Latest / Hattrick's Unofficial Flyers Podcast / Episode 19: Flyers vs Jets ReCap | Apr 12, 2026
Transcript
- Rick Mullen: Hey, Flyers fans, welcome to Hatrix Unofficial Flyers podcast. This is Rick Mullin. I'll be your host today. And we are going to talk about the game that just happened last night against the Philadelphia Flyers and the Winnipeg Jets. They had a scheduled game on the on the calendar. And, you know, I kind of had high hopes about this game. the Jets are a really good team. ⁓ And, they really are. They have some major talent on the team. Their goal heading is phenomenal. ⁓ And, When you look at it on paper, think, hey, know, Flyers are probably going to lose this one. but the Flyers have a history against the Jets where they have done really well, really well, especially ⁓ at the home. It's not been easy for the Jets against the Flyers. ⁓ And I hoping ⁓ upon all that last night was going to be a difficult game for the Jets as well. And guess what? ⁓ It was. The Flyers did so good last night. It was so good to see. was screaming at my TV most of the night and you know, let's jump right into it. So the Flyers win last night in one of the must games. Again, every game is the biggest game of the year and this was another one of them. The Flyers won seven to one last night. It was such a good game for the Flyers. The Flyers, when they took the lead, just like in past games they would like sit back and wait a little bit and take the foot off the gas. But last night they did not last night they went at it. They took it to the Jets all night long. And I'm not going to say the Jets didn't have an opportunity here because they really did the Jets played a good game too. And that's what makes this game even sweeter because it wasn't like the Jets lay down and rolled over the Jets were going at the Flyers. The Jets had some fantastic plays. They had some point blank shots, some really good rebounds. It was a good game all around to watch, especially if you were a Flyer fan. But let's talk the tale of the tape here. ⁓ So the shots for the game were 28 Winnipeg Jets to Philadelphia Flyers, 23. Hits for the Jets were 20, 25 for the Flyers. That stat right there is important. If you go back and you look at all these games, If the fires are usually ahead in hits, they seem to always play better. So I've said it many, many times this season. Hits dictate play for this team. No doubt about it. They they absolutely dictate play for this team. If they're banging and they have more hits than the other team, chances are they have more shots and they have more goals too. ⁓ So the fires need to play however they play last night, whatever decisions they made. whatever strategic plan they came in with, they need to continue to play that kind of game moving forward. So again, 25 hits for the Flyers versus 20 for the Jets. And then penalty minutes were four for the Jets and six for the Flyers. Flyers again dominate in the faceoff dot. The Flyers were 57.9 % at the faceoff dot to the Jets 42.1. So what a game. I mean, it was such a such a good game. And the first period started out like right away and we've been talking a lot lately, not us, but the media in general has been talking a lot about TK not really performing well, that he needs to play better, that he's kind of disappeared over the last few games. And if he really wants to get into the playoffs, he needed to step up his game. And last night, he didn't get a ton of points, he didn't, but. He did play much better. You he was banging. He was skating. He was creative. First period at the 117 mark, know, Travis Connect. He made a hell of a pass. The Porter Marton and Marton stuffs one at the 117 mark of the first period. ⁓ Porter Marton is such a good addition to this team at the end of the season. it's rare when you see a kid finish his college career and then just step on the ice and really games that matter and they show up. most teams don't have that luxury. know, most teams who add that that college kid at the end of the season, it's really just to get him a few looks, get him used to the speed, let him see what it's going to be like for next year. So he can work harder in the off season and prepare himself. But Porter Marton has been unbelievable for the Flyers. he has contributed. And he contributes almost every single game in different ways passes goals shots He's even hitting ⁓ it's such such a good good pickup at the end of the season that kind of lit the flyers on fire here, so first period still ⁓ the get it back at the 657 mark There was a shock that went in on the full of dar ⁓ and went to grab it with his glove And he couldn't he dropped it in front of him The Jets picked up the rebound and Hayden Fleury stuffs one over and beats Vlidar. And that's a goal that was 100%. And I know it, you could see it on Vlidar's expression. He should have had, he should have, he should never have dropped that original shot. He should have been able to control that rebound and that shot attempt, that second shot attempt, that second one that went in wouldn't have happened. So, Vlidar was very much upset with himself after that one and ⁓ tied the game 1-1. ⁓ with the 8.24 mark of the first period, Noah Cates ⁓ Denver Barkey assist on a Matvey ⁓ goal. ⁓ it wasn't just a, behind the net sharp angle goal for Mischkov this time. ⁓ Mischkov made little move in the crease. He was on the left-hand side with a defenseman. He cut across the slot real fast. and he went and rifled one over the shoulder top left corner or top