3 Takeaways From Flyers’ Building Block Win Over Avalanche

Right now, the only thing that needs a boost is his ice time. Michkov’s 14:37 was sixth among Flyers forwards and well behind fifth-place Barkey. There was some progress at the end, with Rick Tocchet trusting Michkov to defend at 6-on-5 and give him a chance at his first career hat-trick. A long-range bid resulted in icing but didn’t cost the Flyers in the end.

Through 11 games, Michkov looks like he’s becoming the player capable of driving a team’s offense. And now that his teammates are starting to come along, the Flyers’ offense has a chance to step up, reaching three goals without an empty-netter for the first time this season.

Forced Changes

Noel Acciari has had a nice NHL career. Monday was his 596th career regular-season game. He’s had a 20-goal season and reached the Stanley Cup Final.

But if you told a Flyers fan he would be playing on the first line alongside Trevor Zegras and Christian Dvorak at any point, let alone game 11, they probably would’ve lost their mind. But with Tocchet wanting to keep Michkov and Porter Martone together and Denver Barkey needed at center, there weren’t any good options.

The Flyers had to make four re-calls before Monday’s game, including three at forward. Alex Bump’s return after a torrid scoring streak in the American Hockey League was eventually inevitable. But there was little choice in promoting Jacob Gaucher and Hunter McDonald, who made brief cameos last season (as well as 2024-25 for Gaucher), plus Cole Knuble, who made his NHL debut.

Bump and Knuble showed some chemistry in creating a couple of scoring chances, although Knuble took some huge hits that he was fortunate to pop back up from. McDonald nearly gift-wrapped a Colorado goal right after Michkov’s second tally, but otherwise played a sound contest. And Gaucher had the highest expected goal share of the quartet, a respectable 47.37% expected goal share (per Natural Stat Trick).

But the biggest player top pop was Acciari. He and Zegras, who assisted on all three Flyers goals, had two 2-on-1s in the first period, with Blackwood making strong saves on both. He showed impressive hockey IQ by creating the penalty Michkov scored his first goal on by skating the puck into a changing Nathan MacKinnon, creating a too-many-men call. After key work on an early third-period penalty, Acciari got the payoff by tipping in an Oliver Bonk point shot for the game-winning goal.

The Flyers will be a better team once the 34-year-old is back in a bottom-six role. But for one night, the Flyers asked more out of him than he probably ever has been in his NHL career, and Acciari answered the bell.

Flipping the Script

Few things have sabotaged the Flyers more in recent years than goaltending and the power play. The former was their most consistent undoing in the 2000s and 2010s; the latter has been in the gutter for the last half-decade.

But few areas were more crucial to their success on Monday. The Flyers only got two chances — the one Michkov scored on and another immediately after for Colorado’s failed coach’s challenge — but the top unit looked dangerous on both (and most of the would-be second unit wasn’t available). After a 0-11 first four games, the Flyers have scored in four of their last seven games, at least clearing the competency bar they’ve failed to meet so often.

There are still very legitimate sustainability questions there. However, the Flyers’ goalie tandem is looking quite stout. Since Dan Vladař’s opening-night clunker, Philadelphia’s netminder has delivered a positive goals saved above expected mark in eight of 10 games. Woll has cleared that mark in five of his six starts, including Monday, and his 4.7 season mark is top-10 league-wide (per Moneypuck.com).

Woll didn’t have to make many 10-bell saves against the Avalanche, although he did benefit from a third-period post hit. But he displayed strong lateral movement when he needed to and spit out very few rebounds, more than holding up his end of the bargain with 26 saves. A bounceback to his 2023-25 form with the Toronto Maple Leafs appears well underway.

What’s Next

The Flyers continue a stretch of four straight games against 2026 playoff teams on Wednesday in a nationally televised visit to the Buffalo Sabres. That run concludes with one of the more anticipated games of the early season schedule, and what has become an annual marquee event: the Anaheim Ducks’ trip to Xfinity Mobile Arena.

Other than the stretch run games last spring, no Flyers regular season contests have had as much energy from the crowd as the Ducks’ visits to Philly since the Cutter Gauthier trade. Each subsequent visit has added another layer of drama, with Zegras and now Leo Carlsson added to the team’s shared histories. It would’ve probably been a dud if the Flyers’ malaise continued. But if they enter Saturday afternoon winners of three straight? The fireworks could reach even greater heights.