Thursday may already a “must win game” for the Flyers

We are all acutely aware of the Flyers’ bad start. Actually, “bad” isn’t a strong enough word for the way they have played and the results they’ve posted during what’s felt like the longest opening week in team history. Disastrous? Catastrophic? Stultifying? All will suffice.

Following a 7-0 firebombing by the Penguins on opening night, Joseph Woll’s play between the pipes stole a pair of road points for the Flyers in overtime losses against New Jersey and Carolina. But after Monday night’s flat out terrible performance in Tampa, we are already reaching a critical inflection point in the 2026-27 campaign. After two days off, the Flyers’ next task will come in Ottawa on Thursday night against the Senators. 

Is this the time they finally wake up, or will it be more of the same sloppy play from the Orange and Black?

Thursday’s game is important to turn around a season that’s threatening to go off the rails.

It’s a big-time sports cliche to throw around the term “must-win game”, since that technically only happens when your back is against the wall and a loss means either losing a playoff series or eliminating your team from qualifying for the postseason. But you only ever put yourself in those spots by losing important games in the lead-up, and that sure feels like where the Flyers are headed. If they’re playing out the string in February, you’ll be able to point back to bad stretches earlier in the year that put them in that position.

We can maybe give the Flyers a mulligan (a big one) for these first four games if the execution significantly improves and the results come along with it sooner rather than later. We’re back to baby steps for the moment, and this team really should be past moral victories thanks to the expectation level for them. In the grand scheme, four games out of 84 (is it good or bad that we have two extra Flyers games now?) should not be a reason to panic. But the structurally flawed approach through the team’s first week and the way they’ve been — to use an industry term — caved in, does not bode well for near-term results.

Perhaps the signing of Michael Bunting, an established and competent NHLer, will help a little bit and buy some time for the younger players. It’s not exactly a seismic roster move, but there may be bigger things to come if this early-season trend continues much longer. 

“Must” the Flyers win their next game in Ottawa? No, it’s only the fifth game of the season. But then they go to Boston, where they seemingly never win. And then it’s ANOTHER game against Carolina, in the second half of a back-to-back, no less. There’s simply no letup around the league, and even the supposedly bad teams will often give you a game. The Flyers are looking to avoid being lumped into that group after digging themselves an early hole and ignoring the assessment of how important it was for them to get off to a good start.

If the Flyers keep digging this hole much deeper, it will end up being their grave soon enough, and the 2026-27 season may end up being one of the most forgettable in team history. So, while Thursday isn’t really the proverbial “must win game", it would be quite helpful if the Flyers showed some of what made them successful last year, because none of it has materialized through four games this year.

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