March 11, 2026
Once Owen Tippett gets skating downhill, there's not much else that can stop him.
Tom Wilson certainly couldn't, not when he was caught on his heels at the blue line as Tippett swatted the puck away from him and out into the open.
Dylan Strome couldn't either, as Tippett had the extra step into center ice to win the chase after it, and send himself and linemate Trevor Zegras off to the races.
Aliaksei Protas hustled down the rink and maybe had a prayer, but had to make sure he got in the way of one of the passes that Tippett and Zegras started pinballing between each other.
Instead, the Capitals backchecker got tied up, Zegras cleaned up the sequence and scored, and the Flyers had the go-ahead to beat Washington, 4-1, Wednesday night at Xfinity Mobile Arena.
It all started with Tippett, though, who was flying across the ice from the jump with his distinct blend of speed and power, and who finished the night with a goal himself in the end via the game-sealing empty-netter.
Once he gets skating downhill like that, there's really not much else that can stop him. Not even his own feet, if you ask his center.
"To play with him is such a treat," Zegras said, trying to find the words that matched the level of Tippett's game in the locker room afterward. "Like...I think he had like six breakaways today, like, it's crazy. He fell down on the 2-on-0 that we had, and he was still skating faster than me. It's wild, it's wild...amazing."
Ever seen a give-and-go at top speed?
— NHL (@NHL) March 12, 2026
Let Owen Tippett and Trevor Zegras show you! 💨
📺: @NHL_On_TNT & @StreamOnMax ➡️ https://t.co/4TuyIATi3T pic.twitter.com/3pQeI2Pi5X
The Flyers have been on shaky ground since the trade deadline – really, since the New Year – where a crucial win like Saturday night in Pittsburgh can just as quickly be matched with a total faceplant like Monday night's blowout loss right back here against the Rangers, and all culminate to effectively leave them out of the home stretch of the playoff hunt (even if they're still, technically, alive).
Tippett's skating, however, has been a noticeable constant of late, using his strength to dig into the corners and cut in around defenders toward the opposing net.
It's generated some of the Flyers' more dangerous opportunities at a point where they can often struggle to create any. It just hasn't consistently resulted in goals.
But on Wednesday night, Tippett sparked the one that mattered, and the one he looked like he was working toward from the moment the opening puck dropped.
Travis Konecny saw it right away, and didn't envy the visiting Caps.
"It's scary," said Konecny, who scored a pivotal goal himself on Wednesday night, of Tippett when he's on his game. "If I were them, I'd just skate to the bench and not eat the minus.
"He's just got so much potential, and I love when you see him realize it during a game that 'It's my game tonight. I'm taking over.'"
"The guy's a stud. He's an absolute force," added Jamie Drysdale, whose own smooth skating and third-period beam of a goal put the contest away for the Flyers. "The way he's been playing this year as a whole, tonight as well, just, I think he went end-to-end 50 times this game. Every time he touches the puck, he's a threat."
As Tippett saw it....
"It's one of those things where – it's obviously situational at times, too – but I think when you kind of get a jump, and you can kind of get loose a little bit early, I think it gives you the confidence to keep going throughout the game," the winger said postgame. "Yeah, my legs were good."
Hey, simple enough.
Just shy of five minutes into the first period, Tippett got the puck and a break up the ice that sent him charging toward the Capitals' net, which forced defenseman Timothy Liljegren to tackle him down for a holding penalty that otherwise would've left Washington goaltender Logan Thompson in a whole lot of trouble.
Later on, Tippett went rolling through the offensive zone like a bull in a China shop, barreling through Capitals defenseman Matt Roy at the goal line as he tried to drive in looking for a rebound, then circling around to knock Washington forward Connor McMichael straight to the ice as he was trying to clear the puck away by the wall.
The Flyers left the opening frame down, 1-0, playing with the low-event and sometimes overly safe tempo that's become the norm through head coach Rick Tocchet's first year behind the bench.
Tippett was skating with an edge, though, so if the Flyers were going to climb their way back, he was likely going to have a role in it.
"He's a true power forward," Tocchet said. "I think he's had a really good year this year, like he's really improved. I moved him around this year, but he can drive play by himself. It's hard to find those types of guys. He was terrific tonight."
Konecny scored the equalizer when he was left all alone to shoot a few minutes into the second. Travis Sanheim had the puck, and all the attention, charging down the left-side wall, and the Capitals must've forgotten about Konecny, who was free to coast in off the right without any pressure, then pick his spot against Thompson when the pass sailed over to him.
Konecny rang the shot off the goalie's skates and in.
IT'S A BIRTHDAY GOAL FOR TRAVIS KONECNY 🎂 pic.twitter.com/sHq3oaJd1H
— NHLonTNT (@NHL_On_TNT) March 12, 2026
Then, past the halfway point of the period, Tippett knocked the puck away from Wilson, whose known physicality and divisive hits had already made him an aggravation to the Flyers.
But this time, he was caught. Tippett had the beat, the forward momentum, and Zegras making the sprint to stay right there with him.
He was skating downhill. There wasn't much else the Capitals could do about it, and once Drysdale sniped in his late goal at 4-on-4 to put the Flyers up two, nothing they could do to mount a comeback either.
"He's literally the best," Zegras went on about playing with Tippett. "When that guy is skating, it's...I've never seen anything like it."
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