April 27, 2026
Eric Hartline/Imagn Images
Alex Bump is expected to draw into the lineup for Matvei Michkov Monday night for Game 5 in Pittsburgh.
The Flyers will try again.
Looking at the prospect of pulling off a sweep on Saturday night, within an Xfinity Mobile Arena that was ready to lose its collective mind, the Flyers could never fully get into gear and lost to the Pittsburgh Penguins, 4-2, in Game 4 of their first-round series in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
There wasn't any panic afterward, though.
Down in the locker room postgame, the Flyers' veterans were direct about owning Saturday night's mistakes, while stressing that the team was still in pretty good shape.
After all, they are up 3-1, and could look at the Game 4 loss as a lesson learned for a mostly young group.
"I mean, that was the first opportunity for us to close out the series," Travis Konecny said. "I don't know if it was just a little bit mental that we came out that way, but we'll regroup.
"We've played one now that guys can feed off of, and we know what it's like now to play in that game to try to close it. Just fix our mistakes, head into the next game."
And try again with Game 5 Monday night back in Pittsburgh.
Here are a few things to watch for once the puck drops at 7 p.m. ET...
Matvei Michkov ran drills with the reserves during Sunday's practice in Voorhees, while Alex Bump moved into his spot on the third line with Noah Cates and Tyson Foester, as quickly spotted by the onlooking row of reporters, which included NBC Sports Philadelphia's Jordan Hall.
Leaving Saturday night, this potential shakeup for Game 5 doesn't come as a shocker.
Head coach Rick Tocchet hinted that there might be some changes to the lineup postgame, and as the regular season was wrapping up, he also said he wanted to find the room to play Bump somehow.
So here it is.
Now, sitting Michkov is not going to be a popular move among fans, but it's not without logic either.
Michkov doesn't have a point through the series, his ice time has been limited (from anywhere to eight or just over 11 minutes), and he hasn't been all that impactful or noticeable in other ways either.
The wall battles lost against the Penguins in Game 4 were a sticking point leaving it, and Bump gives the Flyers more strength in that part of the game. Bump also has a greater willingness to shoot rather than pass, and can play in more situations where the Flyers are defending a lead.
Michkov, right now, is who gets sent to go chase offense, but in this spot, that might not be what the Flyers need.
"He's a bigger guy," Tocchet said of Bump on Sunday, though he hadn't yet confirmed if he was in and Michkov was out. "He's got a good wall [game], but he's got a great shot, too.
"But yeah, I thought the wall play yesterday, especially the first half, wasn't as great. But I think that has to do with overall play. We didn't have the energy we usually have, and we were in the game. That's the positive. We just gotta step it up a bit tomorrow."
And it appears Bump will be looked on to help do so.
As for Michkov, again, him sitting is going to rub fans the wrong way, but it shouldn't be looked at as him being given up on or picked on. It's just the situation.
The Flyers need to get tougher to try and close out, and he's just the odd man out for Monday night.
There's been a lot of drama surrounding Michkov this season, but he still played great down the stretch of the season, he's still on the path to be a future star, and he's still only 21 years old.
He'll be fine.
"I just think he's part of the young group," Tocchet said on Sunday. "[Denver Barkey] went through it a little bit, Bump a little bit. It's not hit the wall, but [he's] got a plateau, and there's a lot of pace in the playoffs."
"I think it's OK to evaluate them every once in a while and give them a rest," Tocchet added. "Whether it's Matvei, whether it's Bumper, it doesn't really matter. I think that's the way you develop your players."
Tyson Foerster hasn't had the greatest series so far either, but his size, two-way checking, and spot on the penalty kill are still bringing value to the Flyers' lineup, so he'll keep going.
Even so, he also doesn't have any points through the first four playoff games, but his ability to protect the puck and unleash a lightning-quick shot if he can work his way in toward the net can make a major difference.
He showed it during the season, both before his injury and after he came back from it, and the Flyers could really use him finding that part of his game again on Monday night.
The Flyers held a veteran and still talented Penguins power play scoreless through the first two games in Pittsburgh, and to a 2-for-5 night in the Game 3 thrashing where in Philly where those two goals ended up being too little too late.
However, Sidney Crosby finally got on the board with a quick power play goal to open Game 4, then did a lot of the heavy lifting along the wall to free up Kris Letang to score at 4-on-4 in the third period, which put the Penguins up by two at that point.
The Flyers' own power play, meanwhile, had its emphatic 2-for-3 showing in Game 3, but has otherwise continued its year-long struggles, going 0-for-7 across Games 1 and 2, and 0-for-3 Saturday night in Game 4.
As noted before the series started, the Flyers can't get into a special teams battle with the Penguins, who finished the regular season with a top-10 power play in the NHL. They've done well to suppress Pittsburgh on the man-advantage to this point, but it's not a great idea to keep going to the box and tempting fate, hoping that Crosby, Erik Karlsson, and Evgeni Malkin never figure it out.
The Flyers have to stay smart and stay out of the box, because if they can keep things mostly at 5-on-5, the advantage is theirs.
Arturs Silovs will remain as the Penguins' starting goaltender for Game 5, per King Jemison of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
Silovs made 28 of 30 saves in Game 4, and gave the Penguins exactly the kind of changeup they were looking for in place of regular starter Stuart Skinner.
Silovs did well to take away the lower half of the net with his pads on initial shots, but he did let some pretty juicy rebounds bounce away from him that the Flyers just couldn't get a guy there for.
So crashing and fighting to the front of the net, and particularly, sliding off to the opposite post away from where he's squared up to, should be where the Flyers forward want to try and park themselves – Foerster and rookie Porter Martone, especially, would do well in that spot with their respective size and quick shot.
As Tocchet answered his last question during his press conference in Voorhees on Sunday, he admitted that his team got just a bit ahead of themselves, and a bit away from their game because of it.
"To win, you have to go through the process," Tocchet said. "I think we just wanted to win the game, and forgot about the process – wall work, getting to the net, good changes. I think we were a little average in all those things, and average hockey is not gonna win.
"I think we learned the fact that we gotta play desperate. We didn't play desperate. They did. We turn the page, and it's a new game."
That echoes much of what Konecny, Travis Sanheim, and Dan Vladar said postgame Saturday, as mentioned above.
Winning that fourth game to close out a series is trickier than most realize, and you often don't realize it until you're in it, which goes for any team at any stage of the postseason.
This Flyers team understands that now. You just hope they only need to get that lesson once to figure out how to get past it.
Monday night will be the proof.
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