The Flyers are still rolling.
Tyson Foerster stayed hot with a two-goal game, Sam Ersson battled all the way through overtime and then the shootout in net, and the Flyers topped the Islanders 4-3 to make it five wins in their last six games as they approach the season's finish line.
They're still heading toward another early summer, but doing so with flashes of something promising brewing for down the line.
Here's why…
Foerster stays on it
Tyson Foerster remains on his heater.
Early into the second period, and while on the power play from a Noah Dobson hook, the Flyers jumped on the rush down the ice and had the Islanders' penalty kill caught on their heels.
Sean Couturier kept high with the puck along the wall. Foerster drifted down low, and no one was there to cover him.
Couturier slipped him the puck, and with plenty of space and time, Foerster closed in along the goal line, then roofed a backhander over the shoulder of Isles goaltender Marcus Högberg for the 1-0 lead.
Tyson Foerster stays HOT! 🥵
He's got seven goals in his last six games (including a hat trick)! #NHLStats: https://t.co/LcNvWHbSym pic.twitter.com/R8v7zxyCNv— NHL (@NHL) April 12, 2025
The sequence brought Foerster up to 23 goals on the season and to the 40-point mark for the first time, which are both career highs.
And then he had one more in him, for the winner.
Make that FIVE GOALS in his last TWO GAMES! 🔥
Tyson Foerster is on hatty watch AGAIN! pic.twitter.com/nx9U3lBZCm— NHL (@NHL) April 12, 2025
So make it 24 and 41.
The 23-year-old winger registered his first career hat trick Wednesday night in New York against the Rangers, and over his last six games now, has eight goals (six at even strength) and nine points with a plus-4 rating.
He's really broken out offensively of late, and hopefully that's a development that carries over into next season.
Michkov reaches 60
Now rewind the tape on Foerster's first goal back a bit: The Islanders are peeling up the wall with the puck, and at the defensive blue line, Matvei Michkov cuts off the angle and takes a swipe at the puck to knock it free and send the Flyers down the other way.
The goal horn blared seconds later, and Michkov was credited with the secondary assist on the play to register his 60th point on the season.
He became the ninth Flyer ever to reach 60 points in his rookie season, and the first since Mikael Renberg in the 1993-94 campaign.
Moreover, the 20-year-old star reached the milestone with a slick defensive play to change possession.
So it's not just that he's putting up numbers, but that he's doing it as a more complete player, too.
Hey, hey Pelletier
The Flyers were down, then their line of Ryan Poehling, Owen Tippett, and Jakob Pelletier flew down the ice on a rush with some pinpoint passing, and with Pelletier tucking away the goal in front for the tie.
Just keep Pelting them. #NYIvsPHI | #LetsGoFlyers pic.twitter.com/UEouDYYuME
— Philadelphia Flyers (@NHLFlyers) April 12, 2025
That trio can skate with some real speed, if not always consistently, and now Pelletier also finds himself on his own mini hot streak, with two goals and three points in his last three games.
Maybe it's a sign that Pelletier is getting comfortable in Philly after arriving from Calgary through the Joel Farabee/Morgan Frost trade from a couple of months ago.
It's an important showing for the 24-year-old, too, as he tries to carve out his own role on the Flyers heading toward next year.
- MORE FLYERS
- Tyson Foerster scores hat trick, reaches 20-goal mark again, and cements his place in Flyers' rebuild
- Flyers thoughts: On the final stretch and Brad Shaw's interest in being a full-time head coach
- Flyers fans are flocking to Tankathon, too, plus other thoughts
Sam stays with it
It hasn't been an easy stretch for Sam Ersson since coming back from the 4 Nations break, or an easy season in general.
But on Saturday against the Islanders, he battled.
He got beat by Noah Dobson five-hole for the 2-1 Islanders lead in the second period, and had the pressure on him in a frame where the Isles outshot the Flyers 14-4, but he fought through tough save after tough save to give the Flyers a chance, which looked to be enough with Foerster's second goal for the lead, and then a ticking clock and an empty New York net…
But the Flyers couldn't sink any of those last looks. Michkov shot one wide again, and Foerster was sent out there to try and get his second consecutive hat trick, but couldn't force one more through.
Play swung the other way, the puck swung out to Bo Horvat across the top of the right circle, and he tied it with just over a minute left to send the game to overtime and then the shootout.
Yet Ersson locked in through those, too. He kept New York off the board through the extra frame, cleared their four extra shooters away until Bobby Brink could break the stalemate, then made that one last stop on Kyle Palmieri to close it out.
It was a huge game for him.
How about that?
Here's a stat line that comes as a bit of a shocker…
• The Flyers' power play percentage and rank from the start of the season to March 26, before John Tortorella was fired: 13.7 percent, 30th in the NHL.
• The Flyers' power play percentage and rank from March 27 to ahead of Saturday's game, after Tortorella was fired: 30.8 percent, and fourth in the NHL in that span.
The Flyers went 1-for-4 on the man advantage against the Islanders on Saturday after Foerster snuck that backhander in along the goal line.
Their percentage overall for the season, not including Saturday: 14.8 percent, and still at 30th in the league.
Perfect? By no means, but hey, it is an improvement – and another late one coming down the final stretch.
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