Whatever narratives you can make about this Flyers season thus far, you would have to admit that they have caught fire at the right time.
Their dramatic 2-1 win against the Bruins on April 5th allowed them to leapfrog the Islanders for the final Metropolitan division playoff spot, as the regular season winds to a close and the playoff race starts to thin out. And as they have started to really fine-tune Rick Tocchet style hockey, they may have gotten the biggest boost of all in the form of Porter Martone’s coming out party.
Porter Martone is the lift these Flyers needed
During the win against Boston, Martone had multiple shifts throughout regulation where he took center stage. In his 17:12 of ice time, Martone led the team in shots with five, and looked supercharged in moments, despite it only being his fourth NHL game.
It started with a bang, as Martone used a deft backhand touch pass to spring a streaking Christian Dvorak, who then opened the scoring with a snipe off the rush just under five minutes in.
The Porter Martone touch pass to Christian Dvorak 😮💨
— Flyers Nation (@FlyersNation) April 5, 2026
1-0 #FLYERS. pic.twitter.com/L97iXgIZpt
But even on shifts where Martone didn’t directly contribute to a goal, he was still entirely noticeable. One particular shift late in the third period stood out, where Martone streaked down the far side and snapped a shot that forced a good save from Joonas Korpisalo, then went back into his own zone to break up a tip-in chance by Elias Lindholm, before ripping a patented one-timer that was stopped by Korpisalo, and finishing off the dynamic shift by throwing a bodycheck on the hulking Nikita Zadorov.
It was the quintessential Porter Martone shift, showcased every single trait that makes him great, and set the stage for the biggest goal of the season.
After a Charlie McAvoy high-sticking penalty gave the Flyers a rare 5-on-3 opportunity in overtime, a face-off win allowed the puck to get worked down to Christian Dvorak, who centered the puck Martone who was stopped on the initial try, but calmly buried the rebound to give the Flyers a much-needed win.
MARTY McFLYER. pic.twitter.com/C2yTwVPZ6q
— Philadelphia Flyers (@NHLFlyers) April 5, 2026
The crowd exploded with a jubilation rarely seen over the last half-decade, as Trevor Zegras did his best Khabib Nurmagomedov impression, and applied a textbook rear-naked choke to the young rookie as the rest of the team streamed off the bench to mob him. While the return of Tyson Foerster is obviously a massive boost as well, the addition of Martone seems to be more than just another player on the ice. As his teammates watch him grow game-over-game, and he gets more and more into the fight with each passing shift, the team seems to galvanize around him. The way that Zegras reacted after the winning goal, and the rest of the team streamed off the bench, it seems like Martone may be the missing piece that this team needed to shake things up and give them a sense of unpredictability.
If the Flyers are ultimately able to secure a playoff spot and set up a playoff series, Martone gives the team an added dimension of unpredictability and depth that could catch a team off guard.
It isn’t fair to put all the pressure on Martone to be the difference-maker after he was playing in the NCAA just last month. But with every passing game, it’s seeming more likely that he may end up being that caliber of player.
