Latest / Hattrick's Unofficial Flyers Podcast / Episode 18: Flyers vs Devils Recap | Apr 08, 2026
Transcript
- Rick Mullen: Hey, Flyers fans, welcome to Hatrix on official Flyers podcast. This is Rick Mullin. I will be your host today. And we are going to talk about the game that just happened last night between the Philadelphia Flyers and the New Jersey Devils. And let's jump right in. So this game on the calendar for the Flyers was a big game. Jersey was not a good team this year, and the Flyers needed these two points. They needed those two points. So looking at this calendar, I was nervous because ⁓ the definitely need these two points towards the playoffs and Jersey has always been a hard team for us to play against usually throughout the ⁓ history of the Flyers and Devils. ⁓ And know the Devils were going into this game thinking, you know what, we want to be a spoiler for the Flyers ⁓ and were going to come out and play a hard game. So when the game started, the fires came out and they were jumping and it was good to see the fires were all over Jersey. They were taking it to them ⁓ and were playing hard, getting plays, getting in the zone, getting shots. ⁓ At the 156 mark, Trevor Ziegler scores the first goal of the game ⁓ and was an assist from Travis Sannheim and Owen Tippett. One-nothing fires were up. It looks good and the fires are playing hard. A few minutes later at the 338 mark, Trevor Zegras again gets a goal on the power play from Porter Martone and Jamie Drysdale. Two nothing flyers. Flyers are all over the Jersey Devils. This was a great start. And then lo and behold, something happens and the flyers go back into a shell. And it's a shell that I've noticed a lot. And normally when we go into this shell, it's not a good thing, not a good thing at all. Usually what happens and it happened in this first period the other team takes over and Jersey took over the rest of the first period At the 1212 mark Cody glass got a goal It's two one flyers period ends and the flyers are up two to one But that whole entire second half of that first period Jersey was completely all over the flyers the flyers struggled they Struggled to get the puck out of their end. They struggled them skate the puck out of their end They struggled to pass the puck out of their end They struggled to throw the puck out of her end They just struggled getting that puck out of their end and it it was terrible, you know and When they did have the opportunity they didn't look for a play they would dump it and they would just keep dumping it and and to me that's insanity it just Takes you out of the game completely It gives the other team the ability to have the puck most of the time. And it's all it does. You get the puck and you treat it like a hot potato and you flip it down the ice and what's going to happen? The other team is going to get it and they're coming back at you. And if you do it again, they're going to get it and they're going to come back at you. And that's what the Devils did. The Devils played a possession game the rest of that first period and they were all over the flyers and it wasn't looking good. I really thought, man, they're in trouble. They're going to end up losing this game. Even though they were up by one, it was going to be one of those games where the Devils just take over and the Flyers go back into that shell and they lose. So I wasn't feeling too good about the second period and ⁓ was worried about it. know, so anyhow, second period, let's go into stats real quick. So the Devils had 24 shots last night to the Flyers 19. So they did really well limiting the Flyers chances. The Flyers have been putting on a lot of shots. lately. So having only 19 shots for the game, you know, that's a little less than what they've been averaging. The hits, the New Jersey Devils had 17 hits to the Flyers 15. New Jersey Devils had four penalty minutes to the Flyers six. And at the faceoff dot, the Flyers actually had a 57.4 percentage in faceoff wins versus the New Jersey Devils 42.6%. So the Flyers did really well there at the the dot again. you know, there was that thought now going back to the second period that, hey, this this is going to be a tough one here. And I don't know if the Flyers are going to pull through and it's going to be our typical we lose and a game that we needed the points in. But going into the second period at the 246 mark, Tyson Forrester. from a very nice pass from Matt Vey Mishkoff goes down the ice on a 2-1-1 with Tippett and the Jersey Devils defenseman basically played the pass where he moved all the way over to cover Tippett as Forrester was actually the putt carrier and he really let Forrester come all the way in and that was a bad play by that defenseman. Yeah, you want to play the pass, but you also don't want somebody just basically coming all the way up into your zone right in front of your goalie and ripping her very powerful wrist shot. And that's exactly what Tyson Forrester did. He decided not to pass. He ripped the shot right through the legs of the goalie and he scores. So it's three one fires. That was at the 246 mark. A couple of minutes later at the 458 mark, Tyson Forrester again puts it home from Trevor Zegras and Matvey Mishkov again. So Tyson Forster has a two goal game going and so does Trevor Zegras. Flyers are up four to one. The rest of the second period, the Flyers looked good. They actually got their stuff together. They were not being taken