October 22, 2026
Gregory Fisher/IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect
Cole Knuble is making himself immovable from the Flyers' lineup.
Cole Knuble took two monster checks in his NHL debut on Monday night, but all for the sake of a second straight Flyers win over the visiting Colorado Avalanche.
Wednesday night in Buffalo, luck swung back around.
Knuble fought to the front of the net, then picked up the rebound from Oliver Bonk's point shot to slide in his first-ever NHL goal. Then, in the third period, he and Bonk stripped away another puck at the offensive zone blue line, Knuble skated away with it into space, waited, then bounced a shot off the back of goaltender Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen's skate for his second.
The Flyers beat the Sabres, 3-1, and suddenly have won three straight, sparked by Knuble, other youth, and a dramatically more complete brand of hockey.
They have a pulse again, when through the first two weeks of the season and stuck deep into a nine-game winless streak, they just didn't.
But maybe it was just a matter of time before the Flyers snapped out of it, or a well-timed jolt from bringing up someone like Knuble with a willingness to just eat a check.
"I was telling the guys I lead the league in stitches per game," Knuble joked after the Colorado win on Monday. "I got three, but yeah, I'll take a hit. I don't know. I'm just trying to make a play, so I'll do whatever it takes."
And maybe that was just the mentality the Flyers needed back in their lineup.
Whatever it is, though, it's working.
COLE KNUBLE HAS HIS FIRST NHL GOAL! 👏
— NHL (@NHL) October 22, 2026
He gets the @NHLFlyers on the board!
Rookie Firsts presented by @DrinkBODYARMOR pic.twitter.com/QNwQoj6Gjv
"I'm proud," said head coach Rick Tocchet, who started hearing louder boos and calls for his job not even a full week ago, after Wednesday night's win. "We got a lot of guys out, and some guys are stepping up and getting more minutes, getting to our game a little quicker.
"I thought the last three, four games, we played to our identity a little bit more, and we're stacking some more shifts. It's a lot of positive stuff, and, you know, we know we still have a lot of work to do."
That work, though, is looking a lot more manageable now than it did.
The Flyers reached the end of last week 0-6-3, playing listless hockey that left them in the red at a massive overall goal differential and at an even steeper shot differential. Nothing was working; Travis Konecy, Owen Tippett, Cam York, and Rasmus Ristolainen all went down with injury; and the team looked on a fast track to undoing all of its goodwill from its playoff run not even a full six months ago, with maybe a premium spot in the Landon DuPont draft lottery sweepstakes serving as the only – albeit bitter – silver lining.
But then on Saturday, Matvei Michkov and Porter Martone caught fire against the visiting Ottawa Senators, and the Flyers finally won.
On Monday, Michkov kept hot and scored twice, and the Flyers collectively put together an even better effort to make it two in a row against an annual league powerhouse in the Colorado Avalanche.
Then on Wednesday, the 22-year-old Knuble stayed in the lineup, kept grinding, and the puck found its way to him – twice – while the Flyers looked even stronger against the Sabres to make it three.
TWO FOR COLE KNUBLE! ✌️
— NHL (@NHL) October 22, 2026
This is only his second NHL game 😅
📺: @NHL_On_TNT & @hbomax ➡️ https://t.co/usQtBgmn31 pic.twitter.com/ySMie91f1F
And it's not just Knuble or even Michkov, who has taken off to lead the Flyers in scoring as the star winger they need him to be; it's Trevor Zegras, who got bumped out of center but has since taken charge with five points and a plus-3 rating over the last three games; it's Denver Barkey, who has skated with a lot more punch since getting paired up with Knuble in a more checking-forward role; it's Dan Vladar, who since that opening night dud against Pittsburgh has a .921 save percentage, and Joseph Woll behind him, who has been carrying a .917 save percentage of his own; and on the back end and somewhat quietly, it's Oliver Bonk, who shook off a rough debut to keep skating fluidly through top-pairing minutes with Travis Sanheim, and even David Jiříček, who has been patching together two steps forward for every one step back as a defenseman (even if that one step can look ugly when it does happen).
The recent streak hasn't solved all of the Flyers' problems, but the good from it is stockpiling, and largely coming from skaters still in the early half of their 20s.
"It's very infectious," Tocchet said. "[It's] energy. They love coming to the rink. They love putting their gear on. It's not a chore. It's nice to see that. This is a game you should love to play, and they enjoy it. They love being around each other."
Even if it means taking a big hit or two to make something happen.
Knuble, still only two games into his NHL career, is already there, while the rest of the Flyers seem to be tapping back into that attitude again.
They have a pulse.
They're not out of the hole they've dug for themselves yet – that's still going to take some considerable catching up through the rest of October and into November.
But they might have the means to start climbing, which could kick into overdrive if they make it four straight on Saturday when the notorious Cutter Gauthier and the Anaheim Ducks come to town.
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