Inside Flyers’ Locker Room After Matvei Michkov & Owen Tippett FUEL INSANE 5-3 Win Over NJ Devils

Inside Flyers’ Locker Room After Matvei Michkov & Owen Tippett FUEL INSANE 5-3 Win Over NJ Devils

Charlie, first and foremost, why not us? Thoughts on the game, my friend? Yeah, it was it was a fun game. Uh definitely an entertaining game to watch. Uh no one would would be able to call this one boring. It it was back and forth. Um goalending on both sides was strong. I thought Var made a bunch of amazing saves. I thought Marsher made some really good saves. To me, the uh the big takeaway that I have coming out of it is I was very impressed by the Flyers and their response after the Devils cut it to 4-3 because the Devils at the end of the second period, they are flying. They were all over the Flyers. They obviously cut it to 4-2 near the end of the period, but there were like three or four chances they had to cut it to 4-2 before they finally did break through. Then in the start of the third, they’re flying again. They’re all over the Flyers. Ziggress makes a bad play that leads to the 4-3 goal. Then I think it’s Hathaway has the puck over the glass penalty. And you’re thinking, “Oh man, not only is this game going in overtime, this game might not even go in overtime because the Devils might just score three more by the end of this period. They’re rolling.” The Flyers found a way. They found a way to stabilize. They found a way to reset on the fly. And after they kill that penalty, the Flyers are the ones pushing forward. They’re creating chances. They’re they’re not they’re not sitting back into a shell just hoping that Dan Ladar, you know, saves their bacon through the final 11 12 minutes of the game. That they’re going out there and they’re trying to add another goal on onto the uh onto the total. And I really like that. I like the fact that they didn’t just sit back. I like the fact they were able to to regain their momentum. And I asked uh I asked Travis Conknney about it uh after the game and he said number one which was interesting he said that in between the second and third Nick Cer stepped up in the room and said if we want to make the playoffs these are the kinds of games you got to win. These are the kinds of games you know a game at the end of November second game of backtoback. This is the kind of game where you just got to find a way. And then it it had something ring ring a bell in my head because I remember after not last season obviously last season was a disaster. But the season before that the year that they go to game 82, they don’t get in the playoffs, but they they last through the entire way of the season. I remember we interviewed Travis Kknne in his exit interview and he basically said, you know, the big takeaway I have from this season is that the nothing game in the middle of November, in the middle of December on the road, that game matters. that maybe, you know, being a young player, I might not realize how much that game actually matters in the grand scheme of things, but you know, you’re looking back and you’re thinking, man, maybe we wouldn’t have had to win game 82 and get help if we would have won one of those games. Well, this was one of those games. And KKNY said, “Look, going through that two years ago,” because I brought it up to him. Kne say, “Hey, going through that two years ago and learning that lesson, that benefited us on this night that that we were able to just be like, you know what, it’s second game of backtoback, you know, fourth game in in six nights. We’re tired, but this game will matter. If we want to make the playoffs, this game will matter.” And that’s growth. That’s learning. And that’s hopefully because I I’d like to think, Bill, I I really would. I’d like to think that these years of mediocrity, these years of them not achieving anything, I’d like to think that it ultimately means something beyond just a bunch of fans yelling about it. I’d like to think they they took some lessons. I’d like to think that, you know, that that they can learn something from failure. And tonight, it really does seem like they learned from two years ago, from five years ago, whatever. Some of these guys have been on this team over 10 years. They learned from that. And you know what? That makes me feel good that maybe this thing really is trending in a positive direction. It really felt like it tonight. And actually, I’m just looking at the box score. It looks like TK’s goal got converted to an assist and Meech had two in the second is what the box score says now. Uh so they switched it. So TK’s goal does not end a goalless drought. It is now Matt Vishkov has eight goals. And I guess that’s where we’ll go here. Charlie uh with or without like whether or not that counts for TK. The first one, the Mishkov goal one, it’s out of the box and now that we know he used to like basically threaten John Tortoella to put him in the box. Uh he gets called for what was an absolute BS cross check, but it ends up helping the Flyers. He just felt engaged tonight. We named him the uh we named him the game changer, the Elen Chevrolet game changer. He’s making defensive plays. He’s intercepting passes. He’s backing. And Bill, that makes it six shots on the night for Meech. Yeah. What did you uh what did you think of Meech? And man, he’s probably got to play more than 13 minutes tonight. Now, um All right. Well, I’ll get to that in a second because I have something I want to say about that, which is basically Actually, you know what? I’ll say that right now. I I’m going to give you the the Stephen A. Smith. You know something? I don’t care. I don’t care. I really don’t. I am so sick of this discourse. I don’t care. You know what? If he if he’s if he’s still getting 12 13 minutes a night next month into January, whatever. This was a great game. Flyers won a big won a big game a big game in a backto-back. They won the second game of a backto-back. I don’t want to hear it. I don’t want to hear it. I don’t care. Now, if we want to talk about the play of Maf Mishkov, I will talk all day about the