s a thought few outside the club had during the Olympic break. But here they are!