right corner of the net according to how you're looking at it and he beats Hellebuck and he puts the Flyers up two to one. A couple seconds later at the 849 mark Sean Kottouria stops the goal. He gets one all by himself unassisted and Kutz has been playing great. We're going to talk about him in a little bit. Let's just keep going down the stats for now. That's it. So that ends the First period, it's three to one flyers. We go into the second period at the 1141 mark. Travis Sandheim scores from Risto Lannan and Sean Couturier. They made a great play to him and Travis stuffs one in the net. At the 1928 mark of the second period, Noah Cates gets a goal shorthanded from Christian Dvorak and Risto. And then going into the third, we had another Sean Couturier breakaway, I believe that last one was. He went backhand top shelf, then he gets an unassisted one. And then Nick Seeler closes us down at the 13-32 mark, assisted from Noah Cates and Mephame Mishkoff. So, the fires win, 7-1. 7-1. It was such a great game. It was so cool seeing that many goals go in, but it was just so much better that the fires dominated a team that didn't give up. mean, the Jets were coming at them. They really were. Fladar played a hell of a game. He really did. Like after he gave up that one goal that he couldn't control. He was on fire. He stopped point blank shots. He stopped back door passes. He was making such good, good saves in that game. He played really well. So it was nice to see Vardar get a bounce back game under his belt, you know, get a feel for the net again, you know, really see some good quality shots and was able to stop them. So going into these last two games for Vardar, I think are going to be important that he had a game like this under his belt. So good to see it. I hope he can keep it up because we need them. We need them a lot these last two games. Playoff race is still going on. The Blue Jackets one last like, ⁓ man, I was really thought Montreal was going to put him away, but the Canadian Canadians choked. Blue Jackets win five to two. They're still in the race here. The Capitals were playing, I believe ⁓ Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh low and beholds and behold. They go and they bench like eight or nine guys and say they're all injured and throw a scrap team out against the Capitals and the Capitals win. And now the standings are the Flyers have 94 points in the Metro. Blue Jackets have 92. Capitals and the Islanders have 91. Everybody has a chance here still. Everybody has a chance here still. So it's scary. It's just going to go down to the wire unless a couple things happen. The Blue Jackets are playing today, which is Sunday. And if they lose at and the Flyers win on Monday, they have a shot to lock that place down. It's going to go down in a wire. So I'm going to be watching this game at three o'clock today with the Blue Jackets. And I'm going to be cheering and cheering and cheering that the Blue Jackets go down and they lose today's game. But if they win, this is going to be a 94 point to 94 point tie. And they're both going. going to go at it here. It's going to be, ⁓ it's going to be tough. And these capitals have a chance. The Islanders have a small, small chance, capitals and Islanders have a small chance. But if the Flyers or the Blue Jackets both trip up, there is a chance the capitals and Islanders can step up and pass them in the standings. So last two games, I believe for every team left, ⁓ and going to go right down to the wire in my opinion. ⁓ Let's talk about Sean Couturier. And I did talk about him a couple episodes ago and I was very, very happy with Sean Couturier because I beat him up all year. I did. I beat him up all year. And I admit it at that time, you know, that he just wasn't the Sean Couturier. We need it anymore. he was a Sean Couturier that was getting paid a lot of money. He wasn't performing. He had too much ice time. ⁓ He too slow. He was dragging. ⁓ other lines down, these first and second lines down, and that something needed to happen. Danny Breyer had to cut them, trade them, buy them out something. But after looking at all these decisions, nobody wants that contract. It's going to be really hard to probably buy them out because you're going to carry a really hefty tag on him for, what is it, like seven to 10 years that he's on your roster if you buy him out. And I think it was like $6 million you carry in dead space. So I just don't see them moving on from him unless they can find a home for him. And that was a few weeks ago. Now jump ahead. And I said this publicly before. think Sean Couturier has sat down with somebody, probably like I said, Jonesy and Danny and Tocket. And they just said they had to reinvent him and he had to be willing to reinvent himself. And they moved him down to the fourth line. And Sean Couturier has been a Such a plus for that fourth line. He has made that fourth line because that fourth line was terrible before. Now all of a sudden that fourth line is Sean Couturier's line. Be it if he plays the center or the left wing, it doesn't matter. That is Sean Couturier's line. He has come out hard. He comes out fighting every night. He hits. He creates plays by hitting. And he doesn't stop hitting. If the puck's deep in the corner, you can see him take that extra step to start lining up. that defensive body on the other team. And he is doing so well. He's creating such good plays and he wasn't getting goals back then in the beginning, but he was definitely improving that fourth