The Philadelphia Flyers and Washington Capitals couldn’t have entered Wednesday night coming off more different games. The Capitals crushed the Calgary Flames on home ice on Monday, putting up a seven-spot on the scoreboard. That was almost as badly as the Flyers were gashed that night by the New York Rangers, as the 16th-place team in the Eastern Conference scored three goals in each of the first two periods for a runaway win.
So, naturally, the script flipped on Wednesday. In a battle of playoff long shots, the Flyers got the better of a Capitals team that has given them fits the last few seasons. Led by their top-six forwards and a solid effort from Sam Ersson between the pipes, Philadelphia picked up a 4-1 win over their Metropolitan Division foes to at least steady their ship.
A Much-Needed Response
March has been full of misery for the Flyers over the last few seasons. From the high-profile healthy scratching of Sean Couturier in 2024 to the blaze that John Tortorella went out in last season, the Flyers have often been at their worst when the games matter the most. That was certainly true in their last game, an ugly 6-2 loss to the fledgling New York Rangers that was over alarmingly quickly after puck drop.
Ideally, a team with a culture as strong as the Flyers believe they’re building wouldn’t allow a game like Monday’s to happen, but at a minimum, they would bounce back if it did. It wasn’t a great start, with the Flyers doing little with a pair of first-period power plays and not generating much overall in the opening 20 minutes.
However, they also didn’t give up much, either (high-danger chances were 3-3, per Natural Stat Trick). It felt like they struck a better balance in the second period, even if the numbers don’t necessarily bear that out. They didn’t do much at 5-on-5 in the third period, but Jamie Drysdale scored a big goal at 4-on-4 to give them a fairly comfortable lead before the game’s waning moments.
The Flyers didn’t necessarily need to win this game to avoid another spiral, but they needed to be much more competitive than they were against the Rangers. Mission accomplished.
Tantializing Tippett
Owen Tippett‘s top ten or so games each season are always worth watching, and this one should probably qualify for that shortlist. He made the first noteworthy play of the night for the Flyers when he breezed past the newest Washington defender, Timothy Liljegren, for a partial break. Liljegren was forced to take a holding penalty that could’ve easily been a penalty shot on a night where the whistles rarely favored Philadelphia.
That wasn’t the extent of his output, though. He fired a couple of dangerous shots in the second period and made his play of the game with two quick one-touch passes to spring Zegras for the game-winning goal. In the third, he turnstiled Liljegren again, this time getting the shot off, only for Logan Thompson to stay with him, as he did following a crafty backhander set up by a through-the-legs maneuver. Fittingly, he also made the last noteworthy play of the night with an empty-netter in the final minute.
It wasn’t all perfect; the usually trigger-happy Tippett had an egregious overpass when he tried to sift the puck to Drysdale on his right despite having possession in the slot with a chance to fire. Even with that, his five shots on goal were a team-high. He and linemate Carl Grundström were the only Flyers on the ice for more shot attempts than they allowed at 5-on-5, too. The usual caveats about wishing for more consistency always apply, but it’s worth appreciating Tippett for what he is on nights like this.
Konecny Back to Making an Impact
Travis Konecny returned from a season-high three-game absence due to injury (he was also sidelined on Jan. 10) on Monday and understandably looked a bit rusty. But he was able to get back on track on Wednesday, providing a much-needed spark after a sleepy first 24 minutes. He slipped a wrist shot through the five-hole of Thompson to tie the game early in the second period for arguably the first meaningful goal at Xfinity Mobile Arena since he set up Drysdale’s game-winner on Feb. 28.
There was a lot of hype in the first half of the season about whether Zegras could maintain his point-per-game pace, which hasn’t been the case. While he delivered an electric goal on a high-flying rush with Tippett to give the Flyers the lead in the second period, he’s fallen to 53 points in 64 games. That still puts him on pace to exceed his career-high of 65 points, just not as dramatically as he was two months ago.
However, Konecny has somewhat quietly taken the point-per-game mantle from him. His goal last night gives him 24 on the season and 58 points in 60 games. While Konecny was a point-per-game player in 2022-23, he missed a quarter of the season due to injury, finishing with 31 goals and 61 points in 60 games. He set his career highs in both categories in 2023-24, when he played 76 games, and could eclipse both (especially his points record of 68) by season’s end.
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It’s been an interesting season for Konecny. On one hand, he’s top 20 in the NHL in points per 60 (min. 300 minutes) with the best 5-on-5 goals for percentage among all regular forwards on the Flyers. On the other hand, he’s near the bottom in expected goals per 60 while being phased out of the regular penalty kill rotation.
What’s Next?
A quick turnaround, that’s what. The 7:30 p.m. puck drop on Wednesday must be especially annoying for the team, as they have a late-night flight out to Minnesota for a showdown on Thursday with the Wild.
The Flyers actually only have two stretches with more than one road game remaining on their schedule â the annual California road trip next week and a three-game swing to New Jersey, Detroit, and Winnipeg in the first full week of April. But they do have three back-to-backs left (including all of this one), all of which have travel, and two of them require the Flyers to play each leg in a different time zone. Maybe they can borrow the espresso shot celebration from Italy’s World Baseball Classic team if they need a boost.
