The Philadelphia Flyers won their season-opening meetup with former captain Claude Giroux and the Ottawa Senators, a 5-4 overtime thriller. It was a back-and-forth effort that the Flyers led 1-0, trailed 4-2, then ultimately prevailed in.
Philadelphia was outshot 37-19, but that didn’t stop them from coming out on top. Travis Sanheim opened the scoring with assists from Emil Andrae and Garnet Hathaway to make it 1-0, but that’s where things went the other way.
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Ottawa’s Brady Tkachuk knotted the game up, while Drake Batherson’s power-play one-timer made it a lead. Travis Konecny struck to tie the game again heading into the third period, but Josh Norris’ dagger 4:27 into the final frame made the Flyers start back at square one. Adam Gaudette’s power-play goal made it 4-2 and put the game out of reach with less than 10 minutes to go.
Well, that was until Anthony Richard’s marker to make it interesting. Shortly after, Richard came down the wing with a rebound-creating shot that went to Bobby Brink, who scored and tied it 4-4. The Flyers survived and forced overtime.
In the extra frame, the Flyers spent a lot of time in their own zone. When they finally got out, rookie Matvei Michkov got on the ice and made his presence felt. Courtesy of a Konecny dish, he placed a perfect shot past Senators netminder Linus Ullmark from an impossible angle. That’s the first game-winning goal of his career.
With the recap aside, what were some takeaways from the night?
Fedotov Growing More Comfortable
For a while, the Flyers’ backup goaltending has been their Achilles’ heal. Good starts from their non-Samuel Ersson netminders have been rare, which greatly attributed to the team’s collapse last season and their sluggish start this go around, as well.
Ivan Fedotov, who signed a $3.275 million cap-hit contract to be the Flyers’ backup for the next two seasons, was at risk of losing his job after three worrying starts in 2024-25. He didn’t seem like an NHL goalie, so the Flyers went into action by calling up 22-year-old Aleksei Kolosov from the American Hockey League (AHL). An injury to Ersson gave Fedotov one final chance on Nov. 7, and he took advantage with a 2-1 shootout win over the Tampa Bay Lightning. Tonight (Nov. 14), another ailment to Ersson allowed Fedotov to do it again. He didn’t exactly follow that effort up with an elite one on paper, but he faced some tough shots and turned aside 33 of the 37 he saw.
The Flyers can now have confidence when Fedotov is in their net. The 27-year-old’s positioning has been a lot better and he has looked eons more comfortable than he did just a couple of weeks ago. It wasn’t his night if you just look at his save percentage, but he gave an otherwise uncooperative defense a chance.
Konecny on His Patented Early-Season Heater
In recent seasons, Konecny has played his best right when a new campaign gets going. On a five-game point streak and up to nine goals and 10 assists for 19 points in 16 contests, he is in peak form.
Konecny’s breakaway tally to even the score at 2-2 is the perfect example of what he can do when things are clicking. His general inconsistencies scoring-wise make it so his season-ending point totals don’t tell the full story (in his recent past, at least). He can completely change the outcome of a game, so he has an immense impact on the Flyers’ success.
Foerster Stays Snakebitten
Wait, weren’t we here this time last season? Tyson Foerster can’t buy a goal right now despite having a can’t-miss chance tonight. Goals and points evaded him in the first half of his rookie campaign, and we’re seeing the same thing now.
The 22-year-old has just two goals and three points in 16 games. You want a first-round pick who had some sleeper Calder Trophy love (107 votes) to be more than a forgettable bottom-six presence, but that’s all that Foerster has been. While not having star linemates isn’t helping, he hasn’t earned the right to play with someone like Konecny or Michkov.
It’s obviously not time to give up on him, but Foerster wasn’t exactly a dynamic threat for the Orange and Black last season, either. The Flyers are in desperate need of some offensive upside—he’s just not a player who has brought that. Once he gets out of his rut (an inevitability), hopefully, he can play how he did toward the end of his previous campaign, which saw him hit the 20-goal mark despite only having four at its mid-point.
Richard Might Be Here to Stay
The Flyers have a bit of a dilemma. With injuries to Cam York and Jamie Drysdale, they’ve been able to try out some AHL players on their NHL roster in the meantime. One of those has been Andrae, who has been terrific. The other is Richard, one of the team’s free-agent signings from the 2024 offseason.
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Richard, a 27-year-old with 28 NHL games to his name, worked hard to make a good impression on the Flyers in training camp. He performed well in the preseason but didn’t make the team because he never had much of a chance to begin with—he was mostly acquired for AHL firepower. Injuries and low-quality performances from the forwards on the team gave him a shot, and he hasn’t looked back.
Not to pile on, but Richard has more points (4) than Foerster does in 12 fewer games. At this point, it’d be hard to send the speedy forward back to the AHL.
When York and Drysdale return, though, a choice has to be made. They have three netminders on the main roster, so one of them will be sent down almost definitely. But then, either Andrae or Richard, who have performed well, or an NHL regular will have to be sent to the AHL. Anything can happen—both of them have been so good that they have earned the right to stay.
Although they still have a subpar 7-8-2 record, the Flyers are back to the no-quit attitude that kept them alive last season. It’s inspiring to see their hard work. They’ll look to make that work pay off again in their next contest where they face the Buffalo Sabres at Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia on Nov. 16.
