With the score tied, the Flyers had two opportunities to take the lead, or possibly score the game-winning goal. They failed on both occasions. Unfortunately, given how little the Flyers have been successful the last handful of seasons on the power play, you could point to any one of literally dozens of games Philadelphia has played from 2023-24 to now to see just how inept that special team has been. It just so happens that the most recent example of that ineffectiveness was Saturday night against Columbus.
Primarily all of a four-minute power play opened up the third period. And Philadelphia did nothing. No truly crisp passing you’d see from teams who are in the middle of the league rankings regarding the power play. Generally a lot of safe passes around the perimeter that led to not grade-A scoring chances. It was as if the Flyers were killing the Blue Jacket penalty themselves. To put it in perspective, Philadelphia has scored 12 power play goals this calendar year in 84 opportunities for a 14.3 per cent effectiveness. They’ve scored multiple power play goals once in 2026.
One of the biggest knocks against John Tortorella and his coaching staff, namely assistant Rocky Thompson, was that the power play was terrible. A new coach and staff with new ideas would thankfully get the power play off the ground. Or at least put it somewhere in the top 20. That was the idea when head coach Rick Tocchet and assistants Jay Varady and Jaroslav “Yogi” Svejovsky were hired. Fresh blueprints, new concepts, and a much better power play. Toss in Trevor Zegras into the mix and things were bound to get better, right? Well, we know the answer. And it’s something that the coaching staff, 66 games in, seem to have no logical explanation for.
“We got to develop some chemistry, you know,” Tocchet said after Philadelphia’s 2-1 shootout loss to Columbus on Saturday night. “Talking to Yogi and Jay and being here our first year. Obviously it’s been an issue here for years, so we got to find chemistry with some people. And that’s been a problem, to be honest with you. but saying that, they’re in the meetings, they’re understanding some certain stuff, but then in real time, we freeze under pressure. You know you want to turn these guys into a box, and that means the middle shot has got to be open, or at least two-on-one. And we’re missing those opportunities. Like it happened against Minnesota in the four-on-three, we’re on the wrong side of the setup that Jay wanted.”
If the Flyers were clicking at the league average or the median for all 32 teams on the power play, they would probably be a lot closer to locking up a playoff or wildcard spot now versus being on the outside looking in. And needing to jump over a few teams, scoreboard watch, and win most of their games in regulation. However, the reality is the Flyers are dead last on the power play. It’s something that has to be in the back of the first unit’s and second unit’s mind whenever they get the chance to score with the man advantage.
Tocchet says he understands the frustration. He also says that it’s important for the players to get some confidence. How one gets confidence from a power play that appears light years from being even mediocre is anyone’s guess. But it’s probably something that is going to have to be addressed with an influx of new talent (Porter Martone to go with Matvei Michkov, Denver Barkey and Alex Bump?) and each playing wiping the slate clean. Whatever happens, the Flyers aren’t going to go far at any point with a power play that is so bad the Flyers might consider taking a penalty on the same play to make it four-on-four.
“So these are just things that we’re going to have to go through and keep teaching,” Tocchet added. “How do you give them confidence? Got to keep working on practice, try different things. I know it’s a rinse and repeat, I get that. But that’s the thing we have to come up with and get some juice for some guys. Some guys get dejected too early and too easily and you can’t. You got to have that power play, regardless if you’re 0 for 5, you get that sixth power play with three minutes left, you got to have that confidence to put it away. So it’s on us to give those guys confidence.”
That would be true if the Flyers were able to score more than once every seven to eight times. It’s not just a slump. A slump is a three-week or four-week span. This is now closing in on a 156-week span. And something has to change. Perhaps going younger is an option, as Barkey, Bump, Michkov (and Martone) in 2026-27 might be able to help Owen Tippett, Zegras, and Travis Konecny become better finishers. As it stands now, the power play is essentially making the Flyers short-handed, which is quite damning.
