The Philadelphia Flyers tied their win streak for the season last night when they took a fifth consecutive win. Five is no small potatoes and compared to the twelve-game win streak the Oilers are on, some might not find it that impressive, but the person that thinks that is not a Flyers fan. Fans of the orange & black saw the team come off one of the worst seasons in recent memory. They then declared a rebuild, and (as of today according to MoneyPuck) have an 82.8% chance of making the playoffs while closing in on the number one spot in the Metropolitan Division. The Flyers beat two of the best teams in the NHL within the span of a week. What’s made this team decimate two of the best teams not just in the Central Division, but the NHL during the course of this win streak?
The recent events involving the Flyers certainly played a factor in this team banding tighter together. The Flyers’ 5th overall draft pick from 2022, Cutter Gauthier, decided he no longer wanted to commit to the organization. According to Scott Hartnell, when he appeared on episode 479 of the Spittin’ Chiclets podcast, Gauthier had not talked to anyone in the organization since Summer of 2023. The Flyers managed to trade Gauthier to the Anaheim Ducks without news leaking about his unwillingness to play in Philadelphia. Out of the trade the Flyers received a young star defenseman, Jaime Drysdale and a 2025 2nd round draft pick.
Some fans on social media have cheekily declared the Flyers “undefeated in the Drysdale Era.” Drysdale is definitely contributing to the success of the team in three out of the five games he has played since the trade. Drysdale has a great hockey IQ, excellent puck handling and passing abilities that make him a crucial piece for success. However, Drysdale is not the only reason the Flyers are suddenly playing better.
Hockey, first and foremost, is a team sport that makes your success completely dependent on teamwork. Everyone has to contribute. As of late, the Flyers are seeing steady contributions from their streaky players like Cam Atkinson, Morgan Frost, Owen Tippet, and Scott Laughton. Atkinson alone had a twenty-six goalless draught this season, which was very unlike him, but not a lot was truthfully expected of him after having the same neck surgery that Joel Farabee and Vegas Knights’ Jack Eichel had. Neither of those two players had a great season after returning post-surgery, but the following year their production increased dramatically.
The Flyers had just begun their win streak after beating both the Montreal Canadiens and the Minnesota Wild when they had to play the number one ranked team in the NHL, the Winnipeg Jets, less than 24 hours after beating the Wild in overtime. This was the game Atkinson finally ended his goalless draught. He continued to persevere and get to the net to try to make something happen that would result in a goal. Finally, the opportunity presented itself and he was able to redirect a shot past the Jets’ star goalie, Connor Hellebuyck. His confidence, obviously, skyrocketed. Atkinson used this confidence boost to score a pair of goals against the Jets and won the game for the Flyers in an unreal 2-0 shutout victory.
Since the win over the Jets, Atkinson has flashed more skill and moved more confidently on the ice, which led to two more points (1 goal, 1 assist) in the five-game win streak after the victory over the Jets. The Flyers had served the Jets their first loss to an Eastern Conference team this season on their home ice. Beyond Atkinson, this was a big confidence inducing game for the team regardless of the length of the streak.
Both Atkinson and Frost were scratched by Head Coach Tortorella prior to the win streak and have come back with more determination than before. Frost has set himself up to make some of the most fantastic plays that have helped the Flyers gain the lead, if not the first goal of the game. The most fantastic of his plays came last night when he assisted Sean Walker on the first goal of the game against the Dallas Stars.
Frost now has five points over the 5-game win streak, but equally important are his steadily increasing faceoff wins (45%), and his puck possession abilities. Frost has been one of the best Flyers all season long when it came to penetrating the offensive zone with the puck, but now he has upped his dominance on winning board battles and maintaining the puck under pressure. All of this culminates in his powerful playmaking abilities as of late.
Frost’s abilities have greatly served no one more than Owen Tippet. Frost and Tippet are usually linemates at the start of games or eventually are paired together as the game progresses. This has helped Tippet become more consistent as he speeds through the neutral zone. He has steadily increased his goal scoring and in the last five games has five goals. The Flyers are able to rely on him to take shots on goal and use his incredible speed to make a difference. He has been relentless with his shots on goal in the recent games. Last night alone he had nine shots on goal before he finally was able to score.
Tippet has two truly stunning goals in his last two games that look like candidates for “goal of the year”. His second goal of the night yesterday was unbelievable. Even the NHL is calling it the goal of the year.
While Tippet continues to impress Flyers fans with his skillful play, the Flyers’ default captain, Scott Laughton, has demonstrated to the hockey world why he is wearing a letter on his jersey. In a big moment against the Stars, Laughton drew a penalty shot when he was interfered with while trying to score in front of the Stars’ net. Laughton is not one the Flyers play in the shootout, but it would not be surprising if the Flyers play him in one after the goal he scored on the penalty shot.
Laughton had great patience to score a goal like that during a penalty shot.
Settling the streaky nature of some of the players recently is a big contributing factor, but the Flyers goaltending is another big piece of the success puzzle. Carter Hart is having a much better season this year, but the competition with Samuel Ersson is forcing both goaltenders to thrive. Ersson was in net against the Jets and recorded the shutout win (3rd of the season) and was again in net against the Stars. He only allowed one goal during the 5-1 victory the Flyers posted. He is not a backup goaltender, but rather the 2nd goaltender. One that can be heavily relied on should anything happen to Hart.
All in all, the confidence of this team and the relentlessness of the players trying to make every shift count is why the Flyers are having such a huge success recently. They played Minnesota in a tough earned OT victory and then played the Jets the very next day. Normally a team might be gassed from two games in less than 48 hours especially when playing the better ranked team on the second night, but the Flyers persevered. The team is getting contributions down the line from everyone and that’s clear to anyone watching the games. The Flyers are fun to watch and not a team that can be counted out of any game regardless of the team they are up against.
Photo courtesy of the Philadelphia Flyers.
Stats courtesy of Statmuse.
The Morning Skate 
What goal by Owen Torts has the team locked in will they make the playoffs? long time from now but given they were given no chance in hell of doing nothing. Everything to gain and nothing to lose.
It’s about establishing winning pedigree and mindset
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