Latest / Hattrick's Unofficial Flyers Podcast / Episode 11: Flyers vs Blackhawks ReCap - March 27th, 2026
Transcript
- Rick Mullen: Hey everybody, welcome to Hatrix Unofficial Flyers podcast. I'm Rick Mullen. I'm your host for the night. And I wanted to recap the Philadelphia Flyers versus the Chicago Blackhawks. What a game tonight. Really good game tonight. The Flyers came out. They came out from the drop of the puck and they played hard. They hit, they skated, they were creative, they were cycling. They were shooting, they were driving the net, and most importantly, they were scoring goals. You the Flyers pulled off a big win tonight. They won five to one against Chicago. Could have been way more, way more. The Flyers did fantastic. If you look at the shots, the Flyers had 42 shots compared to Chicago's 26. Flyers had 22 hits compared to Chicago's 13. The Flyers had six penalty minutes while Chicago had eight, but the Flyers dominated in the faceoff. They have a 61.8 % versus a 38.2 % for Chicago. ⁓ Every line did very well tonight. I think the entire team looked good. Every line contributed. They played very, very well. You know in the first period like 48 seconds in Alex bump scored from Christian Dvorak a little while later in the first Sean couturier scores from a Luke Lindenic pass and Fantastic see Coots get up on the board like twice in a row with goals ⁓ it's great to see the fourth line actually contributing ⁓ most of this we were complaining that the fourth line didn't do anything and You know, now all a sudden we have Couturier, Hathaway and Glendening out here being a productive fourth line. And it's nice to see, you know, it's chipping in goals here and there when, you know, the games are needed and our goals are needed and it's good to see it. So kudos to that line. it took all year to figure out a decent fourth line and ⁓ that look like a good fourth line at this point. We went into the second period with ⁓ Denver Barkey scoring a goal from Trevor Zegras and Owen Tibbitt. Connor Bedard beats Sam Erson tonight on one shot. That's it. Sam stopped 25 shots and let a pretty good rip from Connor Bedard beat him. ⁓ know, Puck was a heck of a shot. So Sam played fantastic tonight. Sam stood on his head. Sam made some huge saves. This game could have easily been 5-3. Flyers I think still would have won. still would have dominated here, but definitely ⁓ Sam stood on his head and stopped some some goals from going in that, you know, definitely look like they were not going to be stopped and Sam somehow found a way to stop those shots. So good for Sam. It's nice to see Sam actually fighting his game a little bit. I believe Sam has won his last three games. Which is great because he's finding himself, you know, so it's nice to see him find himself towards the end of the year. ⁓ I think Vlad R is going to need some help towards the end here. And if Sam can keep playing like this and steal a win here and there for us, it's a good thing for us and the team. So good for Sam and hopefully he can keep up the good work here. Noah Cates, he scores in the second period from Mishkoff and bump. It was a really nice play by Mish. Mish went into the corner and he got pressed against the boards and... You he kind of pushed a little bit off the boards and kind of, you know, it's funny. You look at it and you think, what a, he threw a backhand pass from the boards out to a breaking, um, Noe Cates and Noe Cates goes in and stuffs a backhander, makes some moves, goes to a backhand and top shelfs it. Um, but the pass from Mischkoff was fantastic. Like, like him knowing that Cates was there was such a, such a good, play, a good read. mean, he had his back to the hole play. He turned his head a little bit, caught probably Cates out of his ⁓ side vision, his peripheral vision there, and he laid out a little backhanded pass that sent Noah Cates on his way to a breakaway goal. So fantastic play from Noah and Mischkov and Bump. And then last to finish off the scoring was Christian Dvorak, from Owen Tippett and Noah Cates. So, ⁓ man, was a nice Nice showing by all the lines. They really looked good. You know, you have Owen Tippett having to assist tonight, believe. Bump has a goal and an assist. Noah Cates has a goal and an assist. Really, really good game. So, excited to see the Flyers finally win a game like this. I think the Flyers really needed it. I think if you look at... ⁓ what they've been doing lately, you know, they've been playing really good games and then they, you know, one or I should say they've been playing really good periods. You know, they'll have one tremendous period where they're out playing the other team and then all of sudden in the next two periods, they're terrible and they can't score goals and you know, they try and they try and they try and then they can't score and I think it deflates them and then they end up having bad periods after that and