The Flyers played their first back-to-back west coast road trip of the year, facing the Canucks again on Tuesday night and the Calgary Flames on New Year’s Eve. A roaring 6-3 victory to sweep the series against the Canucks was stomped by a 5-1 loss to the Flames the next day.
Tuesday vs. Canucks
A much more respectable performance from the Canucks compared to the previous week’s 5-2 win for the Flyers still wasn’t enough to stop the Flyers from sweeping the series. Despite a slow first period as the Flyers are accustomed to, they were able to stake their claim in the second and keep momentum going for a 6-3 win.
Despite an early first period goal for the Canucks to give them their only lead of the night, their momentum slowed early. All Vancouver’s 10 shots on goal in the first were recorded in the first 12 minutes of play, while Noah Cates earned his 10th goal of the season on only the Flyers’ 2nd shot of the night. After receiving a pass from Michkov and gliding into the circle to send a wrist shot into the net, the game was tied 1-1 at 12:02 in the first.
The energy of the late first period propelled the Flyers forward in the second period as the Flyers made excess chances for themselves and prevented the Canucks from doing the same. The Flyers recorded 19 shots on goal, closing on 2 of them throughout the period while the Canucks were unsuccessful on all 9 shots. Carl Grundstrum continued to shine, earning his 7th goal in 12 games this season to start the second. Grundstrum took the puck in a wrist shot across the net for a top corner goal to give the Flyers a 2-1 lead. After acquiring Grundstrum in the trade sending Ryan Ellis to San Jose, the Flyers’ bottom 2 lines have been making some big impacts the past few weeks, particularly Grundstrum and his linemates Grebenkin and Abols. This is shaping out to be another successful deal from Danny Briere.
While former Anaheim teammates Jamie Drysdale and Trevor Zegras earned assist points, Travis Konecny earned his 12th goal of the season as he dove for Drysdale’s rebound. Not the prettiest, but certainly a smart play that worked out well for the Flyers, giving them a 3-1 lead heading into the third period.
Although Vancouver significantly outshot Philadelphia in the final period, 16-9, Dan Vladar stayed solid after facing only 9 shots in the second period. Despite the Flyers slowing down for the final 20 minutes of play, they were able to record 3 goals in the period to combat Vancouver’s 2. Drew O’Connor got Vancouver in a 1-goal reach of the Flyers as he secured a loose puck across the net, throwing Vladar off to make it a 3-2 game just over a minute into the first. Their efforts were trumped again when Bobby Brink earned his second point of the night (1G, 1A) and his 10th goal of the season as he crashed the net and closed the deal on Michkov’s shot. Michkov’s second assist of the night earned him second star of the night honors.
After a slow back-and-forth for some time throughout the third, Carl Grundstrum was sent to the box for holding, while Owen Tippett took the short-handed opportunity to make the game 5-2 as Vancouver pulled their goalie. Some commotion in front of the net gave Vancouver’s Tom Willander the opportunity to shrink the Flyers’ 3-goal lead 5-3, yet Christian Dvorak was able to regain the lead on another empty netter with less than a minute remaining in the third.
The Lows: New Year’s Eve Against Calgary
There isn’t much to say about this one at all. There were certainly some positive moments of mostly gritty play, yet Calgary earned much more sufficient opportunities as seen in their 5 goals on only 26 shots. On top of that, the Flyers gave up far too many power plays for Calgary, who earned 2 PPGs on only 2 power plays.
Calgary’s Mikael Backlund was able to get a slapshot past Sam Ersson in the first period, who faced only 4 shots in the first period.
But this game wasn’t a Sam Ersson issue. Despite both Calgary and Philadelphia earning 26 shots, Philadelphia “earned” only 1 goal compared to Calgary’s 5- an own goal from Calgary. Calgary simply had some good shots coupled with a busy play in front of the net. Meanwhile, Philadelphia lacked solid chances and seemed overall disjointed.
In the second period alone, Calgary earned 3 goals. 3 solid, well-played goals at that. Philadelphia earned one, awarded to them after deflecting off Kadri’s stick. In the third period, a final goal from Calgary gave the final nail on the coffin.
This team simply looked exhausted playing the second of a back-to-back. They played sloppily and failed to generate legitimate chances for themselves. Just about a 180° from Tuesday’s game against the Canucks.
An interesting way to close out 2025 for the Flyers. Hopefully this performance is left behind in the new year.
Philly's Next Shift 