play of Mishkov because I think he had a great game. I think he was really good. Now, uh, look, whether he scored that second goal or not, if if they’re giving him credit, I know that I did see Travis Kneknney point at him after that goal was scored and he did and Mishkov did lead the the handshake line. So, I was watching it on replay. I didn’t see Mishkov touch it, but hey, I tend to trust the players. And in the moment, they were saying they thought Mishkov had it. So, good. I’m glad Mishkov got two goals. He had a really good game, was making defensive plays, was skating well. Obviously has the the big play on the uh on the goal right after the penalty. Um which I didn’t really think was much of a penalty. So it’s not even one of those where I could be like, well, you know, you made a mistake and then you got rewarded like that. That was a BS penalty. It was a really really bad call. And puck don’t lie. He scores a goal right off of it. But he’s playing well. He’s playing well. Do they have to get him more minutes? Sure. But I can’t bring myself to care right now. I can’t I I truly cannot. And And I guess like I’m just tired of the people who like see it seems like the only thing they care about in hockey games is how many minutes Maf Mishkov got. Like like the Flyers won a big game. They had a great road trip. Maf Mishov will eventually get more minutes. They’re not going to trade Maf Mishkov. Okay, you can calm down on that. Like you can calm down. They’re not trading him. They love the kid. Okay, he’s playing well. I hope the minutes trend upwards, but I’m not going to play this game where it’s like, well, the game was great until I looked at the time on ice charts and then I got big mad that Maf Mishkov only had 13 minutes. Great game by the Flyers. Mishkov continues to trend upwards, but I’m not playing this game forever. I’m just not homie’s not playing. I put a lot of other stuff in that question, Charlie. I think it’s an aside that a guy plays a great game and doesn’t get 13 minutes, but I think it’s most important he played a great game. And this one at both ends of the ice where there are like actual plays I can look at and go, yo, he just intercepted that pass to set up a scoring chance that he almost finished at the other end. In the third period, this guy who supposedly came in out of shape, he’s backing and getting a great stick lift and like taking away a scoring chance. That’s huge for the development of a young player that we hope the world for. Uh, next question. The Flyers are right now in third in the division, Charlie. They just handed the New Jersey Devils, one of the best teams in the Eastern Conference, their first home loss in regulation. Do we have to start taking them seriously as like legitimate playoff contender? Because I look around the East and go, other than Tampa, who’s great. other than Tampa, who’s great. The Flyers are just as good as basically anyone in this freaking conference. I don’t know if I’d go that far. So, I mean, I think the Hurricanes are significantly better than the Flyers. I think despite the fact that the the Flyers have a better record right now than the Caps. I think the Caps are better than the Flyers. I do think you have to take them seriously as a as a contender for a playoff spot. Absolutely. I I think you you 100% do. And if for no other reason, then, you know, they bank these wins. I don’t think their the underlying quality of their play has been fantastic, but I think it’s been good enough to keep them in the mix. And the hope my hope is that it trends upwards as the season goes on as they get a better handle on Taka system as and maybe we’re in the process of seeing it right now as Mishkov starts to play better as Travis Kenknney starts to play better. I thought he had a really strong game tonight as well. He obviously gets the goal taken away. It seems like it seems like Namishkov’s got two, but I know Kenknney was really strong in this game. This was more this was more of a like connecti scoring points but maybe not looking like he is as dominant is as strong as the as the the point totals would have you believe. This was a game where I thought he looked the part yeah of what Travis Kneknney should look like. So if you’ve got Travis Kenkne playing better, if you’ve got Mishkov playing better, if you’ve got the team as a whole playing better in the pocket system and doing a better job executing what he wants the team to do, then yeah, I think you have to take this team seriously. Now to what degree? Like I I don’t see them as a team that’s going to go on a run. But could I see them making the playoffs? Of course I could. I think they’re very much in the mix. And again, this is what the Flyers wanted. They wanted a competitive team, a team that can play meaningful games well into March and April. And right now, as long as they keep getting great goalending from Dan Ladar, and guys like Connectne and Mishkov keep trending upwards. Yeah, I I think they absolutely can. It all hinges on the goending holding up. Like maybe it can even out if Meech and TK are like this good and trending up and that could but it all kind of comes down to yeah if Ladar is this good I think they could even win around maybe if he’s if he regresses then it’s well we probably don’t have to take them as seriously because as well as they played tonight as fun as the game was he had to make some absolutely outstanding saves to keep this one but like I keep having to remind myself the goalie is part of the team Yes. Like, yeah, man. They they went and gave him money to play for them in hopes that he would win them games. It was like last year when people kept saying, “Well, the Eagles wouldn’t wouldn’t have won that game without Saquon Barkley.” Well, that’s why they paid him money to do that. And that’s why they paid Dan Flar the money to be this guy. And, you know, it’s it’s really inspiring that he stepped up in the way he has after there was a lot of, you know, hem and hawing over is this a good enough guy to be the go main goalender. All right, Charlie. Uh, got to move