The Flyers hosted the New York Islanders on Thursday night at the Xfinity Mobile Arena. This was the next to the last pre-season game of the 2025-26 season. Due to numerous cuts being made in the roster this week this is the closest thing to the opening night line-up that we have seen so far.
Things heated up right out of the gate. Sean Couturier was called for a tripping penalty giving the Islanders their first power-play just 1:05 into the match.
Holy Cow Christian Dvorak
At this point the Flyers pulled off a highlight real short-handed play that shocked the Islanders and pretty much everyone else in the Arena as well.
Christian Dvorak picked up the puck at the Islanders blue line. He put on the big push and power skated himself into a breakaway with the New York defense hot on his heels. Instead of taking the shot Dvorak passed the puck back between his legs to Travis Sanheim who was charging in right behind him. Sanheim fired the puck past Ilya Sorokin to give the Flyers the early lead. All eyes were glued to the jumbotron waiting to watch the replay.
It was a gigantic risk for Dvorak to take.. If you don’t pull off that blind back pass between your legs on a breakaway you are never going to hear the end of it. It truly was a thing of beauty. I did not have a set opinion on Dvorak before tonight but if he’s got the grapes to pull off something like that I’m intrigued to say the least.
Samuel Ersson got the start in net for the Flyers tonight and he looked both confident and competent during the opening period. He faced a couple of dangerous chances and handled them easily keeping the Islanders scoreless in the 1st period.
The Flyers took an early penalty in the second period as well and this time they weren’t so lucky. Maxim Tsyplakov to Maxim Shabanbov who deflected the puck past Samuel Ersson to tie the game at one. The Flyers have really made a habit of giving up odd man rushes in these pre-season games.
Confusing
The Flyers seemed to have an advantage over the Islanders all night long but kept failing to take advantage of it. The Islanders didn’t seem to have a whole lot going on yet they were outshooting the Flyers and the score was tied. To be honest there were a lot of things about this game that just didn’t seem to make sense.
Floodgates
Travis Konecny fired an absolute rocket through Ilya Sorokin from the top of the slot with 8:35 left in the middle period. It was TK’s first goal of the pre-season.
Not to be outdone six seconds later Anders Lee beat Ersson with a shot from the top of the right circle. Score tied again 2-2.
Christian Dvorak earned his second shorthanded breakaway of the night only to be stoned by Sorokin. Dvorak’s speed and determination were impressive. He made a great move but Sorokin was up for it. Dvorak was the standout of the night.
The Islanders took their first lead in this tilt with 3:23 left in the middle period. It was the result of a 2-on-0 shorthanded breakaway. Pageau to Pelech 3-2 Islanders. When the Flyers defense breaks down the holes are gigantic and the missteps are huge.
Noah Cates tied the score at 1:55. Tyson Foerster placed a perfect cross slot pass onto the stick of Cates who had all day and nothing but net to shoot at. Long second period, five goals, and twenty minutes to go.
Slog
The goals came to an abrupt stop in the 3rd period. The Flyers had a couple near tragic defensive indiscretions Ersson was there to put the fires out. This game kept losing momentum and intensity as the night wore on. Neither team seemed inspired to come up with the tie breaker. It was an odd dynamic.
I guess seeing many of the veterans all on the same roster gave hope that we would start to see things solidify. Maybe get a better glimpse of what’s to come. What we actually got to see was players who are a lock to make the team getting through the final exhibition games of a long pre-season.
Two of the players who have the most to prove at this point weren’t even in the line-up. Rodrigo Abols and Jett Luchanko are both battling for one of those final slots on the team and they both had the night off, though Luchanko did skate with the team at the pregame warm-up.
With 2:54 left in regulation yet another odd man rush led to the final New York goal. Duclair to Heineman. 4-3 Islanders.
With just under three minutes to go the Flyers eventually pulled their goaltender for the extra attacker but to no avail. New York hit the post of the open net. Jamie Drysdale had a fantastic long distance smack down of one attempt. The Isles hit the side of the net with another.
There seemed a lack of urgency in the final push. The Flyers would enter the zone and the Islanders would strip them of the puck and go for the hole in one attempt. More formality than frenzy. Another obligation fulfilled.
One week from tonight this team will be playing the season opener against the reigning Stanley Cup Champions.
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Well. At Least we will probably have a shot at McKenna or a legit 1C or 1D. Moving Zegras to 2C and Couturier and Cates staying bottom6 staples will be when this team is ready to compete.