The Philadelphia Flyers were very good on this night. After choking on Saturday afternoon, the team rebounded with a great 5-2 victory against Vancouver, including two goals from the fourth line and an empty-netter by Matvei Michkov.
The basics
First period: No scoring
Second period: 13:13- Nikita Grebenkin (Emil Andrae, Rodrigo Abols)
Third period: 5:58- Carl Grundstrom (Nikita Grebenkin, Rodrigo Abols), 7:49- Christian Dvorak (Trevor Zegras, Travis Konecny), 13:05- Max Sasson (Conor Garland, Tyler Myers), 15:35- Owen Tippett (Cam York), 18:49- Matvei Michkov (Noah Cates), 19:42- Drew O’Connor (Zeev Buium, Elias Pettersson)
SOG: 39 (PHI) – 24 (VAN)
Some takeaways
Barkey’s home debut
Unlike his first game on Sunday, winger Denver Barkey began his second National Hockey League contest on the bench as the Flyers went with the line of Noah Cates, Bobby Brink, and Matvei Michkov. The opening minute didn’t see much oomph or moxie as Vancouver mustered a shot on goal. Fortunately, as has been the case all season, the line of Christian Dvorak, Trevor Zegras, and Travis Konecny got the puck on the other side of the redline, albeit briefly.
Barkey — paired with Sean Couturier and Owen Tippett — crashed the net early and took no guff from the rather taller Vancouver defender. And the line also drew the first power play of the night. Unfortunately, the power play must have been driving Tocchet nuts with not many quick passes but a lot of holding the puck. The one unit that did more was with Barkey in front of Demko and crashing the net again, nearly getting the rebound by the Vancouver keeper. His only miscue might have been late in the first where he got a slashing minor against Tyler Myers but the Flyers killed it off. After the first Barkey had a ridiculous 95.13 goals for percentage and a 71.43 Corsi For percentage.
Tippett to do!
Owen Tippett should visit Vancouver defenseman Tom Willander in the hospital after proverbially breaking the Canucks’ defender’s ankles with a deke at the blueline. Tippett blew by him and then zeroed in on Demko, lifting the puck high to regain Philadelphia’s three-goal lead late in the game. It wasn’t quite the Dallas goal from a few years ago, but it was dang pretty!
WHAT A BEAUTIFUL GOAL BY OWEN TIPPETT 🤩
— NHL (@NHL) December 23, 2025
📺: @SportsOnPrimeCA ➡️ https://t.co/93veFI9jrZ pic.twitter.com/payBXQQe1P
Tippett ended up with 10 shots on goal for the night. That’s a great night! The goal was just gravy.
Michkov ends the drought
Matvei Michkov got a lot of attention for a less than 30-second moment on the bench with the coaching staff. As the rather ridiculous molehill was crafted into a social media mountain the last few days, Tocchet’s pre-game presser tried to pour cold water on the brief bruhaha. Tocchet (who was coaching for the first time against his old team in the Western Conference), got the forward out early. Michkov’s first chance was rather low-percentage, coming from a nice little pass from Cates. But other than that, the shift seemed to mirror the game’s opening moments: very little action with the idea both teams were thinking more of the Christmas break than the game in front of them. The only notable thing Michkov did in period one was an attempt for a Michigan which ended as quickly as it started.
The second saw a few more chances for Michkov, including one late in the second that saw him trying to bang it home through Demko’s five-hole but didn’t have the luck. Given how he’s playing, it’s not a question of if but when he’ll break his goalless streak. Another late second period shot off the post was another good try. Finally, late in the third with Vancouver with the goalie pulled, the Flyers got control of the puck. Noah Cates passed it over to Michkov who fired home the empty-netter. It wasn’t the hardest goal he’ll score, but it is a huge monkey off his back finally lighting the lamp.
IT COUNTS. MATVEI MICHKOV ON THE EMPTY NET.