advantage of in their end. They weren't just dumping pucks. They were actually working, creating plays, winning board battles and getting down the ice. So four to one Flyers, we go into the third. And the third was kind of a... ⁓ a good, it was a good period. know, it was like either way that the, don't think like anybody actually had the upper hand. I think the Flyers had some chances, Jersey had some chances. But in the end, Jersey pulled their goalie with like maybe three, three and a half, four minutes left in the game. And Nick Seeler finally for the Flyers stuffs an empty netter from all the way down in his end. You know, the Flyers can't score on an empty net. It was very difficult. They couldn't do it for a few games and Nick's Sealer actually puts one high up in the air down the ice and it finds the back of the net and the Flyers pull off a 5-1 dominating win after that half of the first period against the New Jersey Devils. And in really, really good fashion, because it usually happens to us, with that loss, the Flyers nailed the coffin shut for the Jersey Devils and knocked them out of playoff contention. So good for the Flyers. Nice to see them finally, you know, knock the devils down. The Flyers actually swept the series this year against Jersey, I believe. And we are figuring out how to play that team a little bit better than years past. So the Flyers are, I believe, are at 92 points right now, and they are still third in the Metro. And the other game we were eyeballing last night. was the Columbus Blue Jackets versus the Detroit Red Wings. And late in that game, there was like under a minute left in that game and Detroit was actually winning three to two, which was fantastic. You know, we needed the Blues to take a loss last night. 16 seconds left in the third period, the Blues score, I'm sorry, Columbus Blue Jackets, my apologies, the Columbus Blue Jackets score. and they go up and tie the game 3-3. Fantilly stuffs one and that's it. It's 3-3 tie, 16 seconds left and they go to overtime. So Detroit and the Columbus Blue Jackets are going at it for a win in overtime and neither side can get it. They have to go to the shootout and I think it was like the fifth round or something along those lines. The Columbus Blue Jackets get the win. They stuff the last shootout goal and they get the win and they get two points. So they're right behind the Flyers. They're at 90 points. The Flyers are at 92 and we got to hope that they choke and trip somewhere along the line and don't put so much pressure on the Flyers. good game by both teams last night, sadly. We did have a lot of hopes and dreams that Columbus was going to lose, but they're right on our tail. So the Flyers again, I think play what tomorrow night, Thursday night, another big game. It's a game that they have to win. It's one that will really help us in the standings. It's not going to be easy from this point out. It's going to be a ⁓ difficult last few games of the year. We are playing the Red Wings and you know the Red Wings we beat pretty Pretty good the one one ⁓ Game a couple weeks back and then the last game we played them they beat us and you know Red Wings just aren't out of it. They're not out of it We seem to struggle with them the Brinkett and Kane always seem to kill us when we play them. So That game could go either way even though on paper the Flyers should have a better shot at beating them than them beating us. So I'm really hoping they can find themselves here and get this win on Thursday. And I put this team behind that are chasing us to rest behind us and get get a little bit of leeway to just lock down that third place in the Metro a little bit better. ⁓ Couple things we're going to talk about Dan Valdar during that game. Dan Vlidar actually played fantastic. He was really strong. He played a really good game. He made some really, really strong point blank shots. it was one play, someone took a shot, the rebound came out, he slid across with his pad, hit it, stopped it from going in, but the puck went right back to ⁓ one of the devil's players and he had a second shot where he put it up into Vlidar's arm. And you know, Vlidar made a second seed within like half a second. So Vlidar earned that game last night, he earned that win. It was good to see and our goal-tending is staying steady right now. So I'm guessing they, when we play the Devils on Thursday, I'm hoping anyway that they go back to Vlidar. We already went with Erson last time and we lost it, I'm sorry, when we played the Red Wings. We already played with Erson last time and we lost to the Red Wings. So I'm hoping that we can get a Vlodar show going again against the Red Wings on Thursday and maybe he'll have a little bit better luck. In the news, this is kind of wild. I'm reading this article and it's about Matvey Mishkov. So Matvey Mishkov has got fined $2,000 for embellishment, I believe it was yesterday. for the game that he played on March 24th versus the Columbus Blue Jackets. And it was Dante Faber or Fabro, something like that. He cross-checked Matt Vey and Matt Vey was getting ready for the cross-check. He knew it was coming. And as soon as he got hit, he fell to his knees and supposedly looked right over at the refs when it happened. And that was the play. So the league must have reviewed. you know, what he was doing for embellishment and he got his first fine of $2,000 for embellishment. I think it goes like $3,000, $4,000, $5,000 