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Some takeaways from Flyers 4-3 overtime win over the Rangers

The Flyers overcame a 2-0 deficit to defeat the Rangers in an entertaining 4-3 overtime win Friday night in game one of the Rookie Series.

Posted on by Jason MacNeil
David Kirouac-USA TODAY Sports

The Flyers survived two quick goals on New York’s first two shots to defeat the Rangers in a 4-3 overtime win, one highlighted by a few of the fine prospects the Flyers have on the horizon.

The basics

First period: 3:58 – Brennan Othmann (Noah Laba, Scott Morrow), 4:34 – Dylan Roobroeck (Scott Morrow)
Second period: 3:07 – Denver Barkey (Tucker Robertson), 6:16 – Alexis Gendron (Karsen Dorwart) (SHG), 13:29 – Raoul Boilard (Bryce McConnell-Barker, Artem Gonchar)
Third period: 10:02 – Jacob Gaucher (Devin Kaplan)
Overtime: 0:57 – Nikita Grebenkin (Karsen Dorwart, Ethan Samson)
SOG: 35 (PHI) – 24 (NYR)

Some takeaways

No Bonk, Moline, Quinn

The Flyers didn’t dress three skaters: forward Nathan Quinn, defenseman Austin Moline and defenseman Oliver Bonk. Bonk is expected to play Saturday afternoon but his absence looked to be felt somewhat on the backend. The Rangers didn’t really hem the Flyers in their own end much in the first period, but the blueline wasn’t able to establish much in terms of transition early on, simply content to get the puck out and let the forwards try to win one-on-one battles. However, as the game unfolded, Bonk’s absence seemed to be less of a factor. He should get into Saturday’s game but time will tell.

Slow start

The Flyers had the first shot on goal of the game but the opening moments were a feeling out process between both sides. Alex Bump, on a line with Samu Tuomaala, made a nifty pass towards the slot early but no Flyer was there to take advantage. That shift was followed up by another decent one featuring Jacob Gaucher centering Denver Barkey and Devin Kaplan.

Perhaps the biggest chance for the Flyers was late in the first when Bump was fed a pass by Tuomaala who was stopped by Rangers goalie Hugo Ollas.

Power play pleasurable

The Flyers got their first power play in the second period. The first unit featured Ethan Samson as the high man with Bump and Barkey also buzzing around. Unfortunately for Philadelphia, a Samson shot from the point beat Ollas but hit the iron.

On the second power play, Bump and Barkey were electric, making fantastic and crisp quick passes all over the ice to get prime scoring chances. In short, the Flyers might have had three or four power plays like that all of last season. Combined. Although there was some carryover time into the third, Philadelphia lost the opening faceoff of the third and the Rangers easily killed the remaining 25 seconds.

Carson’s iffy start

Carson Bjarnason had a bad start to start the game. The Flyers’ early momentum went up in smoke when the Rangers Brennan Othmann scored on Flyers goalie Carson Bjarnason through the wickets for a 1-0 lead. And shortly thereafter, Bjarnason again looked a bit leaky as the shot by Dylan Roobroeck from the boards somehow found its way between his arm and body to give New York a quick 2-0 lead before the game was five minutes old. Not a great confidence boost.

Minutes later, the Flyers needed to kill a roughing penalty to Gaucher to keep themselves from getting into a hole. Fortunately the newly acquired Tucker Robertson was fine on the kill, making a nice transition play to give himself a decent shot. For the most part, the Flyers seemed to insulate Bjarnason a bit more in their own zone as the keeper steadied himself the rest of the opening frame.

The second period wasn’t a busy one for Bjarnason but he gave up his third of the night, this one a tie-breaker as Raoul Boilard snapped a wrister high over Bjarnason to give the Rangers a 3-2 lead. He made some important saves down the stretch in the third, especially on an odd-man break for New York that he managed to get a piece of. And strong stops came on Gabe Perreault midway through the third. Overall he showed composure after a shaky start.

Barkey has some bite

Denver Barkey had a decent opening period, racing hard down the ice for a scoring chance to try and cut the lead in half. But the pass was too far ahead of him to get good wood on it. Barkey hit paydirt in the second with a great shot that eluded Ollas. Barkey was the recipient of a fantastic cross ice pass from Robertston, finishing with a shot that cut the deficit in half.

Late in the second Barkey beat defenseman Scott Morrow and almost beat Ollas on what would’ve been a pretty tying goal.

Nifty Nesbitt

Forward Jack Nesbitt opened the second period with a subtle body check behind the net prior to getting a good scoring chance early. Once again the line of Nesbitt, Bump, and Tuomaala were making things happening, just not capitalizing from their hard work. He also threw a nice reverse hit early in the middle frame as the Flyers began to get their game going.

A turning point of sorts took place after a slashing penalty to Andre Mondoux about five minutes into the second. The Flyers went up ice and Karsen Dorwart looked to have a glorious chance to score, as did Alexis Gendron. But it looked like he hit the post. Moments later, officials determined Gendron’s shot went in, tying things up 2-2.

But back to Nesbitt. The first thing you noticed with him is his size, and his ability to use that size to his advantage. After the Flyers first man advantage, Nesbitt went to the dirty area to get the go-ahead goal. He wasn’t successful but the Rangers had a very difficult time moving him from Ollas’ doorstep.

Big bodies

The Rangers seemed to be feeling pretty good taking the body a bit more to the Flyers although defenseman Ethan Samson was throwing his weight around. A lot of the Rangers big guys are massive, some pushing north of 6’4″ and 6’5″ like Nathan Aspinall and Roobroeck. However, the Flyers didn’t back down, with the Rangers Corbin Vaughan and Tuomaala got together. It was evident the two teams didn’t really like each other from the get-go.

Two minutes into the second Vaughan and Gaucher dropped the gloves with Vaughan seemingly getting the upper hand. The tussle seemed to energize the Flyers somewhat as Dorwart had a good shot that Ollas once again stopped. Later in the second, Vaughan and Sawyer Boulton went at it and Boulton filled him in quite nicely, clocking him with an uppercut that stopped Vaughan. Boulton then called out the Rangers bench before heading to the locker room.

Tuomaala makes most of it

Samu Tuomaala might have had the odds against him in terms of other draft picks ahead of him in the Flyers pipeline. Yet, he made the most of the first game on a line with Bump and Nesbitt. Whether he was the beneficiary of having two highly-talented linemates with him, or the fact he was making his own chances, Tuomaala was very good. He was especially fine on the second power play when he fed Nesbitt in close before having a stellar attempt himself. The Flyers were dominant in the second and it showed in the 20-6 shot advantage.

Gaucher gets equalizer

After two great saves from Bjarnason to keep the Flyers in it, Philadelphia tied things up on what looked like a nothing play. Devin Kaplan took the puck over the blue line and made a fine pass to an open Jacob Gaucher who beat Ollas clean to tie the game 3-3.

Nikita, I need you so

Just under a minute into overtime, Nikita Grebenkin made a great play and better shot in overtime, beat Ollas and giving the Flyers an exciting 4-3 victory in the opener.

Finally, kudos to Jason Myrtetus

Doing the color commentary for the Flyers broadcast, kudos to Jason Myrtetus who has had an incredibly arduous 2025 to say the least but is coming out the other side of things doing what he does best. All the best moving forward, my good man!

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