losing games. But this game here, you know, when that puck was dropped, they went right at it. I mean, they went right at it. So I think they had a game plan tonight. They went right at Chicago and you know, I think the fires were up like two goals and it was like a, like a blood in, in water. It was like a shark smelling blood in water that the fires knew they had this game and it lit them up and they played harder and scored more. So it was good to see the team. get a game like this because they need confidence. They need to know they can score. They need to be able to build off of something. And after you lose a game like the other night against ⁓ Columbus, you know, it's, it's hard to rebound from that loss. And they did, they did very well. You know, I know Chicago is not a great team, guess what? Like anybody can beat anybody in the NHL right now. If you're on your game and the Flyers were absolutely on their game tonight and there was no chance Chicago was going to win this game. Flyers put it away and they put it away early and they kept their foot on the gas and they just built on that lead and put them away. So good for the Flyers. ⁓ Three stars tonight, know, picked after the game were ⁓ for a third star was Jamie Drysdale. Jamie looked really good. Jamie was flying around the ice tonight. He didn't have any points. It's kind of crazy. I'm looking at the stats and he had no points tonight, but I would have bet that he did, you know, but he didn't. He skated. all over the place. looked like a ⁓ light Quinn Hughes today. He was running around the net. He was circling. He was going in deep. He was doing a lot of things that hopefully he keeps doing and get better and better at. If we can get him to be somewhat of a Quinn Hughes light, that would be fantastic. This team would really, really use that kind of player. ⁓ But he was that player tonight. He went in, he cycled, he got behind the net, he used his speed. And did real well so good to see Jamie Drysdale, you know not be on a scoreboard, but still get third star Second star was Devo, know Devo did real well. He had a heck of a game tonight as well He played hard. He had the last goal of the game He had ⁓ What an assist me see here. We have one assist to one assist had a goal and an assist tonight ⁓ Nice game by Devo. He's been pretty steady and not laying it up, but just steady. So good for Devo. And then the first star was Sam Merson. Going back to Sam again, good for Sam. Sam needed this. I think it was good to see that he bounced back and he started to find his game. He's got three wins under his belt, the last three games he's played. And hopefully he can keep up that pace and give Ladd a little break and the Flyers don't have to worry about. putting a backup goalie in. If they know Sam's playing as well as Vlad, then it should be good. They should be able to play around both their goalies and have confidence in both their goalies. ⁓ Noah Cates did not make the stars, the three stars of the night, but for me he did. Noah Cates is an animal right now. He's looking fantastic. He had a goal in an assist tonight. He had a goal the other night. He's been really turning it on lately. And ⁓ think Noah is one heck of a fine by the Flyers, you know, like Noah wasn't even a center from what I remember. I think Noah was a wing that we converted over to a center and it's been working out for not just the Flyers, but Noah Cates as well. Noah Cates is one of the best third line centers in the league. he was a great pickup for us and I think, he's just going to get better and better as One, he gets stronger, he gets more experience, and as the Flyers put better players on this team, this is going to be a good core third line center for this team for a while, Noah Cates will be. So hopefully the Flyers can figure out a way to get that first line center, second line center that we desperately need. Let's kind of talk about Ziggy a little bit. Zegras is being used right now as a center. ⁓ I don't know where stands. I know in the offseason, the beginning of this year, he wanted to play center. He wants to come back here. He felt, you know, more comfortable in center. But, Z had a really good ⁓ face off percentages tonight. ⁓ I don't know the numbers. I last I looked, had won like seven out of like nine or something like that. You know, again, it could be wrong, but he had a decent ⁓ face off percentage tonight, you know, which was good because he normally doesn't. But tonight he did. But. You know, when I look at Zegras, unless he can put some mass on, I just don't see him as a center. He gets knocked off the puck too easy. And it's ⁓ just evident that when he goes in, he's trying not to make contact. I think it was actually him that was on the play tonight that he should have had Bidart. That should have been his guide. He missed coverage on him. So, and that's not the first time Z did it earlier. I think