Flyers lay an egg in opener, get booed off the ice after 7-0 loss to the Penguins
The Flyers, who entered the season with increased expectations, were quickly humbled in front of the Xfinity Mobile Arena crowd. The defeat equalled their largest ever in a season opener.
It didn’t feel like 144 days had passed.
The roars — at the start — seemed to roll on from that spring day in May when the Flyers’ season ended. The fan appreciation felt as they left the ice following a sweeping loss to the eventual Stanley Cup champion Carolina Hurricanes was still palpable, especially when coach Rick Tocchet and players like Denver Barkey (who is injured), Matvei Michkov, Porter Martone, Trevor Zegras, and Dan Vladař were introduced.
But that, and a thundering open-ice defensive-zone hit by Rasmus Ristolainen early on, were about the only times the hometown faithful were happy, as the Flyers were thumped 7-0 by the visiting Pittsburgh Penguins. Almost like whiplash, the cheers quickly turned to boos.
» READ MORE: The Flyers embarrassed themselves against the Penguins. It’s not too early to be a little concerned.
“It’s the first game. If this is going to be happening in a steady [way], it’s not a place you want to be around,” coach Rick Tocchet said. “I think the fans, obviously they hate losing to the Penguins [but] I just thought when you get a battle, and the fans pay good money, that’s what they’re mad about. We didn’t come up with any loose pucks.”
“I don’t know. You [the media] saw it. I honestly don’t have an answer,” he said. “I don’t know if we won a battle tonight. When you go win battles, they have the puck. They outcoached us tonight. They outplayed us. They did everything better.”
The Flyers ended the Penguins’ season last year on Cam York’s overtime winner in Game 6. Pittsburgh played like a group looking for revenge and handed the Flyers a loss so lopsided it equaled the worst opening-night dud in the team’s history. The Flyers also lost 7-0 to the Los Angeles Kings on Oct. 21, 1971, at The Spectrum.
“We got to wake up. Last exhibition game [a 5-1 loss to a young Washington Capitals group] we played was the same way, and everyone’s like, ‘Oh, it’s training camp, we’re going to ease our way into the season, but we got to wake up here,” captain Sean Couturier said.
“I mean, there’s no panic. Nothing. But I just think we’ve got to realize that we’re not that good. What happened last year is last year, and you’ve got to move on, and it’s a fresh year.”
The Flyers were a mess at both ends of the ice Wednesday. Although the roster from last year largely remains intact — Noel Acciari and Simon Benoit made their debuts — the players were disconnected when passing the puck in the Penguins’ end and, in turn, in their defensive structure. The Flyers often allowed Pittsburgh to breeze through the middle, drive to the net untouched, and pile 38 shots on goal compared to their 19.
As a team, they had 21 giveaways to the Penguins’ 11, with veteran blueliner Travis Sanheim and rookie winger Martone leading the way with four each.
Martone did not play the final 4 minutes, 21 seconds of the first period after he was part of a bad line change that led to Ville Koivunen’s goal that made it 2-0. Koivunen received a stretch pass from Sam Girard, got behind the Orange and Black’s defense, and out-deked Vladař to score five-hole.
The teenager was then demoted to the fourth line halfway through the second period as Tocchet started shuffling lines, with every other right winger moving up a spot, including Michkov moving to the second line to skate with Tyson Foerster and Christian Dvorak.
But it didn’t matter who was with who. According to Natural Stat Trick, the Flyers did not put a single high-danger shot on Penguins goalie Artūrs Šilovs at five-on-five. Vladař faced 12. This easily translates to: the Flyers did not drive to the net, and they let the Penguins swarm theirs.
“We shot ourselves in the foot on a couple of them,” said Sanheim, who was on for two goals against. “We gave them probably half their goals.”
Nick Robertson quieted the crowd less than 8 minutes into the opening frame with his first as a Penguin, scoring on a nifty redirect of a pass by Kris Letang near the right post. Crosby got the secondary assist, and the crowd, of course, booed mercilessly as he registered his 140th point against the Flyers, the most in NHL history.
Evgeni Malkin made it 3-0 on a give-and-go with Hendrix Lapierre during a Penguins power play. The future Hall of Famer passed the puck to Lapierre at the left flank and rotated down from the point into the bumper, opening up his body for the quick strike.
Lapierre added his own tally 2:23 later, scooping up the puck in the neutral zone, catching Carl Grundström flat-footed as he blew past him, and scoring short-side on a late-developing two-on-one. Filip Hållander then made it a handful of goals with just his second career marker, scoring on his second swipe atop the crease as everyone crashed down.
In the third period, Robertson added a sixth during a Flyers power play when his missed shot went off the end boards, off Vladař’s skate, and in. Finally, Egor Chinakhov wrapped up the scoring with a power-play tip-in off of a shot from Erik Karlsson.
And to compound things, although it is expected these days, a Flyers power play that ranked dead last last season (15.7%) and tied for the fourth-most short-handed goals allowed has picked up right where it left off. According to Natural Stat Trick, the man advantage had 13 shot attempts, six shots on goal, and six scoring chances. It still went 0-for-3, allowed two scoring chances, and that goal.
“If we won 7-0, I’d say the same thing: It’s a long year. We can’t get too high. We can’t get too low. So you have to have that approach, but there’s alarming things,” Tocchet said. “We obviously didn’t want to battle. We had a lot ... snowblowers. It was a couple of plays [where] we don’t go through people. We don’t have to kill them, but you can’t play this game if you don’t win battles.
“I don’t know if guys are reading the press clippings. I don’t know. But it wasn’t good, even the last two exhibition games, the same thing. We play like this tomorrow with a team like Jersey; it’s going to be worse. So we’ve got to be careful.”
» READ MORE: The Flyers’ Achilles heel has long been their last-ranked power play. Turning the tide in 2026-27 is imperative.
Breakaways
Alex Bump and Nick Seeler were the only two players who were not on the ice for a goal against. ... Owen Tippett led the team with seven shot attempts, including four shots on goal, and six hits. Michkov had five shot attempts, with one needing to be saved by Šilovs. ... Konecny had the best Flyers chance of the night, tipping in a pass from Tippett as he stood atop the crease on a power play. ... Benoit got drilled by Robertson from behind in the second period but the Penguin was only given a minor. ... Malkin became the sixth player in NHL history to notch 100 or more points against the Flyers, joining Crosby (140), Mario Lemieux (124), Jaromír Jágr (120), Bryan Trottier (117), and Wayne Gretzky (100).
Up next
The Flyers get right back to action on Thursday, taking on the Devils in New Jersey (7 p.m., ESPN+, Hulu, Disney+).
