The Philadelphia Flyers’ early-season schedule is filled with plenty of challenges.
After a quality win against the two-time defending Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers on Monday, the Flyers take on the reigning Presidents’ Trophy winners Thursday when the Winnipeg Jets come to town.
Philadelphia interrupted Florida’s 3-0-0 start to the season Monday, when Sean Couturier notched two goals and two assists in a 5-2 home victory. The Flyers have already played the Panthers twice this season, as well as dropped a road matchup against a talented Carolina Hurricanes team.
“(The Panthers are) a hard team to play against, so to hang in there against that team (is impressive),” Flyers first-year coach Rick Tocchet said. “Can we build confidence? Can we build an identity, a little bit of swagger? Hopefully this can help us catapult to the next level. We’ll see.”
The highlight was a nifty pass from behind the net by newcomer Trevor Zegras, who avoided a pair of defenders with a slight shift before setting up Sean Couturier’s goal from the slot.
“That’s what I like,” Tocchet said. “You know you’re going to get hit and you’re willing to take it to make a play. It’s a high-level play.”
Dan Vladar made 24 saves for his first win as a Flyer, while Tocchet earned his first victory behind the Philadelphia bench.
“It’s great, that first win,” said Tocchet, who could turn to Samuel Ersson in net for Thursday’s contest. “But I’m just happy for the guys, the way they’ve been working, and working on the concepts. There’s some growing pains, but glad the way they hung in there.”
Winnipeg is coming off a 5-2 road victory over the New York Islanders on Monday. Logan Stanley, who only scored one goal last season – and has exactly one goal in each of his six NHL campaigns – was one of four Jets with a goal and an assist.
“When other guys can step up and chip in and be a part of that offense, that’s a good sign,” Winnipeg coach Scott Arniel said.
Tanner Pearson, Nino Niederreiter and Morgan Barron joined Stanley in scoring a goal and setting up another. Mark Schiefele added an empty-netter for his third goal of the young season, joining Kyle Connor for tops on the squad.
Jonathan Toews recorded an assist in the win over New York for his first NHL point since 2023. The 37-year-old missed the last two-plus seasons due to various health issues before signing with his hometown team.
“It’s nice to get the monkey off your back,” said Toews, who racked up 883 points (372 goals, 511 assists) for Chicago from 2007-23.
Winnipeg’s Eric Comrie made 33 saves in his first start of the season as reigning Hart Trophy winner Connor Hellebuyck had the night off.
“Comrie was outstanding,” Arniel said. “We needed him to be really good for about the first 10 minutes of that game. Man, they had some point-blank ones where he came up large. He kept us in that game. He kept the building a little quieter.”
Winnipeg went 1-0-1 against the Flyers last season, including a 4-1 win at Philadelphia.
–Field Level Media
