The Philadelphia Flyers are riding their defense and goaltending into serious playoff contention. But the best teams in hockey can't predominately rely on one portion of their game to take them to the postseason.
Once the "down the stretch" phase comes in the next two months, the Flyers must figure out how to get more offensive production. If not, they're risking a repeat of 2023-24, when they looked like a surprise team until they collapsed in the final month of the season. So, they need to take another step forward with their scoring units.
The Flyers aren't looking awful at 5-on-5. They are above the league average of 8.6 in shooting percentage, clocking in at 9.7. Their expected goals for (xGF) are sitting at just 82.0, 6.7 goals lower than the average of 88.7. but their actual goals for (aGF) are at a solid 87, two more than the league average of 85.
Not spectacular, and in definite need of improvement, but not horrendous. As for their power play? It has been a recurring failure since Claude Giroux left town, and no new coach has had an answer for it.
Philadelphia Flyers' power play has been among the league's worst
Giroux left during the 2021-22 season when the Flyers traded him to the Florida Panthers. That year, they finished with a power play percentage of just 12.55. They followed that up in 2022-23 at 15.56 percent, before it dipped to a painful 12.20 percent in 2023-24. In 2024-25, it improved, but the Flyers still finished with a 14.95 power play percentage.
Here in 2025-26, it's better, but still a meager 15.38. They are one of six teams currently hanging onto a playoff spot that rank in the bottom half of the league on the man advantage. The Flyers have the lowest power play percentage of those six teams, and one of the four ranked in the bottom 10.
There is a definite correlation between a team's success and its ability to convert when playing at 5-on-4. If the Flyers want to maximize their playoff chances, they must find a way to improve when they're on the power play. And odds are, Claude Giroux isn't coming back to help out the cause.
How did the Flyers fare on the power play when Giroux was in town?
The 2020-21 season marked Giroux's last full year with the Flyers, and they converted on 19.16 percent of their attempts. Not quite league average, but not awful. The year before that, they ended the year with a 20.8 percentage, which was slightly above league average.
While the Flyers had a better all-around scoring unit during Giroux's final years in Philadelphia, their 5-on-5 play with the puck has been improving. That also needs to be the case on the power play.
If the Flyers fix their power play woes and if their play at 5-on-5 keeps inching north, they will be a be more well-balanced team. In the second half of what has been a successful season so far, it would be tough to knock the Flyers out of a playoff spot with better play on the man advantage. But figuring out how to snap out of this perennial slump they have been in is the real challenge.