What Porter Martone’s first 3 playoff games are telling us

The quirks of the NCAA and NHL hockey schedules make it so that every once in a while, a promising prospect that’s been in a far off land, and only viewed sporadically in highlights and Reddit threads becomes tangible and real. Famously, Cole Caufield jumped from the college ranks in 2021 to the Montreal Canadiens and became a sign of the future on a team that made a shocking run to the Stanley Cup Final.

While the Philadelphia Flyers and Porter Martone have a ways to go before they could put themselves in that same conversation as Caufield and the Canadiens, the former first round pick has arrived and emphatically so. It’s one thing for a teenager to play in the Stanley Cup playoffs let alone make an impact.

There is such a reticence in the postseason amongst coaches to give young players an opportunity. Risk is poison to a hockey coach trying to stay alive until the next shift and the circumstances reset. But, to Martone’s credit, the 19-year-old isn’t treading water and occasionally having the waves crash down over his head before resurfacing.

No, through Martone’s first three NHL playoff games, the forward is confidently asserting his presence. Through the first three games of the series against the Pittsburgh Penguins, Martone is playing 15:35 time-on-ice per game. That’s the sixth highest workload of any Flyer forward in the series and firmly puts him in the team’s top six.

That in of itself is an accomplishment for both Martone and the Flyers alike. Of the 16 teams in the first round, Martone\'s 15:35 is the sixth highest average time on ice for the team\'s youngest forward in the playoffs.

Porter Martone\'s production speaks for itself

Yet, Martone isn’t just going through the motions and getting in cardio. The forward is building the foundation of his toolbox at the NHL level while playing well. In three games, Martone’s recorded 2 goals and an assist including the game winner in Game 1 on the road. In a series where offense was always going to be at a premium because of the conflicting styles between the Flyers and Penguins, Martone leads the Flyers in goals and both of them were at even strength.

Martone’s dominance at lower levels, 50 points in 35 NCAA games was a solid baseline, it’s another level of performance to jump immediately into the playoffs and be noticeable. Points at lower levels at hockey are a guarantee of future production, but they do demonstrate a competency for a good professional career.

Of course, being that Martone was the sixth pick in the draft, there was more of an expectation that he could just hit the ground running. This in particular is where the Flyers deserve a lot of credit as an organization. It would’ve been quite easy for Rick Tocchet to slow play Martone’s integration into the lineup because of his relative lack of experience and physical immaturity.

Instead, he’s been bolted to the second line and helped drive offense in a series where there isn’t a lot of space. Coming into the series, there was a reasonable expectation that the Flyers would have to rely on situational offense in support of strong team defense and goaltender Daniel Vladar.

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It’s not the most advantageous game situation, but the Flyers’ have been more than game to pick their spots and Martone’s play at 5-on-5 is a great example of that.

In the macro, the Flyers have outscored the Penguins 4-0 in Martone’s 38:12 at even strength. Going under the hood, the Penguins have a modest edge in scoring attempts (38-34) and shot attempts (17-13). But, peeling back the layers back, when it comes to expected goals (1.43-1.36) and high danger chances (5-5) the margins are a lot tighter.

So far, in Martone’s 12 total games, regular and postseason combined, the forward has registered 41 shots on goal and picked up six goals in the process. That 14.6 shooting percentage would be 4.2 percent better than the 2025-26 season league average of 10.4 percent. Obviously, Martone’s sample is on the smaller end, but it’s not unreasonable to suspect that the forward ends up being a career above average shooter.

That’s the perk of a player like Martone and his tantalizing potential. The more individually talented a single player is, the less they need to go right to help their team win. While Martone is being outshot ever so slightly when he’s on the ice, his shooting talent is good enough to outshoot that gap in possession.

It’s not the perfect circumstances, ideally the Flyers would be controlling possession thoroughly in his minutes and using it as an opportunity to run up the margins. But, for a kid in his first taste of playoff hockey against a bitter rival, the Flyers will take him flashing brilliance as he for all intents and purposes gets his feet under him at the NHL level

Talking Points