That’s two consecutive wins for the Philadelphia Flyers (30-36-9) under the leadership of interim head coach Brad Shaw.
Since Shaw took the reigns, the Flyers outscored opponents 13-8. They’ve hosted the Montréal Canadiens and the Buffalo Sabres (30-36-6), each in the bottom half of the NHL. Those teams aren’t a measuring stick for quality, but Philadelphia is between both clubs in the NHL Standings. It’s hard to ignore the spark shown on the ice.
At this point in the season, the Flyers are evaluating for next season. The to-do list grew after the NHL Trade Deadline, but progress in small steps remains crucial to the rebuild.
Today, many vital pieces of the future got onto the score sheet. Some players are advancing their game with an uptick in ice time. Philadelphia scored multiple powerplay goals versus the Sabres. The Flyers couldn’t score a powerplay goal throughout the month until these consecutive wins. Certain things are healing once Daniel Brière fired John Tortorella.
A lot of the lessons installed by Tortorella are still relevant in how Philadelphia plays, and it’s evident that the former head coach didn’t stunt the development of Matvei Michkov. In this two-game span, Michkov went on hat-trick alert twice. His chase to secure the 2024-2025 NHL Calder Memorial Trophy is alive and well.
“That line’s [Michkov, Couturier, Konecny] been a real good producer for the last little stretch of games. It’s easier to get them on the ice. I thought they overstayed a few of their shifts today and we sort of paid a price for that. At the end, sitting on two goals, I wanted to give him [Michkov] another chance and hopefully hit the inside of the post this time, but just didn’t work out.” – Brad Shaw; 3/29/2025
First Period
Shots: 12-6, Flyers
Score: 2-1, Flyers
One vital difference between the Flyers and Buffalo is the leadership in the front office. Brière is an absolute upgrade from what Philadelphia knew and, in comparison, levels above Kevyn Adams. Before him, the Sabres were a revolving door of top prospects, but comparably, there is a level of awareness and aggressive strategy Brière possesses instead of Adams. At the 2025 NHL Entry Draft, Brière collected eight picks in the first three rounds. Adams stayed put with the three picks already owned.
Michkov started the scoring. He elected to shoot on an odd-man rush featuring Travis Konecny, 1-0, with 14:33 remaining in the first period. He picked apart Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen, who struggled like Jakub Dobeš on Thursday.
Jakob Pelletier added to the lead. Owen Tippett drove in close on Luukkonen, centered a pass to the slot, and Pelletier scored his first goal with the Flyers, 2-0, with 14:04 remaining in the first period. Since receiving an uptick in minutes, joining a scoring line instead of remaining on the fourth line, Pelletier impressed in his audition with Philadelphia.
Jack Quinn answered for Buffalo. Sean Couturier settled toward the brief board battle between JJ Peterka and Nicolas Deslauriers. Behind Couturier, Quinn darted into the slot and scored on a centering pass from Peterka, 2-1, with 9:03 remaining in the first period.
Jiří Kulich served a minor penalty for slashing. Shortly after, Tyson Foerster served a minor penalty for boarding. Foerster killed the first powerplay for the Flyers, but the four-on-four even-strength was uneventful. The Sabres didn’t score on an abbreviated powerplay, either. At this point, Philadelphia went 0/1 on the man advantage and 1/1 on the penalty kill.
Called for boarding, Foerster had a better period than that moment suggests. His energy carried from Thursday. Foerster began with such a motor that it felt like he would break onto the scoresheet all game.
Second Period
Shots: 20-13, Flyers
Score: 4-3, Flyers
Peterka tied the game. Peyton Krebs got around Egor Zamula. Emil Andrae didn’t disrupt the passing lane from Krebs to Quinn. Quinn made the quick dish to Peterka on the crease for an easy tip-in, 2-2, with 18:19 remaining in the second period.
Rodrigo Ābols served a minor penalty for hooking. Sam Ersson wasn’t picking up the right-handed wrist shot to his blocker side, a location targeted by Buffalo in the second period. Quinn briefly gave the Sabres a lead, 3-2, with 11:47 remaining in the second period. The Flyers finished 1/2 (50%) on the penalty kill.
Konecny defended well in the neutral zone, generating a breakaway chance for Michkov. Michkov scored backhand, 3-3, with 9:24 remaining in the second period. At this point, Michkov went on hat-trick alert. On Thursday, Michkov hit the post on an empty-net chance, missing the hat-trick. The Wells Fargo Center will erupt when Michkov collects his first on home ice.
Noah Cates regained the lead for Philadelphia. His line, featuring Foerster and Bobby Brink, generally forecheck well. Foerster notched the assist due to the forecheck. Cates uncorked a wrist shot past Luukkonen, 4-3, with 5:49 remaining in the second period.
Third Period
Shots: 32-21, Flyers
Score: 7-4, Flyers
Krebs served a minor penalty for tripping. Similar to Foerster, Tippett was another skater who buzzed throughout this game. On this powerplay, Tippett took a lateral pass at the point from Olle Lycksell, rocketing a one-timer past Luukkonen, 5-3, with 13:21 remaining in the third period. The Flyers improved to 1/2 on the powerplay.
Foerster did score, after all. Brink used his vision on an offensive zone entry, executing a drop pass between his legs to Foerster. The nifty set-up allowed Foerster to uncork a slapshot past Luukkonen, 6-3, with 9:47 remaining in the third period. The Foerster, Cates, and Brink line thrived in the second half of this game.
Zach Benson served a minor penalty for high-sticking. Michkov lost the puck on the attack, and Alex Tuch danced around Brink before scoring a shorthanded goal, 6-4, with 4:55 remaining in the third period. Philadelphia felt every high and low imaginable on special teams.
“The powerplay getting a couple goals tonight and one last game; if you’re a goal scorer, you get energized by scoring. It’s a pretty fun bench right now. It’s a pretty fun environment. Nobody was happy about the shorthanded goal, and I’ll take all the blame for that for keeping five guys [forwards]. We talked about it. We knew they were going to be aggressive, and probably should have had one defenseman on the ice. I apologized to Ers [Ersson] for that. That goes into the ‘never do that again,’ category.” – Brad Shaw; 3/29/2025
Ryan Poehling did score on the powerplay, however. Cates drove the slot and dished a pass out to Poehling. Poehling improved the Flyers’ powerplay to 2/3 (66.6%), 7-4, with 4:26 remaining in the third period. A depth scorer worth holding onto, Poehling hasn’t cooled down from his hot streak.
Up Next
Next, the Philadelphia Flyers host the Nashville Predators on Monday at 7:00pm/ET.
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