for now each embellishment that he does thereafter. And if he doesn't rein it in, then I believe the fines go to the coach as well. And they start, I think, at $3,000, $4,000, $5,000. So, Kind of crazy, know, seeing like a week or two later that he gets fined for embellishment during a game that quite honestly most of us probably have forgotten about. So really weird, really weird there to see that in the ⁓ news today about Mavve. I believe Anthony DiMarco, he was just talking about the Flyers being in... on a KHL free agent, Vantali Pinchuk. And I'm hoping I'm pronouncing that name correctly. But he is a 24 year old center. He's six foot three, I think 204 pounds. He plays for Minsk. And he has what 31 goals for 66 points and leads his team in points. They say he's a really good player. He really has done well this past year. He would be somebody that could absolutely maybe gel with Mischkoff a little bit. ⁓ So kind of anxious to see this guy. I haven't looked at his highlights yet. I mean, meant to do that yesterday, but I didn't get time. I'm going to go back in and try to find some today, but would be really nice to see. you know, from what I'm hearing or reading, It sounds like there are a lot of teams like 15 to 30 teams, you, wherever you look that are all in on this kid, you know, that have interest in him. So, God knows where he'll land, but it does sound like he's going to have a ton of interest and more than likely come over here, ⁓ next year, you know, to get a shot at the NHL and see how his game, ⁓ is over here in North America. So. let's see what the Flyers can pull out. If you look at this team right now for the Flyers, there's a lot of things that people had talked about in the last few months about who they need to move, who they need to trade, who they need to get. And we were all on the same page. We know the Flyers need better centers, no doubt about it. And in some of this year, Zygras wasn't playing center, he was playing wing. But over the last month or so, Zygrs has been a center and he's doing pretty good. He's not doing too bad. He is a little small when he plays against Washington. He gets beat around a lot. So he needs to put on a little size in the off season if he wants to play center, in my opinion. ⁓ But there was a lot of people talking about, hey, we should package Tipit up with so-and-so. you know, try to get that in one C and then, you know, it was, hey, let's move Forester and blah, blah, blah. You know, like I'm just not there now. You know, I'm not there at all. Like I wasn't there when people want to move Tippett. I think Tippett's salary and what he brings to the table and his upside and his power forward. It's just too important to this team. And now when you have Forester back, I know maybe some people were thinking about like what Forester was like last year. And the year before they felt like he was expendable, but not a chance. Like, like Forster found himself in the beginning of this year. He was leading the team, I think with like 10 goals before he got hurt. And he comes right back in and I think he's already got three goals already since being back. And you don't get rid of a guy like that. A young guy, big guy, a big shooter. You just don't, know, Marton comes in and he's a lot like Forster, you know, so, and he's only 19 years old. Like he's, he's the... the unknown here at this point. know he's good, but he doesn't even have like a year under his belt yet. Like he could be better than Forster by next year. He could be the same as Forster. We don't know, but he's got a lot of upside, a lot of upside. Kid loves to shoot. He's in the right places. He goes to the net. You know, I don't think I move tip of Forster or Marton for anybody at this point. The Flyers. center problem still exists, but you start looking again and you start rethinking your place and you think, okay, you know, we're not a great team yet, but we're playing great right now. If they could keep this up, that would be fantastic. But do we really wanna get rid of, a Barky, a Mishkoff, a Picker Two to get a 2C? Because in all honesty, More than likely, Zegras is going to stay at center and he's going to be a 1-2-C on this team. And that line, if it keeps playing the way it is with Zegras, Forster, and Tippett, that's a first line on any team, any decent team. It can be a first line and they have produced very well. So where are we really in need? We're in need for maybe a second line center. And you got Devo, you got Couturier, you have Cates. so someone's got to go in that mix ⁓ and where it gets a little tricky. if they're looking at maybe bringing in this, ⁓ KHL free agent, we don't know if he's as good as Devo or Kate's yet. he's never played in the NHL, so he would have to come in and somewhere along the lines, we would have to find a place to slot them and see how he does. ⁓ And if he's not better Devo or Kate's or Zegres, where are we putting them? Fourth line center? Maybe. ⁓ You know, probably, you know, we're probably gonna get rid of Glenn Denning and that's where he would go. ⁓ So it's one of those things where maybe they notch everyone down a line. Like maybe they go and they drop Cates to the fourth line next year, Devo to the third, and then that opens up that second line center. And then they have to find one that's not gonna cost them the farm. Because I really do think this team, the way they're made up right now, they're... They're pretty deep. They I