The Flyers wrapped up the Florida leg of their road trip tonight with the third and final matchup of the season against the Panthers. It was a wild game, to be sure, complete with strange breakdowns, unconventional approaches to attempting to create chances, and another huge comeback on the Flyers’ part to come away with a 4-2 win, and ultimately, a win in the season series.
The Basics
First period: 5:21- Brad Marchand (Bennett, Verhaeghe)
Second period: 5:16- Carter Verhaeghe (Bennett, Ekblad), 7:57- Emil Andrae (Drysdale, Tippett), 11:13- Matvei Michkov (Andrae, Drysdale)
Third period: 19:14- Tyson Foerster (Sanheim, York), 19:35- Sean Couturier (Dvorak)
SOG: 18 (PHI) – 27 (FLA)
Some Takeaways
Another slow start
The start of this game was, if nothing else, predictable. The Flyers, to their credit were able to come out for this one with a good bit of jump, and were able to get a bit of possession to work with in the first few minutes of the first period, but things ended up going sideways on them all the same. The Flyers were struggling with the Panthers’ forecheck across the board as they seemed to pick up steam, but this wasn’t the piece which ended up biting them. It was a strange breakdown which saw the Flyers get a chance in the Panthers’ end, Nick Seeler’s stick breaking, that shot getting blocked and a rush started up going the other way, Seeler trying to get a stick at the bench and then not coming up with one, so he tried to defend without it and slide along the ice to take away the passing lane, didn’t seal up the ice so the puck slid under him and the pass to Brad Marchand, wide open on the other side of the crease, was completed anyway, and he was able to sneak a shot past Vladar.
It was sort of a goofy goal, not a play that the Panthers could easily replicate if they tried, but the result was the same — for the 16th time this season, the Flyers found themselves in a hole to start the game, and having to find a way to pull themselves out.
Vladar keeping them in it
The Flyers hit that first intermission trailing by a goal, but in truth, it felt like something of a miracle that it was only one goal that they were down by. For much of this game, the Panthers were all over them, cycling and wearing them down and just over and over knocking on the door with great chances, but Vladar stepped up time and again to stone them. His play wasn’t completely perfect, but he brought a high effort game and was absolutely instrumental to the Flyers pulling off this win in the end.
There was a bit of a nervous moment that unfolded in the third period, when Vladar was run into by Marchand and seemed to be a little bit shaken up, but after a moment speaking to the trainer, he was able to shake it off and finish the game. If there’s something that lingers as a result of that play, we’re filing that away, but the Flyers seemed to dodge a bullet there, and Vladar was able to keep things locked down long enough for the Flyers to complete their comeback and close out this game.
For better or worse, it’s the Emil Andrae show
After a weaker showing on Monday in Tampa, Andrae got the chance to redeem himself tonight, holding on to his same role on the second pair, and what played out for him was certainly a high-event night. His first period was on the shakier side, as he had a couple of mistakes with the puck and in coverage that had us wondering if Monday’s performance might be seeping into this one after all. But, to his credit, Andrae was able to take the first intermission as a chance to reset, and brought a, while not perfect, improved showing.
To recap: he was the one to finally break through for the Flyers to get them on the board in the second period, and he followed that up by taking a high-sticking minor and putting his team on the penalty kill, but once that was killed, he then followed that up by putting another good shot in the direction of the net, in perfect position to be tipped by Matvei Michkov to tie things up at two goals. He picked up some steam from there too, continuing to create in the offensive zone and showing a confidence not diminished by some of the shakier moments in this game. It was, on the whole, a wild one for him, and even though there were some mistakes mixed in there as well, he also showed how dynamic his game can look when he’s at his best, and that’s a true reminder of why he is and should be given the continued runway to smooth out those rougher spots.
Waking up… sort of
The Flyers, after the jumpstart that Andrae’s goal gave them, were able to pick up their offense a bit and ultimately closed out this game with four goals scored, which does feel like a positive step forward from the ugly shutout they were dealt on Monday against the Lightning. The Flyers got themselves on track, and in some ways, it feels difficult to quibble too much when they’ve managed to do that, and do it in such punchy and exciting fashion late in a game like that. But, at the same time, despite the scoring output, this was another game when the Flyers failed to hit to 20 shot on goal mark, as they registered just 18 across the whole of this game, offensive flurries and all. Now, in this one, it was still enough to get them the win, but it remains a bit of a concerning emerging trend. The goals are coming for them again, at least for now, but it’s still fair to wonder if the underlying process needs some refining, still.
Having a super normal one
This game was, all in all, certainly not a dull one. It was strange in many ways, and in a lot of ways too, truly illustrative of where this team is at right now.
Perhaps emblematic of this was the shorthanded almost chance they had in the second period, when Christian Dvorak put together perhaps the worst shorthanded rush we’ve ever seen.
WHAT THE FUCK WAS THIS LMAOOOOOO pic.twitter.com/95socAnHcV
— Flyers Clips (@Flyers_Clips) November 27, 2025
https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js
The perfect one-on-one look passed up in favor of a bit of ultimately over-passing, a good look evaporating, is just another instance of the Flyers taking a less than opportune approach and leaving a good chance on the table.
But the way that the Flyers were able to bounce back from that slow start and that leaving of chances on the table was also just incredibly par for the course. That is, late in the third period, with the game still tied and two goals apiece and it looking like we were hurdling towards another overtime game, the Flyers not only managed to pull into the lead on a great second chance goal for Tyson Foerster, but doubled up on their lead by the end with a goal from Sean Couturier.
So, once again, in spite of the odds, the Flyers managed to get it done and pull off this win. It wasn’t pretty, but it worked, and if that isn’t the story of much of this team’s success so far this season, we don’t know what is.