There were no NHL hockey games scheduled on Friday, so on this beautiful Saturday morning everything is exactly as we left it on Thursday night.
Speaking of Thursday night the Flyers need to put that debacle in Detroit behind them ASAP. It was a 60 minute undisciplined scramble that allowed the Red Wings to pile on beating the Flyers 6-3. Hopefully that game was an outlier because this is no time for a skid. The Flyers have been a great bounce-back team after a loss as of late so let’s move on.
The team has been playing some real solid hockey since the Olympic break and have fought their way into the 3rd place position in the Metropolitan Division. If they can hold on that will be enough to get them into the playoffs for the 1st time since 2020.
The Flyers are “in control of their own destiny” which means if they win these last three games it doesn’t matter what any other team does, no one can catch them.
If they drop any of these games the situation could change rapidly. The Islanders are one point behind them, the Blue Jackets are two behind, and the Capitals are three behind. The margin of error is miniscule.
In their final three games the Flyers will face the Winnipeg Jets, the Carolina Hurricanes, and the Montreal Canadians.
Flyers vs Jets
The Jets are currently in 6th place in the Central Division with 82 points. Overall they are 35-31-12, but they are 7-2-1 in their last ten games. So they are on a bit of a roll. They are currently 3 points out of the final wild card spot in the West.
Winnipeg also has a few guys who can really light the lamp. Kyle Connor has 38 goals and 51 assists. Mark Scheifele has 34 goals and 99 points, bet he’d love to make that 100. Gabriel Vilardi will be looking for his 30th goal of the season. Defenseman Josh Morrissey has 41 assists.
Special teams
Special teams were the downfall of the Flyers in the loss on Thursday night. The Red Wings went 3-for-4 on the power-play and also scored a shortie. The Flyers were 1-for-6 with the man advantage.
The Jets power-play is ranked 23rd, their penalty kill is 19th. Not exactly a power-house, still the wise move for the Flyers is to just stay out of the box and keep things at 5-on-5 as much as possible.
Not sure who we’ll see between the pipes for Winnipeg tonight but Connor Hellebuyck is one of the options. He’s 4-1-0 over his last five starts.
Although the Flyers at 40-27-12 have a better overall record than the Jets this game is not a given, none of them are. The Jets also play in a very strong division so take that into consideration as well. All is not lost for the Jets just yet, they’re still fighting for a wild card slot. They’re going to play hard.
Hang in there baby
Flyers remain one of the hottest teams in the NHL since the Olympic break winning 14 of their last 20 games. They are currently in a playoff qualifying spot but they need to hold onto 3rd place in the Metro. Both wild card teams in the East, Boston and Ottawa, currently have more points than the Flyers.
Travis Konecny continues to be the Flyers points leader with 27 goals and 40 assists for 67 points. Trevor Zegras is right behind him with 25 goals and 66 points, a new career high. Owen Tippett leads the team in goals with 28. Christian Dvorak just reached a career high 50 points on the season.
Tyson Foerster rejoined the team the same night that Porter Martone made his debut. Foerster had been out due to injury since the beginning of December. Getting these two guys in the line-up down the stretch was like scoring a blockbuster trade without giving anything away.
When you see the way Martone has fit into this line-up it’s hard to believe he’s just 19 years of age and was playing college hockey in Michigan just weeks ago. He’s played six NHL games and has six points (2 goals 4 assists), multiple, multiple point games, and led the team in shots on goal three out of his 1st four games. The 6′-3″ power-forward was chosen by the Flyers #6 overall in the 2025 NHL draft. He’s come in with a bang!
Too early to say who we’ll see in the Philadelphia net. Samuel Ersson relieved Dan Vladar in the 2nd period on Thursday night stopping 12 of 14 shots. Vladar has been the Flyers MVP this season. Ersson has won 4 of his last 5 starts.
The Flyers just need to settle down and stick to the fundamentally sound style of hockey that put them in this coveted position.
Flyers vs Jets in Winnipeg tonight at 7 PM.
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