In the final game before the Christmas break and in a second half of a back-to-back, the Flyers went into Chicago and came away with a wire-to-wire 3-1 victory over the Blackhawks. At the tail end of a brutal condensed schedule where the Flyers played 10 games in 17 days, the Flyers now head into the holiday break with the second highest points percentage in the East.
The Basics
First period: 10:17 – Travis Konecny (Trevor Zegras, Sean Couturier)
Second period: 11:13 – Noah Cates (Konecny, Jamie Drysdale) (PPG), 18:30 – Ryan Donato (Matt Grzelcyk, Artyom Levshunov)
Third period: 17:52 – Carl Grundstrom (Couturier, Rasmus Ristolainen)
SOG: 26 (PHI) – 21 (CHI)
Some Takeaways
Zegras extends point streak to 9
Another game, another impressive Trevor Zegras performance. We’re running out of superlatives to describe what the 24-year-old has been doing so far this season, particularly during the last nine games. With a primary assist tonight, Zegras has now notched 5 goals and 6 assists in his past nine games.
As to Zegras’s point tonight, it came off another primary assist in the first period. Fresh out of the box, Zegras executed a zone entry with Travis Konecny, found the puck below the goal line, skated the puck out towards the circle, and spotted Konecny backdoor for the goal. A quick, high-end passing play that we’ve become accustomed to with Zegras, as he continues to pace above a point-per-game so far in Philadelphia.
TK ft. TZ: A perfect collab.#PHIvsCHI | #LetsGoFlyers pic.twitter.com/wpFARZ02yW
— Philadelphia Flyers (@NHLFlyers) December 24, 2025
A power play goal!
With roughly 10 minutes left in the second period, the Hawks were whistled for too many men on the ice. On the ensuing power play, Noah Cates scored his ninth goal of the season on a scramble in front. The play, though, was all Travis Konecny, who made a nice move at the side of the net to get the puck to Cates for the goal. For Konecny, his two point night raised his point total to 33 points in 36 games, good for a 75 point pace over a full season. After a slow start for Konecny, his play as of late has really quelled a lot of concerns that were being raised about the player in the early goings of 2025-26.
TK put it on a platter. 🍽️#PHIvsCHI | #LetsGoFlyers pic.twitter.com/hi3o9P2TlZ
— Philadelphia Flyers (@NHLFlyers) December 24, 2025
In a game that didn’t have a whole lot going on, the Flyers’ special teams were a deciding factor on Tuesday night. The 11th ranked PK killed both Blackhawks power play opportunities, and the power play was able to come through on one of its four chances today. After scoring two power play goals on Saturday vs the Rangers, perhaps the Flyers power play is starting to find something as we inch closer to the halfway point of the season.
Barkey, Sanheim leave game
The bad news from tonight? The Flyers’ fun new forward Denver Barkey went down to injury in the second period, and didn’t come back for third period action. On a Flyers power play in the second, Barkey boarded a Chicago defenseman behind the net in the offensive zone, and Barkey received the worst of the ensuing scramble. Somewhere in that scramble, or on the initial collision itself, Barkey must have received some kind of injury along the way. Hopefully, pulling Barkey out of the game was merely a precautionary measure and he’s right back in on Sunday night.
To make matters worse, the Flyers’ most reliable and valuable defenseman also went down to an undisclosed injury in the third. After being hit up high in the offensive zone, Travis Sanheim went down the tunnel about halfway through the third period and didn’t come back. As a result, the Flyers rolled with 11 forwards and 5 defenseman the rest of the way, compounding the Flyers’ tiredness even further.
Low-event, sluggish hockey
Tonight’s game was about what you would expect from these two teams, considering the circumstances. A tired Flyers team on a back-to-back, in the last game before break, was never going to have a lot of energy tonight. Combine that with a terrible Blackhawks team that’s also without Connor Bedard and Frank Nazar? Well, you get the pretty sluggish, choppy hockey that was on display in Chicago.
In addition, the Flyers were able to keep the Hawks almost entirely to the perimeter, and remained very stingy in front of Ersson. As shown in the heatmap below (courtesy of Natural Stat Trick), the Hawks were doing very little against the Flyers’ defensive structure throughout the night. Lots of blocked shots, lots of takeaways, and lots of clogging up all the lanes that the Blackhawks attempted to find. In the end, it was a fairly strong road game for the Flyers.
Notes on Ersson
Overall, compared to a lot of previous Sam Ersson performances, this was a very strong game for the Swedish goaltender. Stopping 20 of 21 Blackhawks shots, anytime a goalie (especially this season’s version of Ersson) allows only one goal is a massive positive. The Ryan Donato second period goal is one Ersson probably wants back, but it’s hard to complain about Ersson’s overall night. In addition, with a tired Flyers team in front of him in the third period, Ersson came up large on numerous chances for the Hawks with a narrow 2-1 Flyers lead. Hopefully, Ersson can now head into the break on a high note, and begin to really improve as the second half of the season gets underway.
Holiday standings check
The Flyers just wrapped up a pretty brutal stretch of hockey, finishing a 10 games in 17 days stretch with a 4-2-4 record. Even with the four frustrating overtime/shootout losses, the Flyers being able to maintain a .600 points percentage is still impressive, and will go a long way towards keeping them afloat in the East playoff picture. Also, right out of the break, the Flyers will head West to play three of the worst teams in hockey – Seattle, Vancouver, and Calgary – and have a real opportunity to gain more in the standings.
After 36 games, the Flyers sit in second in the Metropolitan Division and second in the Eastern Conference in points percentage (.625). Even if they regress to a ~.590 points percentage, the Flyers’ spot in the playoffs should be booked come April. Long way to go, but the possibility of spring hockey at the Xfinity Mobile Center is undoubtedly increasing.
