Latest / Hattrick's Unofficial Flyers Podcast / Episode 6: Flyers vs WILD March 12th, 2026
Transcript
- Rick Mullen: Hi everyone. Welcome to Hattrick's Unofficial Flyers podcast. This is Rick Mullen. I'll be your host today. And this show will be focused on a Minnesota versus Philadelphia Flyers recap. The Flyers played last night. I'm recording this episode the morning after. a couple of things. The Flyers got a great win last night. mean, the Flyers came out. They played a really good team. They played the night before. Everybody that I spoke with thought, hey, this is going to be a lost back to back games. They're going to be tired. They're playing in a really stacked Minnesota team. And guess what? The Flyers pulled off a victory. It was a great game. They won three to two in a shootout. It was a game that the Flyers actually looked really strong defensively. They had a really strong penalty kill. They played really really really well, know, the same old same old with the Flyers is it's hard for them to score But other than that, I think they played a really good game Tip it we're gonna talk about him in a little bit, but tip it was Incredible tonight. So a lot of a lot of good things happened last night this team as a whole Just showed what they had showed in this start of the season that you just can't Know what you're gonna get from this team on a night to night basis. And ⁓ it's crazy because you watch them and you think, hey, you know, this is a playoff team. Hands down, this is a playoff team. You know, back in like November, they're going to make it. You know, they're not going to be first or second place, but they're going to make it. And then lo and behold, just like every other year, they get into a funk like right around Christmas or right after Christmas in that January funk. And they go on a losing streak. And the same thing sadly happened this year. They struggled winning games after the break and it hurt them. hurt them. I think in their heads, I don't know what happens to them, but I think in their heads they get going, they get going, they get good standings, they're playing well. And then I think something just kind of folds in their head and maybe they stop trying or maybe they're overconfident. I'm not sure what it is. Each team, it's been a different reason. Last year, it could have been goalies. This year, it's backup goalie only. ⁓ But you can't win if you can't score. And Flaad is standing on his head and stopping most of the shots. He gives up less than two to three goals a game, and we still lose. That's offense. That's all offensive problems there. If the Flyers could score one or two more a game on their power play. Get one more regular strength. Totally different season. Yeah, this is a totally different season. anyway It was actually something that I watched last night I was looking forward to seeing Bobby Brink playing the Flyers and you TK called him out You know the game before said he was coming for Bobby and lo and behold Bobby Brink is not in the lineup he From being what we're being told is he hurt his shoulder. He took a big hit in the game prior and hurt his shoulder. So he wasn't in the lineup tonight. So a little disappointing. Definitely wanted to see Bobby play, but it is what it is. All in all, again, really good game. Let's kind of start with the penalty kill. The penalty kill was really strong. The Flyers were facing a pretty dominant Minnesota Wild power play. If you watched last night, the Minnesota Wild are crazy good at the power play. mean, they don't stand still. that team cycles and cycles and they switch places and they rotate through the ice. It's funny to watch. You're sitting there watching on TV and you're watching the Flyers as a penalty kill stay stagnant in that four man box or maybe one hide or like a one, two, one or something along those lines, according to how the play turns out. it's funny as they're sitting there in that static box, these guys are like rotating through open space, switching spots and You know, Minnesota has a pretty pretty good structure on the power play. They move a lot And I guess a little bit of that, you know movement they're hoping anyway is to create somebody to chase them so they get the defense out of ⁓ Out of ⁓ the zone coverage that they you know run ⁓ And I don't think the Flyers really did that last night. I think the Flyers played really strong I think the Flyers played their positions and I think the Flyers didn't get caught up in chasing them during those power plays and or penalty kills and they played well. So they did a great job last night on their penalty kill. I think it looked really well. And overall as a team, even in regular strength, I think the Flyers looked really good. I mean, the shots on that were 27 to 23 Flyers by the end of the game. They actually outshot the Minnesota Wild. You know, I know somebody's going out there and say, yeah, but what kind of shots were that? Yeah, yeah, get it. You know, it makes sense, you know, but Vlad stood on his head. He had a really good game. The Flyers as a whole played really strong. The Flyers won what 42 % of their face off. So that hurt them a little bit. know, Minnesota's winning about 57%. You know, a couple more face off wins, you get that down. Maybe it changes the structure a little bit of that game. But it was, it was, it was a lot of fun to watch that game. And it went by like a nail biter. You know, you're watching, you're watching, you're watching. Like in the third period, you know, it would have, ⁓ I think Tipit and, ⁓ TK, you know, flying down the ice, it's a two-two tie and Tipit goes in and there's a defender that goes down to try to stop the pass over to TK. And instead of going to, you know, trying to force that pass through, Tipit goes around the net really fast and throws it out in front to a wide open TK with a wide open side as the goalie is trying to slide over. And sadly TK. He hits it on the heel of his stick and misses it completely. Really good chance