believe they are. They just have to learn to play a little bit better together. And they've shown that they can over these last, what, 12 or 13 games. it's, it's something where if they can get like another two C, maybe a one C potential to see that can make a big difference on this team. have four solid lines scoring. You have four lines flying around ⁓ next year for defense. You you start looking at and you think, you know, Risto has been a really big part of this run for these last 12, 13 games. Do we really want to move Risto? I'm not sure. I mean, in all honesty, like without Risto on this lineup right now, I don't know where we go here. know, Risto has been pretty strong back there every time that pucks in deep. Like he seems to be the only one that's able to dig it out of the corner and get it out of our zone. He, his contracts coming up. He doesn't cost much next year. And in all honesty, probably the resign them wouldn't cost too much either, you know, because he doesn't have a lot of a springboard here to, to, go off of. He, he's been hurt. So I think you can get a really good contract for him, based on the amount of time he's been injured. And I know that's always a next worry. Like, he, will he stay healthy or not? Well, he has so far the rest of this year. So hoping, hoping he can cause Risto, I think in my opinion, I would probably keep him. I would definitely probably keep him. You you can knock out Juleson. You can probably knock out Andre too. ⁓ Bring Jurecek up. And you you have some bigger defensive bodies now. You have Jurecek who has a really, hopefully a strong upside. He just needs to get a little stronger and learn the speed and make better decisions. But he's a point per game player right now down with the Phantoms. So he's showing a lot, you know. I don't know what they're going to do this off season, but they have a lot of money. I think they have over $40 million available to mess around with next season. And what do you do? there's not really good free agents out there. you may be able to ⁓ offer sheet somebody and I don't know how the offer sheet thing works right now. I know when we did it with Shay Weber, ⁓ it was hard. think Paul Hongren got ostracized for actually doing an offer sheet. I know St. Louis Blues just did it. I believe that Edmonton. I don't know. don't know if Danny is worried about blackballing himself by doing an offer sheet and if he's going to try to just do it through the trade route, but definitely little tweaks can be made. I, you look at the goalie situation and more than likely, Erson's not coming back. There was a little talk about Zavragan. maybe getting released early because there's really not a spot for him over there. So maybe he comes over and wins the backup role. But I do think Ersin goes either way. I think Kolesov gets moved. I think Zvragn maybe comes early like Mishkov did and the Flyers pick up somebody, some vet as a backup to Vlad next year. So there's gonna be a couple little tweaks but... I just don't know if I sell the farm to try to get a Robert Thomas. Robert Thomas might not even be available after the run he's on right now. St. Louis, they'd be crazy to trade him. They just would. He's playing fantastic. He's their best player over these last 12, 13 games. So I don't know what they're doing. There is talk about ⁓ them going after guys like Bernier and maybe Shane Wright for the lesser part of that. ⁓ hard decisions that Danny is going to have here because in order to get something, he's going to have to give something. And it's, I wouldn't want to be in his shoes because there's so many talented kids here right now that it would be hard to move. It's hard to, it's hard to give up on a tippet. It's hard to give up on a Forester. It's really hard to give up on like a Martone or a Mishkoff. ⁓ So what do you do? You know, nobody wants your third and fourth liners. You know, so how do you get what you need without walking away? And that's where it's a difficult position. if Danny feels that they truly need like a 2C, I think they can make that work. know, barky bump might be expendable in that situation. But I think right now you got to hang tight to your Forester, your Martone, your Mischkoffs, your you just have to so anxious to see what they do in the offseason. But that's that's a future problem for right now. I'm looking forward to this playoff run. I'm hoping the Flyers can get in. They're doing all the right things right now. Tomorrow's game is probably the biggest game of the year again, and we say this every week. If Columbus had lost last night, it wouldn't be as dramatic, but we need to win. We need to beat the Red Wings. The Flyers have to come up big. beat these Red Wings tomorrow night and put them to rest and get those two extra points so they can pull ahead hopefully by four points on Columbus. But anyhow, with that said, that'll wrap up the podcast for the day. Please like and follow us on Facebook, like and follow us on Apple, Spotify, YouTube, find our website. and subscribe. This way you'll know every time there's an episode that's dropped. We have a mailbag and we'll take any questions or concerns or ideas you want to talk about. I did get the Mishkov forwarded to me from a good friend of mine, Randy Egger. He wanted to talk about it a little bit. So I forgot to drop you some kudos on that Mishkov text that you sent me, Randy. So thank you much for bringing that to my attention. ⁓ Let's go flyers.