like last game he did the same thing. He left that slot guy open who came down the middle and stuff they were shot over Vlad. So Z is trying to learn that position. But to me, I don't think he's a center. I really don't. I really think if you look at Z's numbers for this year, when we had him on wing, he was actually doing a lot better. His numbers were producing more. I think he was like a point per game player. where now since he's been taken over, think after that break, the Olympic break, he's been in center. And I think he's maybe a half a point a game guy at this point now. So I would rather have the Flyers talk to him and realistically show him his stats, what he's doing, make him feel good and get his input. Where does he wanna be? I really do think if we move him and can get two ⁓ centers here, our first set line, second line center, Z is much more dangerous on the wing. ⁓ That's me. Maybe Z grows and he gets better at center, maybe put some weight on and some size over the season and ⁓ we'll see happens. But ⁓ I think is more of a winger than a center. ⁓ And I'm he thinks that too, because if he's not going to get used as a center. then he might not be happy here and he might not want to sign here with us. And if we only sign him because we need him per se, but we're playing him in a center role and he's not doing well in it, what's the point of signing him? Let's not fall into a trap here and put somebody somewhere that they don't do too well in. So I hope he comes to the conclusion he's a winger and he accepts that role and he thrives at it. There's nothing wrong with it. You know, at all. Patterson, I'm not comparing Zegarst to Patterson, you know, Patterson's had a hell of a career. He scores lots of goals and you know, Z could do the same thing. know, Z can use that wing position and use his speed and his breakout and his shot is immense. You know, he's got a really good shot when he can get it off. So, you know, there's futures for star wingers and I think Z is definitely better on the wing than at the center. So. Let's see what happens there. I'm anxious to see Marton get on this team. I really am. Danny had an interview with Ashley Sullivan and he was talking a little bit about Marton and saying basically, good luck to Marton, hope he wins. But as soon as he's done, he's coming in here and he will get time on the flyers. It's gonna be great to see him. I wanna see him. That guy's a scoring machine right now and I think on this team, he's gonna he's gonna. need some time, you know, like, let's like a carried away and like put so much pressure on this guy. And I'm trying not to, but it's ⁓ it's hard not to because you look at it and you see a guy that like, I hate to say this, but he's like Cutter, like, you know, he has that natural neck for the net. And, you know, I was excited to see Cutter get on this team because I knew he could score goals. had a heck of a shot. And, you know, then all of sudden, like the Cutter debacle happened and Cutter's not here and that's okay. Like I said, I'm past it, but knowing that we have a Marton coming in here, that's almost the same thing, but his attitude is 100 % better than Cutter's. You know, I'm excited. I can't wait to see this kid play. I can't wait to get him on the flyers next year and get a whole year under his belt. the sooner the better. If we can extend the season here a little longer, which would be fantastic, we'll see Marton play more. You know, if we can get into that playoffs, which is going to be hard, but if we can get into those playoffs position, ⁓ we got Forrester coming back. We have Marton adding to this team. I think the Flyers got a really good outlook with these kids soon as we can get them one healthy for Forrester and two Marton out of college and up here playing with us. So let's hope the Flyers go far. I'm excited to see Marton and I would like to see him for a bit this year. No next year he'll be here, but I don't want to wait. I'm selfish. I want to see him now. know, want to see him now. know, instant gratification. I want to see him now. So hopefully he gets here soon. So that's it. That's a wrap on the podcast here. We'll recap. I believe the Flyers are playing Detroit on Saturday and then Dallas on Sunday. So we'll either do reviews for both games or maybe we'll just do one on Sunday for both games. But Do me a favor, please find our website, find our YouTube site, please like and subscribe, follow the show. We have a mailbag. Any questions, topics, anything? I'm looking for feedback, guys. Send me something. Let me know what your thoughts are, what you want to kind of talk about, and we'll try to get some conversations going around those topics. So until next one, really good hockey tonight. Really good hockey was good to see the Flyers get this big win and get some confidence and actually dominate a team finally for once. So go Flyers and we'll see you this weekend.