The Philadelphia Flyers needed to play a near-flawless game against the reigning Presidents’ Trophy-winning Winnipeg Jets. They didn’t, and lost 5-2 Thursday night in a low-event affair that featured Matvei Michkov getting his first of the season.
The basics
First period: 5:45 – Vladislav Namestnikov (Nino Niederreiter, Gustav Nyquist)
Second period: 7:01 – Mark Scheifele (Gabriel Vilardi), 16:22 – Owen Tippett (Trevor Zegras, Travis Sanheim), 17:43 – Morgan Barron (Kyle Connor)
Third period: 9:39 – Mark Scheifele (Kyle Connor, Alex Iafallo) (PPG), 17:39 – Matvei Michkov (Noah Juulsen, Sean Couturier), 18:47 – Tanner Pearson (Unassisted) (ENG)
SOG: 17 (PHI) – 15 (WPG)
Some takeaways
Boos already?!?
At the end of the first period, some booing could be heard in the rink. It seemed a bit early (and a bit much) considering the Flyers were facing the Presidents’ Trophy winners last season. Winnipeg was solid most of the opening frame in getting the puck out of danger and getting in on the Flyers defense. Fortunately no bracelets or sweaters were tossed onto the ice. At least not after the first period. And can you really be out of sorts with a period where this was the end result? And in the second home game of the year?
York returns
Cam York was a little rusty early in the game. But the longer the game went on, the better he looked. At times it looked like the Jets had six or seven guys on the ice as their neutral zone pressure and checking had Philadelphia fighting for every inch. It shouldn’t come as a surprise that after one period (and with few chances either way), eight Flyers had zero percent of the shot attempts. York had 21:36 ice time, third among blueliners with only Sanheim and Jamie Drysdale ahead of him.
York should look better with each game, but he got a passing grade against one of the league’s heaviest and toughest teams.
Rip it Tippett
A huge goal by the Flyers late in the second saw Owen Tippett rip a shot high over Hellebuyck, giving the Flyers a huge boost and cutting the deficit in half. It’s a goal and shot you’d like to see Tippett deliver a lot more this season.
A bar-down beauty.#WPGvsPHI | #LetsGoFlyers pic.twitter.com/9akCSn30Q2
— Philadelphia Flyers (@NHLFlyers) October 17, 2025
Ersson not nearly good enough
You can’t really blame Sam Ersson for Winnipeg’s opening goal. A nice little play left Vladislav Namestnikov in alone and simply deked out Ersson early in the first. The Flyers weren’t giving up a heck of a lot, but they only had two shots on goal in the opening 16 minutes and change. Early in the second Winnipeg’s Mark Scheifele’s line had a chance but Ersson managed to stop both the shot and play.
Mark Scheifele’s goal in the second was not great. You could argue if a huge Ersson fan that Nick Seeler’s stick might have gotten a piece of it. The timing sucked as it’s one Ersson needs to make at that point in the game.
Mark Scheifele is going for an 82-goal season as he scores his fourth goal in game number four, making it 2–0 for the Jets.
And sending a message to the folks at Team Canada. pic.twitter.com/XalDEXp3dT
— Dave Minuk (@ICdave) October 17, 2025
Same for the third Winnipeg goal. Despite the bad bounce, it’s another crucial part of the game where Ersson needs to keep the Flyers within a shot from tying things up. It’s been two starts for Ersson, and both starts have somewhat paled in comparison to Dan Vladar’s. The Flyers outshot Winnipeg 12-5 in the second, yet gave up two goals. Overall Ersson ended the night with a horrible save percentage (.714), allowing four goals on 14 shots.
Michkov breaks the goose eggs
Matvei Michkov started the game looking pretty good, as his line with Sean Couturier and Travis Konecny had some strong offensive zone time early. Early in the second Konecny nearly ran into Michkov, but the Russian winger got a good shot from the point on goal. On the Flyers initial power play Michkov started a gorgeous passing play that saw Michkov feed Tippett who passed it quickly to Konecny. Konecny was stoned by Hellebuyck. It was still another small but good sign.
Michkov also drew a penalty when Jonathan Toews gave him a face rub during a holding penalty. However it was the second unit which started the power play as Michkov got a breather. Michkov didn’t drive much of the play, but he did look more comfortable out there. He was rewarded late in the game when he scored his first of the season, making it a 4-2 game. It was meaningless on the scoreboard but getting his first point and goal of the season should lift a bit of the weight off his shoulders.
MATVEI MICHKOV FINALLY GETS ON THE BOARD. FIRST OF THE SEASON.#LetsGoFlyers pic.twitter.com/qQmBkRgDWI
— Flyers Clips (@Flyers_Clips) October 17, 2025
Cates line had ups and downs
Even the Noah Cates line was having difficulty dumping the puck into the offensive zone at times. The best chance Philadelphia had in the first was courtesy of Tyson Foerster flying down the wing and trying to squeeze the puck through Connor Hellebuyck. Cates was right on the doorstep but could drive the rebound home. The Cates line had an 80 percent advantage in shot attempts after two periods, making one of the few bright spots early on.
The shift following Tippett’s goal should’ve saw the trio up in the Winnipeg zone. Unfortunately the Jets poured it on and gave themselves an insurance goal less than 90 seconds after the Tippett goal.
Power play coming, just not there yet
The first power play saw some excellent chances and great passing, something fans didn’t see much of last year. The second unit featuring the Cates line and Trevor Zegras is starting to show some promise. Foerster had a shot hit the post in the slot but there seemed to be some chemistry in finding some seams and nearly cashing in. It was a great sign as the Flyers had some momentum. The second power play? Well, it had a few moments where they looked settled, but there wasn’t a lot to fall in love with.
Overall it’s a work in progress, despite the Flyers showing some frustration in the third when nothing seemed to be going right.
Jett propulsion
Jett Luchanko isn’t quite getting to crunch time in terms of the Flyers deciding what to do with him. Luchanko had his moments, particularly when he broke up a two-on-one Jets rush early in period two. It looks as if Luchanko is not getting the ice time Flyers general manager Danny Briere would like him to get, nor is Luchanko producing much in that fleeting amount. After two periods Luchanko was last among Flyers skaters with just 5:27 of ice time.
The fourth line had a night to forget with Nikita Grebenkin on the ice for Winnipeg’s first two goals and just looking overmatched by Winnipeg’s fourth line.
Statistics via Natural Stat Trick.