Porter Martone arrives, Flyers surge and fans are believing again

Porter Martone's first goal fell right to his stick, and with no exaggeration, it was the biggest one scored for the Flyers in years.

On a rare two-man advantage in overtime from the Boston Bruins playing undisciplined and on their heels, the Flyers sent a power play unit of all forwards out into the ice, including the ascending star rookie Martone.

He planted himself right in front of the Boston net, his teammates cycled the puck around until the Bruins skaters were drawn just far enough away to get it to Christian Dvorak down by the goal line, then Dvorak slipped a quick feed right to him from underneath.

The first shot was stopped, but with a rebound that came right back. The second, Martone tucked away, just out of the reach of goaltender Joonas Korpisalo's outstretched pad, and to a blaring horn and a packed Xfinity Mobile Arena crowd that erupted in a way it hasn't for an NHL hockey game in a long, long time.

The Philadelphia Flyers beat the Boston Bruins, 2-1, in overtime on Easter Sunday.

They're OK, better even.

With the win, they pulled into third in the Metropolitan Division to grab a playoff spot at 90 points in the standings through 77 of 82 games played.

They're 7-3-0 in their last 10 games, and since coming back from the Winter Olympic break in late February, they've been on a 14-6-1 run that's been second only to the already playoff-bound Buffalo Sabres (14-4-2) during that span.

And now they're in the driver's seat of their playoff destiny after weeks of fighting to gradually climb back, with a newfound shot in the arm from Martone's jumping in from Michigan State and Tyson Foerster's earlier-than-expected return from injury as the more understated star winger.

But all just in time nonetheless.

"There's a lot of growth," Flyers head coach Rick Tocchet said of his team postgame. "I think the team's done a great job since training camp, ya know? It's a little bit of a rollercoaster sometimes, but for the most part, this team has stuck together all year. I'm really proud of them."

PORTER MARTONE WITH HIS FIRST NHL GOAL AND IT'S A BIG ONE TO WIN IT IN OVERTIME!!!! 🔥😅 pic.twitter.com/xLA8qostIM

— B/R Open Ice (@BR_OpenIce) April 5, 2026

And now, it seems like all the Flyers have been building toward, and what they've endured all season, and going back through the past few years, really – from as recent as the January spiral to as far back as the wait for Matvei Michkov, 2024's burnout down the stretch, and digging out of the Chuck Fletcher-era rubble – it's all falling into place.

The Philadelphia Flyers are doing A-OK, better even.

But they have five games left now to take it to another level.

"When you're chasing somebody, it's still hard, but when you're getting hunted, it's harder," Tocchet continued. "We're gonna have to learn that.

"We can only worry about tomorrow's practice…and then we worry about the Devils [on Tuesday]. That's the only way you can do it."

Sunday in South Philly had a totally different feel to it. Everyone wanted it that way.

Fans have been increasingly taking notice of the team clicking, and have been filling Xfinity Mobile Arena in greater numbers, ready to pop off, for the first time in years, for a Flyers squad that looked truly ready to take a step back into the playoffs.

The crowd was looking for it all Thursday night against the Detroit Red Wings, but the Flyers couldn't quite make that breakthrough in a 4-2 loss to a club that's still right there in the chase with them for a Wild Card.

Then the Flyers went to Elmont the next night to face the New York Islanders, who were just above them in the Metro. They immediately responded with a statement of a 4-1 win that narrowed the difference between the two clubs in the standings down to just a point.

On the Saturday off day to come back home, every other team next to the Flyers in the race lost – the Islanders, Blue Jackets, Senators, and Red Wings – to leave them no further ground to make up in the standings.

So Sunday felt different. It felt like the big stage for the Flyers to take control of their own fate, and the moment Lauren Hart stepped out under the lights to sing God Bless America instead of the anthem, for the first time in forever, it was.

Martone, in a continued show of how impactful the 19-year-old already is, moved in on a rolling puck along the defensive zone wall and touch-passed it through his legs to spring Dvorak up the ice for a 2-on-1 rush and a shot that put the building on its feet for the opening 1-0 tally.

The @NHLFlyers open the scoring!!! 🚨
📺: @NHL_On_TNT & @StreamOnMax ➡️ https://t.co/4TuyIATi3T pic.twitter.com/JM3GjdAp2Z

— NHL (@NHL) April 5, 2026

Dan Vladar, who might easily be the Flyers' greatest find of the offseason, stopped all but one tough Boston bounce that tied it while a continually more committed defense in front of him muddled the Bruins to just 19 shots, even through overtime. He's been brilliant, Sam Ersson behind him, too, since the Olympics, and while the structure ahead of them has gotten stronger.

Then Martone's moment finally came.

The Flyers had their foot on the gas all day, and going into overtime, the Bruins especially struggled to keep up. Their star David Pastrnak hooked Dvorak across center ice to try and stop him from breaking away off a turnover, and then immediately after the stoppage and draw from that penalty, defenseman Charlie McAvoy swung his stick up battling for the puck, and caught Trevor Zegras in the face with it to go to the box, too.

The Flyers, with a gift of a 5-on-3, had the opportunity right there, and within seconds, Martone cashed in.

The prized rookie tapped the puck to the back of the net and took off toward the boards in euphoria, as the decibels in the building from everyone roaring surged.

Zegras, in his own shock, mobbed him before he could even get there, and not far behind were his Flyers teammates to do the same.

"It was awesome. Zegras got me in a pretty good headlock there, so I didn't really get to see it much," Martone cracked afterward. "But it was awesome to get that win in front of these fans."

That crowd pop. 💥 pic.twitter.com/Gkr5A951DP

— Philadelphia Flyers (@NHLFlyers) April 5, 2026

They've been waiting for one like this for a long, long time, and though he may not have seen it, he definitely heard it. The whole team did.

"That's all I heard before I came here, that the fans are passionate," said Vladar, who couldn't help but feed into the energy when he took his victory lap during the three-star honors after the horn. "I wanted to experience it myself, and I did. [It's] great."

Better even.

The Flyers, after years of pain, have broken out to take the driver's seat of their own destiny, and with Philadelphia, in numbers, rapidly believing in them again.

Now they have five more games to take it to the next level.