March 24, 2026
Robert Edwards/Imagn Images
Owen Tippett is finding himself in the right place at the right time a lot more often.
Had the Flyers dropped any of their three games over in California last week, few watching probably wouldn't have batted an eye.
Demanding matchups against Anaheim and then Los Angeles, which both went beyond regulation, banged up their forward depth enough to the point where defenseman Emil Andrae moved up for a bit, and all in a back-to-back no less, followed by a matinee finale against an on-the-rise San Jose team flushed with youth and energy?
Yeah, most would've expected the Flyers to fumble one or two, or even all three of those games to send themselves further back in the standings. Take it further back a couple of weeks, and the home-road back-to-back against Washington and then emerging contender Minnesota would've fallen into that same boat – no way they beat the Caps and Wild both, many would've assumed
But they did, and then they won all three out West, bringing themselves back home to face the Columbus Blue Jackets later Tuesday night at Xfinity Mobile Arena, in what has suddenly become a crucial contest in the Eastern Conference playoff race.
The Flyers weren't at the top of their game through any of the past week or so, they certainly weren't as they were dragging their feet through January and early February into the Olympic break, in a rut that nearly killed their season, and they still might not even be at it Tuesday night.
But there's a key difference about them that emerged during last week's sweep through the West Coast trip, and serves as maybe an unsung mark of a team that, slowly, is growing: The Flyers are learning how to play, and win, when they're tired.
"We played a lot of games," head coach Rick Tocchet said Monday, with the team finally back at its practice rink in Voorhees. "I think it's just... I don't like using the word 'immaturity,' but it's foreign territory to some guys, you know? Playing this time of year, pressure games, playing a lot... Everybody's gone through this condensed [schedule], and you gotta play – not saying you sit back, but there's certain times that you have to play the right way.
"I talk about the characteristics of good angles, game management, those are traits that you have to have as a good team when you're tired."
It's part of how the Colorado Avalanche or Dallas Stars, for example, can tear through an entire 82-game season and still have their best ready to go for another couple of months in the playoffs, and it's part of how the Carolina Hurricanes or the Tampa Bay Lightning can systemically climb up the standings, even if they might be short-handed in various spots.
And it's the part now that the Flyers might just be figuring out for themselves.
Just look at Owen Tippett.
Down this last stretch of the season, he's been getting stronger with maybe the most complete play of his career. He's taken on continuous and heavy minutes – skating 16, 21, and then 20 in each of the last three games – and yeah, he's still chopping his legs up the ice plenty, but he's also using the rink with more awareness.
His goal against Anaheim last Wednesday came from him sneaking out to the front of the net unnoticed to put away a loose puck with no Duck anywhere close to stopping him, and with him only gliding to where he needed to be. Then on Saturday against the Sharks, his opening score for that was the result of having his stick in the right place to jump after a bounce at the blue line that sprung the winger straight to the net all alone.
Work smarter, not harder.
"There's gonna be some days that you feel better physically than you do mentally, grogginess or whatever it may be," Tippett told the press Monday about how he and the Flyers have been powering through. "But a lot of it is just talking yourself up with 'Alright, I don't feel as bad as I think I do,' or what it may be. It could be different on any given day. Everyone's gonna feel different, and some guys are gonna feel better, some guys are gonna feel worse. It is what it is. It's the nature of the game. But yeah, it's just a matter of making sure you're prepared mentally and physically to be ready to go."
"We've talked about can you win with your B game?" Tocchet continued. "I think we have won a couple games with our B game. That's sort of the stuff you're kind of wrapped up in when you're playing tired."
And the Flyers are going to have to keep getting comfortable within it the rest of the way if they want to still hold out hope of sneaking into the playoffs.
The Blue Jackets are up Tuesday night, and as of Tuesday afternoon, they're trailing them by five points for third place in the Metropolitan Division. The Detroit Red Wings are going to be up three times after, and they're clinging on for dear life in the Wild Card chase, while there's one more matchup each coming up against the Islanders and Bruins, who each hold one of the two Wild Card spots in the Eastern Conference by a 5-6 point gap over the Flyers.
The schedule is dwindling down, the room for error is only getting narrower, and with that, the teams still fighting are getting desperate and mustering whatever they have left to get in.
The Flyers were in this spot a couple of years ago, when they overachieved to push for a playoff spot under former head coach John Tortorella. He even preached back then that it was important for the team to learn how to play tired. But they didn't have it in them at the time. They exhausted themselves trying to keep up and burnt out.
It's the same situation now under Tocchet, with enough guys who were there to remember how it was two years prior, like Tippett, and other younger players who have never been this far or aren't yet used to playing this many hockey games so frequently, like Denver Barkey, Emil Andrae, and to an extent, even Matvei Michkov, all from playing more limited schedules either in juniors or overseas.
"You're playing 40 games, 50 games. Now you're playing 82 games in I don't know how many days. It's condensed," Tocchet said. "So it's foreign territory for some guys.
"I call it break of the seal. You know, how do we break the seal? How do you get to that uncomfortable level? We're getting it right now."
And the Flyers might be starting to learn how to really manage it.
SIGN UP HERE to receive the PhillyVoice Sports newsletter
Follow Nick on Twitter: @itssnick
Follow Nick on Bluesky: @itssnick
Like us on Facebook: PhillyVoice Sports
