April 01, 2026
Geoff Burke/Imagn Images
Matvei Michkov and the Flyers were constantly left chasing the Capitals Tuesday night in D.C.
For a quick second Tuesday night, you could see the Flyers' whole future ahead of them.
Matvei Michkov took a careening puck in from behind the net, and in a move only he would think to make within a split-second, the winger spun to his backhand and unleashed a pass to the front of the net from in tight.
Planted by the crease and waiting for it was Porter Martone, the top forward prospect who was making his NHL debut and bringing the kind of scoring touch from college that could end up as the spark to take the team to another level.
And his first goal was right there for him, even after a scramble to recover the puck from the pass taking a hop in between his feet. The 19-year-old just put the shot off the set pad of Washington goaltender Logan Thompson once he settled down enough of the chaos.
Still, it was a chance for the Flyers, and a dangerous one, the kind that the organization certainly hopes Michkov and Martone will keep constantly generating between themselves for the next decade or so.
But on the spot, as the seconds were ticking down in the second period, they came up empty, in a game that the Flyers needed, yet left themselves chasing for the majority of.
The Flyers lost to the Capitals, 6-4, Tuesday night in D.C.
The future is here now, or at least a chunk of it between the debuting Martone, the second-year Michkov, and even the fellow rookie Denver Barkey, who scored in the third period, but it wasn't a cure-all that was going to catapult the Flyers straight into the playoffs.
We got that close to Porter Martone's first NHL goal. What a feed from Matvei Michkov.#LetsGoFlyers pic.twitter.com/xl0UNtOMYm
— Flyers Clips (@Flyers_Clips) April 1, 2026
The team fell behind 2-0 by the end of the first and 4-2 by the end of the second. They tensed up, got knocked around in spots, too, and shot themselves in the foot in a few others.
"They came out the first 10-12 [minutes] and tried to bully us," head coach Rick Tocchet said of the Capitals' effort afterward. "I thought after that we started to get our game. But it's good for some guys to understand that, you know, they gotta be ready to go."
But much sooner rather than later in the Flyers' current situation.
Martone's "Welcome to the NHL" moment arrived right away, when he flipped the puck over the glass to get tagged for a delay of game call.
The Flyers survived that penalty, though. What they couldn't were second-period tripping calls from Travis Konecny early and Trevor Zegras late. Both were punished with Washington power-play goals that set the Flyers back two after Travis Sanheim's and Carl Grundstrom's tallies worked to bring them back.
"Obviously, the penalties, I mean, the first guys you're gonna ask, me and [Zegras] are gonna own it," Konecny said postgame. "Like, I can't take that penalty 200 feet from my net. It's unacceptable. It's just hard to climb back into a game twice in a row down two goals."
They were always one step behind the rest of the way trying to, with Capitals great Alex Ovechkin freeing up enough space for himself in front to tap in his second goal of the night, then with Tom Wilson launching the game-sealing empty netter across the rink and in as the third was approaching its last minute.
Martone, in a highly anticipated debut by Flyers fans, did sharpen up as Tuesday night wore on. He skated 16:54 in total, 3:17 on the power play, and put a team-high five shots on goal. He also led a 2-on-1 rush down the ice in a sequence that ended with Christian Dvorak's goal less than a minute into the third, but didn't collect a point from it because of Konecny and Travis Sanheim cleaning up for both assists.
Even so, it was a play that wouldn't have worked without him.
"I felt like it took a couple of shifts to get my feet wet," Martone said. "You know, you're adjusting to the NHL speed, NHL level, but I thought when the game went on, our line created some good momentum, got one there early in the third, and I think just got better after that."
Came back ready to play. #PHIvsWSH | #LetsGoFlyers pic.twitter.com/eDAo0IPEi3
— Philadelphia Flyers (@NHLFlyers) April 1, 2026
"I told him to relax early on," Tocchet added. "He almost scored there after the second, and then he had about three or four chances. He's gonna score. You can tell he's got it...
"Listen, he's had a whirlwind last week, and I liked his game."
And fans will get the chance to see it in person for themselves with Martone's first home game at Xfinity Mobile Arena on Thursday night, in another contest for the Flyers against the Detroit Red Wings that's only going to carry more and more weight in the Eastern Conference playoff race.
The Flyers didn't make up any ground in the race with Tuesday night's loss.
The fortunate thing for them, though, is that all the teams they're in the running with lost on Tuesday night, too – Detroit lost to Pittsburgh, Columbus lost to Carolina, Ottawa lost to Florida, and the Islanders lost to Buffalo.
So, as of Wednesday morning, the Flyers are still two points away from Columbus for the second Wild Card spot in the East, three away from the Isles for third in the Metropolitan Division, and keeping pace with Detroit and Ottawa, which are each on the bubble with Philly.
But there are only eight games left now, with Detroit on Thursday night standing as a four-point swing game and the first leg of a likely pivotal back-to-back that will roll right up to Elmont to face the Islanders on Friday.
The Flyers are still in this, and now they're armed with their best goal-scoring prospect and a future that's increasingly piecing together, with the next step into the playoffs right there within their reach.
But a team realizing its future in the NHL requires a whole lot of learning, which brings on a whole lot of growing pains, too.
Martone got his first turn. He'll get better. This Flyers team has already gone through plenty, yet is only pushing its way through newer ones as it tries to reach a postseason that the organization hasn't been to in going on six years and an entirely different era ago.
Hopefully, it will, too.
"It's frustrating...I mean, we're just onto the next game," Konecny said. "We've been playing some really good hockey. We're just gonna keep applying pressure. That's all we can do."
The Eastern Conference playoff chase as of Wednesday morning...
| Rk) Team | PTS | PTS% | GP | Last 10 | Playoff Odds |
| M3) NY Islanders | 89 | .586 | 76 | 5-5-0 | 50.4% |
| – | – | – | – | – | – |
| WC1) Boston | 94 | .627 | 75 | 7-1-2 | 98.1% |
| WC2) Columbus | 88 | .587 | 75 | 5-4-1 | 44.2% |
| – | – | – | – | – | – |
| 3) Ottawa | 86 | .581 | 74 | 6-3-1 | 46.2% |
| 4) Detroit | 86 | .581 | 74 | 3-6-1 | 30.0% |
| 5) FLYERS | 86 | .581 | 74 | 7-2-1 | 22.7% |
| 6) Washington | 85 | .567 | 75 | 6-2-2 | 13.3% |
*Playoff odds via MoneyPuck
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