{"id":539295,"date":"2026-04-03T22:56:31","date_gmt":"2026-04-03T22:56:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/539295\/"},"modified":"2026-04-03T22:56:31","modified_gmt":"2026-04-03T22:56:31","slug":"flyers-coach-rick-tocchet-impressed-with-porter-martone-and-tyson-foerster-despite-loss","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/539295\/","title":{"rendered":"Flyers coach Rick Tocchet impressed with Porter Martone and Tyson Foerster despite loss"},"content":{"rendered":"

The end result was a loss, and one that might come back to haunt them in the next 11 days. But despite losing to Detroit 4-2 Thursday night at home, the Flyers can take solace in the fact that their two recent additions to the roster have shown something the rest of the roster have had ample problems with all year: getting shots on goal.<\/p>\n

After the game Flyers head coach Rick Tocchet said he was extremely impressed<\/a> with the amount of activity the Flyers had offensively, but was still irritated by the number of missed shots on net (20). He lauded both Martone and Foerster for being able to not just contribute on the scoreboard, but having the knack of getting shots on net, not just towards the goaltender. Martone had a quarter of the team\u2019s 36 shots (nine) while Foerster had four of his own. <\/p>\n

\u201cYeah, he just gets the puck on net, I mean Gibson made some really good saves,\u201d Tocchet said of Martone, who registered his first National Hockey League point on Philadelphia\u2019s second goal. \u201cHe puts one on the net again and we score. So that\u2019s something we really got to work on, this team, we got to hit the net. It\u2019s really frustrating.\u201d<\/p>\n

As for Foerster, Tocchet said he looked very good in his first game back after four months. He was also glad to see that sniper mentality from the winger, something the Flyers sorely lacked the last roughly 50 games since Foerster\u2019s shoulder injury, surgery, and rehab. \u201cI mean look at the shot, in the slot, boom,\u201d the coach said. \u201cThat\u2019s what he can do. Martone, Foerster, they\u2019ve got that quick shot. It\u2019s dangerous, the goalie doesn\u2019t get set up and they hit the net.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Flyers have turned a corner, possibly too late, when it comes to shots on goal. After scrounging to eke 20 a game during some stretches earlier this season, Philadelphia has had 25 or more shots in six of the last seven games, including 42 against Chicago and 30 against Dallas prior to Thursday\u2019s contest. But it\u2019s something that Foerster and Martone should have no issue resolving, if not in the next seven games certainly when the 2026-27 season rolls around. <\/p>\n

Konecny and Martone finding some synergy<\/p>\n

Winger Travis Konecny and Porter Martone now have six whole periods together under their belts this season. Yet, despite the brevity of time, both appear to have found some chemistry this week. Almost a rather head-turning amount. <\/p>\n

\u201cYeah I played with him at Worlds, and you wouldn\u2019t have known he was a junior kid that was playing for the first time with professionals,\u201d Konecny said after the game. \u201cHe kind of knows his role, he knows what he\u2019s good at and he sticks to it. He\u2019s in good areas and he\u2019s only going to get better. It\u2019s really encouraging and it\u2019s important to have him for this little stretch here. He\u2019s a key piece right now.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust the way he plays, he\u2019s not a risky player,\u201d Konecny added later. \u201cHe reminds me of Foery, honestly. The way he just plays north, he gets in on the forecheck hard, he\u2019s a big body around the front of the net. He gets in good shooting areas and finds ways to get shots off. So I\u2019m not shocked.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cI feel like we\u2019re really starting to read off each other and things are kind of clicking, you saw some chances there in the third,\u201d Martone said of Konecny also after the game<\/a>. \u201cHe fed me there for a little breakaway. Chemistry doesn\u2019t happen overnight. It\u2019s going to come. It\u2019s going to take some time. And that\u2019s something that is going to keep on getting better.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think he kind of just brings everyone into the fight on this team. He\u2019s got high energy, high skill, and he\u2019s not scared of anyone. That\u2019s something I can look up to, he kind of plays that gritty game, and someone that just brings this team into the fight every night.\u201d<\/p>\n

Konecny also wasn\u2019t surprised by the game Foerster had in his return. \u201cI\u2019m not shocked,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s too bad we couldn\u2019t win for him. But I mean what a lift for the team. It\u2019s frustrating again that we lost tonight but it\u2019s still encouraging that you go to the rink tomorrow and you have Foery around the locker room, it\u2019s still a big lift, big boost. He\u2019s just a pure goal scorer. I\u2019m not shocked, we were all joking just before the game about him scoring. He\u2019s going to have some good looks. It\u2019s just too bad we couldn\u2019t be celebrating with him.\u201d<\/p>\n

Martone not happy with loss, but finding his way<\/p>\n

Porter Martone had one of the more impressive home debuts from a Flyers rookie in recent memory. But he knows that kind of effort is going to be needed over the next seven games for Philadelphia to have any chance of finding their way into playoff hockey.<\/p>\n

\u201cI liked the response from our group, just continuing to keep on going and no quit,\u201d he said. \u201cI think that\u2019s something in this room that they\u2019re preaching for the rest of the season.\u201d<\/p>\n

On a line with Christian Dvorak and Konecny, Martone created a slew of chances, all of them in the areas you would love to see every line come up with. Of his nine shots, only one was from beyond the faceoff circles in the offensive zone. And perhaps more importantly, he was on target far more often than not. See below for the proof. No shots were blocked, and only two missed the mark. On top of that, he had an expected goals for percentage of 88.39 and was 76.47 per cent for Corsi For percentage. Stunning numbers in his second NHL game!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah I feel like I could\u2019ve scored a couple,\u201d he said. \u201cYou know, I think I\u2019m building chemistry with TK and Dvo, and one is going to find the back of the net soon enough.\u201d<\/p>\n

The rookie also said he felt comfortable in the third period against Washington and carried that well into Thursday\u2019s game against the Red Wings. \u201cI think I kind of found my game and continued to keep on playing,\u201d Martone said. \u201cI just did the things that make me successful. I was trying to come in here and give a jolt to this group and help them try to win games. It\u2019s unfortunate we haven\u2019t got one yet but it\u2019s a big response for us tomorrow.\u201d<\/p>\n

It was quite apparent both Martone and Foerster were the two players dragging the Flyers into the fight. And despite the outcome, it\u2019s crucial that both keep playing as well as they did last night. Tonight\u2019s game against the Islanders might be a far bigger test being a back-to-back situation. This will mark Martone\u2019s first back-to-back game in his career and might feel a bit more drained as the game goes on. Meanwhile it\u2019ll also be Foerster\u2019s first back-to-back in some time. The adrenaline was a plus for Foerster last night, but he might also have some weary legs in the later stages against New York.<\/p>\n

It wasn\u2019t the two points they so desperately craved, but seeing Martone and Foerster in the lineup certainly bodes well for the Flyers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The end result was a loss, and one that might come back to haunt them in the next…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":539296,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5112],"tags":[1468,5,4,1467,56,5205],"class_list":{"0":"post-539295","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-philadelphia-flyers","8":"tag-flyers","9":"tag-hockey","10":"tag-nhl","11":"tag-philadelphia","12":"tag-philadelphia-flyers","13":"tag-philadelphiaflyers"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116343249491827390","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/539295","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=539295"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/539295\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/539296"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=539295"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=539295"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=539295"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}