The Philadelphia Flyers have needed to work on the power play for a very long time, and head coach Rick Tocchet knows that. So, he’s trying out some temporary solutions.
On Sunday against Boston, the Flyers had a 5-on-3 for nearly two minutes in overtime. It was a very low-risk option, but Philadelphia head coach Rick Tocchet went with five forwards for that power play. The collection of Christian Dvorak, Porter Martone, Travis Konecny, Trevor Zegras, and Tyson Foerster took the ice to go with an all-in approach in the prime opportunity to put the game away.
Of course, with a power play chugging along at 15.2 per cent prior to tonight’s game, nothing was guaranteed since the Flyers still remain dead last in the entire NHL. But Philadelphia won the important 5-on-3 faceoff, and made short, crisp passes. After Dvorak’s win, Konecny shoveled the puck to Foerster. From there Foerster, Zegras, and Dvorak made short effective passes, leaving almost nothing to chance to ensure the pass was clean and on tape. With Martone in the middle, Zegras delivered a pass to Dvorak who fed Martone. We all know how it ended, but eight passes in roughly 12 to 13 seconds before Martone touched it was refreshing. Some could rightly argue it’s much easier to make tape-to-tape passes against three defenders than four. But regardless, the Flyers executed.
This entire season has been painful when it comes to the power play. A lot of skating around, a lot more hesitation, and a hell of a lot more opportunities that failed miserably. But in the last week or two, Philadelphia appeared almost occasionally competent when it comes to executing a good power play, or at least getting good looks to score. Since March 29 against Detroit (the game the Flyers nearly blew a three-goal lead late), the power play has been 4-for-16, which is 25 per cent efficiency. It’s an extremely small sample size, but it has looked better. That is, when they are able to get into the offensive zone and set up, something that’s been arduous at best most of the year.
Flyers will prioritize power play this summer
Although he was stating the obvious with just five games left in the season, Tocchet acknowledged the power play doesn’t need just a simple tinkering heading into next year, but a complete tear down of sorts. He was quite pleased that the Flyers were able to win Sunday’s game in overtime. The power play goal, courtesy of Martone in the bumper position, was the icing on the cake.
“It’s great, it’s a little bit of a relief. I obviously didn’t like that second power play,” Tocchet said after the victory over Boston on Sunday. “So we got to change. That’s a deep-rooted thing we’re going to have to do this summer. I’m not going to worry about it now, we’ve got to band-aid it up. And that was a great goal. I wanted to get Porter out there and try to get Michkov, we’re going to have to change some stuff. But that’s for another conversation. I got to figure it out.”
When asked on Monday to elaborate on what band-aid solutions might be options this late in the season with a playoff spot on the line, Tocchet said it was basically a case of keeping it simpler and clearer.
“Probably less, like there’s some reads, I think we just got to limit our plays, our reads,” Tocchet said before the team made the trek to New Jersey for Tuesday’s game. “We’ve been talking much more about a shooting power play, but when you look at the video… And listen I’m not going to damper because I love the way the guys have been playing and where we’re at and where we’re trying to get to where we’re supposed to go. But there are seven or eight execution plays that you got to make. These aren’t plays, these are execution plays — a twelve-foot pass, body positioning to hold off a guy and then make a play. And throwing pucks away.”
The other aspect Tocchet was conscious of was knowing a lot of these younger Flyers have never been in this position before, certainly not at the National Hockey League level. Tight-checking, low-scoring games often hinge on an effective special team. With a playoff spot hanging in the balance, two or three power play goals in these last five tilts could be enough to get them into the dance. And with that comes a bit more emphasis on getting the power play from completely flatlining.
“Pressure maybe, I don’t know, we have to put people in these environments,” Tocchet said. “But obviously it’s been a sore point, it’s been a soreness for the last five or six years. So we really got to dive in, we know there are some certain things we’re going to have to get. But in terms of band-aids we’re probably going to have to lessen the reads. But now you got a Porter, hockey IQ. And Tyson’s in there. They just got back, but they’re going to help the hockey IQ of the power play I think, personally.”
Tocchet added Martone wasn’t hesitant to pipe up during the man advantages, discussing positioning with his teammates. “He was not afraid to say something, he was talking about the power play to some guys, ‘I’ll be here, you be here,'” the coach said. “I like that, a young kid like that doing that.”
Flyers unveil new power-play units, looking for solution
On Monday, the Flyers were tossing some more power play combinations together. Nothing featured using five forwards, but there were some tweaks as to the first and second units.
#Flyers practicing at XMA
— Jackie Spiegel (@jackiespiegel93) April 6, 2026
They’re working on the power play for a loooong time
Zegras-Drysdale-Martone-Cates-Foerster
Tippett-Dvorak-Konecny-York-Michkov
As you can see, the first unit featured Zegras, Martone, Foerster, Noah Cates with Jamie Drysdale as the lone defenseman at the point. Meanwhile, the second unit featured Dvorak, Konecny, Owen Tippett, Matvei Michkov, and Cam York on the point. Rasmus Ristolainen was taking a maintenance day so wasn’t there. If he’s good to go tonight, then obviously it’s most likely Ristolainen will be taking York’s spot on the second unit. Like most of the Flyers defensive unit, each of them have had moments where they’ve looked capable of doing the job. But far too often the defense hasn’t been able to get those shots through traffic for rebounds or dirty goals.
Clearly Martone as the bumper looks like the most logical spot for him. He’s big, he has great, quick hands, and he’s not afraid to get in the grill of the goaltender or the defense. Martone is possibly the closest forward the Flyers have come to having a Wayne Simmonds-esque weapon on the power play in ages. Or since Martone took that photo with Simmonds as a youngster. It might not be taking advantage of his shot from the corners which could also work, but for now it’s a body that is very hard to move. That’s a good thing.
The biggest aspect that should be focused on is speed once set up. The Flyers have constantly killed most of their own power plays one of two ways. If they can’t get it into the offensive zone to set up, they’ve made it easy on the opposition. Once they do set up, it’s crucial that the puck isn’t sitting on one stick for too long. Looking or waiting an eternity for a seam to appear seems a lost cause, so it’s much more effective to get it elsewhere, whether back up to the defenseman, or down low to possibly get it to the bumper. The fact both Foerster, Martone, and Alex Bump have all been capable of creating shots and taking them should be a huge help this last week of the regular season.
Clearly Tocchet and his coaching staff (assuming nobody is replaced given how bad the power play has been) have their work cut out for them in the summer getting this resolved. But for now if they are able to keep things simple and straightforward, it could be much more effective than how things have played out the first 70 games of the year. A band-aid is by no means a cure, but if it’s enough to stop the bleeding for five games, it’ll be worth it.