— Flyers Nation (@FlyersNation) December 23, 2025
5-1 #Flyers! pic.twitter.com/LO3bDwweBM
Konecny missing by just that much
It sounds like a broken record at times: Konecny on the doorstep with a tap-in. But somehow he whiffs or the puck goes wide. Halfway through the first, the winger had two prime chances. One saw Zegras right on Demko’s doorstep, but Zegras passed it back to Konecny who missed wide. The same thing happened on the power play, with a chance for him thwarted.
Vladar returns as fourth line awakens
Dan Vladar was day-to-day with an upper-body injury that caused him to miss the Rangers game Saturday afternoon. Thankfully the ailment wasn’t a huge issue as he was back in the lineup and starting against the Canucks. The start most likely means Sam Ersson starting Tuesday night against host Chicago, but first things first. Vladar didn’t have a whole lot of action. He had some good stops in the first but his biggest stop of the night was with about seven minutes left in the second where he stoned Max Sasson with a nice pad save. The save made a huge difference as Philadelphia scored seconds later when Nikita Grebenkin deflected a shot home to final break the double goose eggs. A goal by the fourth line? Yes! It’s a Christmas miracle!
Only a matter of time until the Flyers scored with the way they’d played so far. Nikita Grebenkin redirected Emi Andrae’s shot, 1-0 Flyers.
— Andrew Coté (@acote_88) December 23, 2025
Goal: Grebenkin (2) pic.twitter.com/lfK16Y8Uv6
And what could only be better than one goal by the fourth line? Well, another in the third period. Grebenkin carried the puck behind the net but fed a pass out to Carl Grundstrom. Grundstrom gave the Flyers a little cushion to make it 2-0.
The Flyers fourth line have both of their goals tonight. Nikita Grebenkin played the puck off the boards to himself and fed a pass out in front to Carl Grundstrom, 2-0 Flyers.
— Andrew Coté (@acote_88) December 23, 2025
Goal: Grundstrom (4) pic.twitter.com/B9RE6ZSCUs
Discipline decent
Dvorak seemed to be warned prior to being called for holding the stick to, er, stop holding the stick. He clearly didn’t, leaving the Flyers to kill the opening power play of the night. Rodrigo Abols tried to double his short-handed goal amount for the year during it but Demko was there to make the rather easy stop. Vancouver — who were faring well post-Quinn Hughes a man up — didn’t establish much offensive zone time, making the kill rather easy. Philadelphia’s second penalty was Barkey’s as mentioned above. The penalty had the advantage of being broken up by the intermission with Vancouver getting no quality looks on either side of it.
Overall, the Flyers played a good, fairly sound disciplined game. The result was a rather breezy, scrum-free contest that should help them heading into Chicago Tuesday night.
Shots shots shots
The Flyers had a lot of shots, brought a lot of traffic in front of Demko, yet couldn’t connect to opening the game’s scoring. Roughly 27 minutes into regulation, the Flyers had 19 shots to Vancouver’s seven. After 40 minutes, Philadelphia was nearing 30 shots for the game. Sadly, they were still only up one goal. The third started with a glorious chance by Zegras who had a pass threaded by Konecny. Zegras tried to outwait Demko but the bouncing puck didn’t help matters much.
After Grundstrom made it 2-0, the Flyers struck again quickly. This time the puck bounced high in the air off the glass and was falling just in front of the crossbar. Christian Dvorak got his stick on the puck to deflect it in. The officials initially called it off for a high stick. But on review they realized they were mistaken, giving Dvorak the goal, Zegras an assist to extend his point streak, and Philadelphia a lovely little 3-0 lead.
Christian Dvorak batted the puck out of mid-air perfectly. His stick was beneath the crossbar and he extended the Flyers lead to 3-0.
— Andrew Coté (@acote_88) December 23, 2025
Goal: Dvorak (8) pic.twitter.com/5GNtfI0sbA
Unfortunately, the Flyers had a brain cramp with just under seven to go. A bad line change put Max Sasson in behind the defense and he beat Vladar through the five-hole to make it a 3-1 game. And Vladar wasn’t happy with a late one in garbage time that made it 5-2. A win is a win, but the late goal probably left a little bit of a sour taste in his mouth.
