In case you were unsure, Sunday’s game was a big one for the Flyers.
How big? Lauren Hart singing “God Bless America” instead of the national anthem big.
With a win against the Boston Bruins at Xfinity Mobile Arena, the Flyers would move into a playoff spot for the first time since Jan. 12.
The result: a 2-1 win in overtime on a goal by none other than Porter Martone. It is his first NHL goal — and a power-play goal to boot.
Philly got a five-on-three when David Pastrňák hooked Christian Dvorak on a breakaway, and, on the ensuing faceoff, Trevor Zegras was high-sticked by Charlie McAvoy. Tocchet went with Zegras, Dvorak, Martone, Tyson Foerster, and Travis Konecny — one of several iterations of the five-man unit coach Rick Tocchet used on Sunday.
They worked the puck around the perimeter before Dvorak hit Martone in the bumper. Boston goalie Joonas Korpisalo stopped his initial shot, but it bounced right back to him, and he buried it past the left leg of the sprawled-out goalie.
“That was pretty awesome,” said Martone of his first NHL goal. “Get a five-on-three there in overtime — pretty rare, that really never happens — and go on the ice, and Dvo made a good play to me in the middle, and just buried the rebound.”
The 19-year-old heard the crowd pop, but watching the fans go wild is another story.
“Zegras got me a pretty good headlock there,” he chuckled. “So I didn’t get to see it much, but it was awesome to get that win in front of these fans.”
With the win, the Flyers have 90 points. They jumped a point ahead of the idle New York Islanders and moved into the third spot in the Metropolitan Division. The Islanders, who the Flyers have a game in hand on, fired head coach Patrick Roy and hired Peter DeBoer earlier on Sunday.
The Flyers are also tied in points with the Ottawa Senators, who moved back into the second wild card slot in the Eastern Conference with a 6-3 win against the Carolina Hurricanes.
Why are the Flyers back in this spot? Philly has gone 14-6-1 since the Olympic break.
“I think just a lot of belief,” Dvorak said of what has led to the run. “Coming out of that Olympic break, we knew we had to go on a big run, and we’ve done that. [We’ve] put ourselves in a pretty good spot right now, but we’ve got to keep our heads down, finish the last five games the way we’ve been playing here the last 15.
“So, we got to keep playing the way we are, and I think that things will happen for us.”
The Flyers took a 1-0 lead under five minutes into the game on a goal by Dvorak; however, it was a play by Martone, who had his first career multi-point game, that made it all happen.
Working their way out of their own end, Rasmus Ristolainen passed the puck up the boards to a waiting Martone. The rookie peeked over his shoulder and saw Dvorak curling up and Bruins defenseman Hampus Lindholm hesitating on a pinch down the boards.
So when the puck came to him, the 19-year-old playing in his fourth NHL game, with his back turned, redirected the puck between his legs perfectly onto the stick of Dvorak.
The center broke out on a two-on-one rush with Travis Konecny, with Mason Lohrei the lone Bruin back. With the passing lane clogged, Dvorak kept the puck and beat Joonas Korpisalo for his 17th goal of the season before turning and pointing right at Martone, who earned his second NHL point.
“Not an easy play at all,” Dvorak said of Martone, whom he called a confident kid. “Straight on my tape, I didn’t have to move my stick. High hockey IQ play, very smart player, and those are big plays. Massive difference maker for us tonight.”
“He has that wall play technique. He’s off the wall; he makes the touch play. … He’ll even get better at that,” Tocchet said. “… Sky’s the limit for him.”
Both teams had chances after that, yet couldn’t find the back of the net when the buzzer sounded to end the second period.
The Flyers put 37 shot attempts and 17 shots on goal across the first 40 minutes, with just Dvorak scoring. In the first period, Travis Sanheim stepped up and skated down and across the crease, but Korpisalo flashed the leather on the backhand shot by the defenseman.
Not long into the middle frame, Matvei Michkov — who looked like he had his legs in this one — weaved through the Bruins’ defense to get to the middle of the ice on a power play, but clanged the post. Carl Grundström, a healthy scratch on Friday, got a turnover and broke in, but was stopped by the pad of Korpisalo.
On another Flyers’ power play, Martone was strong on the puck, using his long reach to set up Tyson Foerster for a chance. And late in the second, Noah Cates put a shot on that no one knew where the puck went; it led to a scramble with Alex Bump and Michkov trying to jam it, as it was actually loose in the crease.
“Tonight was playoff hockey,” Cates said. “And for us to just stay above, be disciplined, not try to do something fancy or something stupid at the blue line or whatever, speaks to the growth of the team [and] where we want to go, where we want to be, just how good we can be when we play that way. So it’s a huge win.”
Dan Vladař was once again masterful, and he stifled the Bruins through 40 minutes, even if he needed the crossbar’s help to stop Morgan Geekie not long before the Dvorak goal. He made a slick poke check on Pastrňák as he cut across the crease and was ready to bury it around the Flyers’ goalie, and stopped Geekie on a three-on-two.
But 35 seconds into the third period, the Bruins buried the puck on a power play that carried over from the second period. Pastrňák fired off a one-timer that looked to be tipped on the way by Viktor Arvidsson and just dribbled wide of the open net. Casey Mittelstadt was at the right post and tapped it back to Pavel Zacha, who buried it from atop the crease.
With under five minutes to go in the third, the Flyers really turned it up. Martone had a chance with a snapshot, and then Konecny ended up with the puck in the neutral zone, skated in, and fed Martone — who was loaded up, ready for the pass — and he fired it hard off the pad of Korpisalo.
Then, with 3:16 left, Jamie Drysdale skated in, shot the puck hard, forcing a rebound. Foerster was right there and was robbed by the right toe of Korpisalo.
“Game management was better tonight,” said Tocchet. “There’s a lot of growth. I think the team’s done a great job since training camp. A little bit of a roller coaster sometimes, but for the most part, this team is stuck together all year. Really proud of them.”
Breakaways
Dvorak is now one goal shy of his career high set during the 2019-20 season, when he and Flyers coach Rick Tocchet were with the Arizona Coyotes. … Zegras had the secondary assist on Martone’s game-winner and has 62 points (23 goals, 39 assists) in 77 games. He is three points shy of his career high set in 2022-23. … Defenseman Noah Juulsen and forwards Garrett Wilson, Garnet Hathaway, and Denver Barkey were healthy scratches. … The Flyers’ power play went 0-for-3 in regulation and had five shot attempts — two from high-danger spots — three shots on goal, and five scoring chances. The goal is the Flyers’ first on the man-advantage since last Sunday against the Dallas Stars (0-6 in the past three games). “It’s great, a little bit of relief,” Tocchet said. … Martone is the first player in Flyers history and the second youngest player in NHL history (19 years, 161 days) to notch his first NHL goal in overtime. The New York Rangers’ Alexis Lafrenière (19 years, 109 days) is the youngest.
Up next
The Flyers hit the road for a three-game trip beginning in New Jersey on Tuesday against the Devils (7 p.m., ESPN, NBCSP).