there. That could have been the game winner, no doubt. And TK goes back to the box and he's super mad at himself. He's slamming stuff, yelling at stuff. You could see he could have won that game in the last couple of minutes of that game for us. And he choked on the shot, sadly. But that's how things roll. So, Flyers go into OT. They get what? what, two power plays I believe, like one at end of the game, in OT I believe, maybe two in OT. Memories not serving me too well, but I know they had at least one power play in ⁓ OT and they did not look good. They couldn't get anything going. They couldn't get in the zone and when they got in the zone, it was like one shot and out. So, you know, they really had to work hard, you know, three on three to try to make up for it. And, you know, as soon as those power plays were over, Minnesota came out with three on three, I think with a minute left in the game and Minnesota dominated that last minute. They were all over the flyers until that TK and Tippett rush up the ice. Tippett looked unbelievable again tonight. mean, he's an animal out there and stats-wise, people can say, yeah, but he doesn't score enough or yeah, but he doesn't create enough. He's like a one-man wrecking crew out there. And that's true. He's one of those players that I think he went up and down the lineup trying to find a place to gel. And he kind of does it himself. And it's because of his speed. A lot of these people or these players on the line can't keep up with him. know, Tippen will get the puck or strip someone and start jetting down the ice. And nobody's really with him. So he's got to figure out how to burn that one on one defender that he's skating into and sometimes he does sometimes he gets around him. But ⁓ he's unbelievably quick and he really can like turn a game from a from a big hit to a big goal to a breakaway, whatever it may be a speed. ⁓ He's a power forward. He's he's our version of a power forward the closest we've had in a long time. He needs to grow a little bit, you know, he needs to like get more consistent, you know, and but I think talked to him, good job with Tippett this year. I think Tippett's doing really well and he's progressing. He may not be what everyone wants because they traded him for Giroux and they expect it more at this point, but he's got a really good contract. doesn't hurt us long term. It's going to be a fantastic contract for us. I hope they don't get rid of him. I really do. I hope they hold this guy and let this guy develop and be a flyer for a while. His contract is low. They could end up trading him. and getting another guy in here and paying him the same money, but that guy's going to be nowhere near Tippett for that kind of money in like a year or two from now when the salary cap goes up. So it would be totally foolish, in my opinion, to trade Tippett and replace him with somebody who's not even going to be like half of what Tippett is. hopefully Tippett finds himself, he gets a little more goals, he gets some more points, and he makes himself untradable. we can retain them and take advantage of that roster spot with that salary being so low. This team has lots of guts. mean, they are no quit. They're a no quit team at this point. They could have just packed it in and went home and just forgot about the playoffs. But no, they want to play in the playoffs. They really do. Are they going to get there? Again, probably not. But if they play like this every night, maybe. You know, maybe I know TK wants to get there. I think a lot of this team is playing to try to get TK there and get themselves there. You got two young guys, you got bump and Barkie here that are first year in, you know, and they're trying to learn the ropes and they haven't really looked too, too out of place. They're, they're playing pretty strong. You know, I'm really anxious to see, you know, bump develop a little bit more and get some more games under his belt. He needs a little more speed. He needs to replays a little bit better. ⁓ you know, rightfully so. He's a kid. He ⁓ goes in the corner a little bit. holds the puck and he tries to like come around at one defender on the boards and he's not beating them right now. You know, that defender is actually stronger and faster and you know, but Bump's going to learn that. Bump's going to learn that, hey, I'm not able to beat this guy yet. And then he's going to make different decisions. But, and that's how you learn. You got to go out, you got to try it. You got to see what you can do, what you can't do. And then you got to adjust your game accordingly. And then in the off season, You got to say, okay, I wasn't fast enough this past year. I'm going to work my legs. I'm going to work that core and I'm going to get faster for next year. So when I try that move again, I can do it. So for right now, you know, without time to work out or really focus on speed and leg strength, you're going to just see bump kind of going through the motions, trying different moves and realizing what he can do and can't do. And, you know, maybe starting to use his shot more or, you know, trying to pass it up a little bit more before those defenders get on top of them. So with that said, ⁓ there's really not much more to go over for today. ⁓ One game doesn't make or break this season yet, but that was a big game for the Flyers. The Flyers winning that game just kind of keeps them in the conversation for the playoffs. It makes everyone question, what kind of team do we have? And ⁓ I think the Minnesota Wild got caught off guard and didn't realize that we were coming at them as hard as we did. So it was a really good, good game. Great to see the Flyers get the big win. And please, if you follow the show, if you like the show, like and subscribe on YouTube, we're on Spotify, we're on ⁓ YouTube and Apple. And we also have a mailbag, you know, our email address is hatrickhattrickpodcast.com Send us any questions, concerns, ⁓ ideas. We'd love to hear from you. So until next time, go Flyers.