on to Owen Tippet. He gets the two goals tonight. One in hilarious fashion. Uh, because, you know, he doesn’t actually score. He gets hauled down with an empty net. That’s a goal. Uh, but he played, I thought, uh, as well as we’ve seen him play recently. He’s got three points. He’s plus two. He breaks 100 career goals, 200 career points. What did you think of OT tonight? I thought he was great. I thought he was one of the best players on the ice for the Flyers. Um, somebody made a a comment in my uh in my mentions that uh see uh Nemet is going to have nightmares of Owen Tippet in this game. And I think that’s very true. It seemed like Tippet was just like I I I thought about asking him this question, but it’s probably one of those questions that’s better asked off the record like next practice and just like hey like you know basically I want to know like were his eyes getting wide every time he went on the ice for a shift and Neh was out there too. was just like, “Oh man, I’m going to take this kid apart.” Because it just seemed like every time they were on the ice together, like Tippet was just like, “Oh man, here we go. This kid doesn’t know how to play defense. I’m on.” Cuz he they had that one play on the um on the Zager skull where he just blasted him. I mean, Ne and Ne is a good skater. Like he is not a slow skater and Tippet just blasted by him like he was standing still. No, this was this was good. Owen Tippet. He has the really nice uh move in front on the uh the 100th goal of his career, which was uh which was nice to see. Look, if the Flyers got this version of Owen Tippet every night, Owen Tippet will be an all-star because this guy I mean this guy’s a game changer. This guy is almost every shift. You were noticing him. He was showing his speed. He was showing his power with the puck. Unfortunately, I don’t know if Goen Tippet is ever going to be a consistent enough player to play like this every night. that just might not be what he’s capable of. That it’s just like, yeah, you know, when when he’s at his best, he can do this 20 times a year. Right now, he can do it about 10, 11, 12 times a year. But it’s fun when he does it because he can do it. Any game he can have a game like this, and he was awesome tonight. He was He was very impressive tonight. Um I hate to bring up negative stuff, Charlie, because I know I know you’re anti that right now. You’re No, I’m not I’m not anti- negative. I’m just I’m just sick of the Maf Mishkov time on ice discourse. At least last I checked, which was like halfway through the third, the Kate Forster TK line got caved again. I know the other two seem to be going a little bit. Bobby Brink maybe not getting the same amount of time. They mixed that up a little bit. But do they have to do something about Kate’s Forester Brink because it is not uh it’s not Kate’s for or Kate’s Forester TK because it is not as effective as Case Forester Brink has been. Yeah, I I I I think maybe look look like they just won three straight games and they had a successful road trip. So, do I think they’re going to change it up now? No, I do not. I think they’ll probably roll with the same uh same three lines at least for Monday’s game. But to me, it does seem like there’s a logical shift here and it’s probably just a putting the the Forester Kate’s Brink climb back together and moving KKNY back up to play with Mishko and uh and Couturier because Kkknney is looking better. Like that was one of the reasons why I wanted to get get connect in a different spot is because he just wasn’t passing the eye test for me. It’s like yeah, put him with somebody else. See if it’ll work better. connect is looking better to me and you’re not getting the same territorial dominance from the Kates line that you were getting when they were together. Now granted, they were dipping a little bit before they got broken up, but those guys know how to play together. I think that might be the the tweak that you make in the relatively near future, but I don’t think they’re going to make that tweak for Monday’s game simply because hey, they’ve just won three straight games on a tough road trip that was I’m sure an exhausting trip. I mean, they played four games in six days and one of their days off was Thanksgiving. like probably a tiring trip. So, uh, so ju to win these games was big. I mean, I would have been happy on this trip if they would have finished 2-1 and one. Like, if this granted, if you blow a three-goal lead, that’s different. But like, if if you if you come out with two wins and an OT loss and a regulation loss, I think that would have been a successful trip to go three and one on this trip. That’s a really successful trip because these were not these are not easy games. I mean, Tampa, as you said, maybe the best team in the uh in the East, even given the fact that they’re dealing with injuries. Florida’s still Florida. The Islanders have been playing well, and they got like the the next superstar defenseman playing incredible out there, and the Devils are a darn good team. I mean, Devils are in in the lead in the division. So, this was a tough tough road trip. And they came away with three out of four wins. Like at some point you’re probably going to have to shake up the lines, but I can’t imagine they’re going to do it after a trip like

A wild night at the Rock! The Flyers captured a big road win behind multi-goal efforts from Owen Tippett and Matvei Michkov, plus strong two-way contributions from Trevor Zegras and Travis Konecny. Goaltender Dan Vladar stood tall when it mattered — and Philly closed it out late to snap the Devils’ perfect home-ice run.

Hear from our very own Charlie O’Connor LIVE from Prudential Center in New Jersey to break it all down. If you love behind-the-scenes content and detailed locker room stories, this is a must-watch.

Watch our EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW with Danny Briere, Rick Tocchet, Keith Jones, and Dan Hilferty NOW: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WgfE9_8bOz8

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