line where the puck was down there and he was creating opportunities for other people in his line to score. Now all of a sudden, he's doing all that, but Sean Couturier scoring. He's scoring goals. He had two goals last night, two. He had two goals and I believe in an assist. And they were good goals. they weren't just like knock ins. They were good goals. So Sean Couturier, kudos to Sean for really looking at himself and reinventing himself, accepting the position he is at this time in his career and really just running with it. some people said like maybe just making that change of putting one in the fourth line helped them a lot. maybe it did. again, I think, getting a little bit less minutes, maybe going out there, maybe not against the team's other teams best players. don't know, Sean Kitoria and ⁓ I don't know, I don't know this stuff behind the scenes, but ⁓ maybe got pissed off, you know, maybe he got really mad at himself and like he started working out a little bit more. He started eating better. ⁓ Maybe he did everything. Maybe he started eating better, working out more and taking it out on the ice. But whatever he did, you can see he ramped up his game. ⁓ And I'm glad he did. I really am. And if he stays this way, And I know this is going to get beat up probably by fans, like some fans anyhow, but if he stays this way, there's no reason. There is no reason to move this guy if he's going to be on the fourth line contributing the way he is, especially not yet. You know, let him get another another year under his belt. I want to buy him out unless there's some kind of huge deal that comes along and you have to. But he's a perfect fourth line guy. Why move him? Why move him? Because you're probably not going to get much back for him in my opinion. You're going to lose that trade or however you do it. But why move him and try to replace him with like a Connor. I'm sorry a garnet another garden Hathaway. and there's nothing wrong with Garnet Hathaway. He's a he's a banger. He goes out there he tries to hit and he's a high energy player but he's not putting up the points that Coots is and Coots is actually turned into a high energy player right now. So I'd rather see Coots stick on that fourth line ⁓ again There's some kind of deal in the offseason that blows you away and you have to move them. So kudos again to Katori. I am glad to see him step up. Taking control of his future, his destiny here with the Flyers, changing the way he plays, changing his mentality and putting in all the time and effort that he's been to get that fourth line better. Matvey Mishkov. Matvey Mishkov has been on a tear lately. You know, he's putting up points and goals almost every game these last few games. Some people question where he was and He's here. He's here. He's doing better. He's looking almost ⁓ like he did last year. I think when you see what he's going to do the last two games, I'm hoping he continues the streak. he needs to we need we need them. We need every hand on deck. We need every player on this team to play at their highest ability if they're going to get into the playoffs. So ⁓ let's he keeps going ⁓ and Porter Marton hasn't slowed down. He's getting better. Thought I read a rumor. That Zeigars called him Moose in an interview ⁓ and his new nickname, Puerto Marton, Moose. Not sure if that's accurate or not. there's been some media discussion that it's possibly what they're calling him, but until confirmation comes down, ⁓ it's rumored that Puerto Marton now known as Moose. ⁓ I missed Rick Tocket's birthday other day, I believe. So happy birthday to Rick Tocket. ⁓ And ⁓ I really appreciate Rick Tocket on the team. was ⁓ such a good player for the fires back when he was ⁓ a player. He had a lot of good fights, a lot of good goals, a lot of good hits, a lot of good intensity for the fires as a player. And I remember him well. I was always excited to see Rick hit the ice when you jumped over the boards. So I wish him nothing but happy birthday here. It's cool to see him back as the coach. He definitely caught a lot of grief from the media. He caught a lot of grief from me. Hopefully I was fair with him in the last few games that you can see there was a change in his mentality. He is maybe open to more possibilities to improve the team, to improve the lineup. He has made some changes. He has tried very hard, I believe, towards the end of this year to make this team better. And I think the Flyers players have bought into his system and they come out almost every game ready to fight for a win. ⁓ They did not do well last game they played, when they lost to Detroit. But that seems to be how we play Detroit. Sadly, Detroit for us seems to be a very hard team to play against. But every other game they have showed up for the Flyers. So, definitely Tokit's been getting them ⁓ up and ready play these games and we have two more to go. So keep up the good work and let's hope the Flyers finish ⁓ in a playoff So with that said, We'll do another episode tomorrow night. I'll be down the Flyers game. I'm hoping for a home win, pulling for a home win. I am cheering loudly today for the Blue Jackets to lose. I believe they're playing the Boston Bruins today. So go Boston Bruins, beat those Blue Jackets badly. Don't give them a chance. Don't let them tie. Don't go to overtime, beat them in regulation and beat them badly. So until the next episode, please follow us on Apple, YouTube, Spotify. We have a Facebook account. Find our website and like and subscribe and go Flyers.