Five days into 2025 the Flyers have yet to play a home game, as they have been on the road since December 23rd. They played the Penguins before heading west to take on the Ducks, Kings, Sharks, and Golden Knights going 2-3 over that stretch. The Flyers last outing resulted in a 5-2 loss to the Golden Knights, a team currently sitting atop the league standings with 57 points. Sam Ersson suffered an injury in the second period of the game against the San Jose Sharks and has since been listed as day-to-day. This is Ersson’s third injury of the season despite only being 39 games into the season. Aleksei Kolosov and Ivan Fedotov will split the goaltending duties for now.
Upcoming Schedule
The Flyers have a home and home over the next two games against the Toronto Maple Leafs as they will return home on January 7th to kick off a four-game homestand. Three out of the four games are against Stanley Cup contenders as the Dallas Stars and Florida Panthers come to town after the Maple Leafs. The odd team out over that four-game stretch is the Anaheim Ducks, which has a special draw if you are a Flyers fan. Former Flyers 5th overall pick, Cutter Gauthier returns to the Wells Fargo Center for the first time since he demanded his trade from the organization. It will be just a few days since the first anniversary of Gauthier being traded, in which the Flyers received Jamie Drysdale and a second-round pick back in the deal. Between the three-cup contenders and Gauthier making his return to Philadelphia, the four-game homestand will be an entertaining one for Flyers fans.
Looking Ahead
The Flyers have played 39 games and are just two games away from being at the exact midway point of the NHL season. They are 17-18-4 and are currently only two points out of the final wild-card spot. They are a young team that has a foundation to compete but are still a year or two away from being a threat in the Eastern Conference. The biggest question mark about this team is the goaltending. With Ersson being hurt again and inconsistent play from both Kolosov and Fedotov, one of the three has to be able to produce for the Flyers. Hopefully, Kolosov and Fedotov will be able to keep the Flyers in games until Ersson can come back and stay healthy.
The play of Matvei Michkov during the second half of the season is what intrigues me the most about this Flyers team. Recently Michkov has cooled down and his time on ice has been cut by head coach John Tortorella. Michkov is still getting acclimated to the NHL level especially playing an 82-game season. I don’t hate the idea of Tortorella giving Michkov a rest once in a while. Having Michkov here with the Flyers this soon was not expected so just the fact he is here and playing in the NHL is a huge win for the organization.
Travis Konecny has been the Flyers’ most complete player this year as he has 18 goals and 25 assists on the year tallying 43 total points. Along with Michkov the play of Konecny is also something to watch in the second half. Konecny’s career high for points in a season came last year when he tallied 68 points which he is on pace to beat this year. I expect a strong second half of the season from the veteran who has become a key staple of this Flyers team.
One More For the Road
The Flyers close out their long road trip tonight by taking on a great Toronto Maple Leafs team who currently sit in first place in the Atlantic division with a 25-13-2 record this year. The Leafs will have superstar goalscorer Auston Matthews in the lineup tonight, marking his second game back after suffering an upper-body injury. John Tortorella announced that Ivan Fedotov will get the start in net. The Flyers need to try and find a rhythm and string together some wins against some very tough competition in the upcoming week.
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