When the Flyers blew yet another lead, twice, to the Colorado Avalanche, you had that sinking feeling that a winnable game had been thrown away. After all, we've seen this story before. Against the NHL's most dominant offense, this game looked over and done.
Then the Flyers' offense came to life. Owen Tippett got his second career hat trick. Matvei Michov scored two goals. Philly erupted for seven total goals against one of the Stanley Cup favorites.
And this is why this Flyers team is so frustratingly hard to figure out. Overall, they are 20th in the league in goals scored and 28th on the power play. Under Rick Tocchet, they play a style of hockey that is more predicated on playing sound, fundamental hockey and capitalizing on opponents' mistakes rather than attacking the goaltender with a flurry of shots. In fact, at 1293 shots, they are 28th in shots on goal. That's roughly an average of 25.86 shots a game.
However, we see the talent on this team. Tippet has 18 goals on the season. Michkov has three goals in the last five games, raising his total to 12. Travis Konecny also has three goals in his last five games, 17 on the year. Trevor Zegras leads the way with 19 goals. Dviorak has 12. Overall, the Flyers have eight players with 10 or more goals, including Tyson Foerster.
There is a lot of offensive potential with this team. That's why it is so frustrating to watch. We know that a team isn't going to win every game they play, nor score five+ goals a night, unless you are playing rookie level on EA Sports NHL 2026. Seriously, though, this team seems to struggle on many nights to scrounge around and scrape up one or two goals a game.
There are 32 games left in this season, and there is a fairly good chance that the Flyers will make the playoffs. They may be one-and-done, but they are having a better season than many of their recent ones.
More importantly, they are coming together at the right time. Prospects like Denver Barkey (2G, 6A in 16 games) and Nikita Grebenkin (3G, 7A in 36 games) are getting good playing time and experience. They are coming into their own. Veteran addition Carl Grundstrom (7G, 2A in 23 games) has also added a spark at times.
Likewise, injuries have forced the Flyers to switch up their line combinations. Players have been stepping into newer roles as opportunities present themselves, and they are rising to the challenge.
As this team grows and develops, there is a chance that more games like the Colorado game could happen. I'm not saying they will start cranking goals out left and right, although that would be great. More importantly, they will become confident that they are always in a game and will battle to the end. That kind of confidence breeds hope, and that hope breeds victories over time.