Postgame RAV4: Flyers Drill Oilers, 5-2

In their first game of the 2026 calendar year, the Philadelphia Flyers earned a 5-2 victory over the defending Western Conference champion Edmonton Oilers. Philly finished the two-game season series with three of four possible points against the Oilers.

The Flyers took a two-goal edge to the first intermission. Denver Barkey (1st career NHL goal) scored a beautiful goal off the rush to give the Flyers a 1-0 lead in the first period. Philly soon added goals from Travis Sanheim (4th of the season) and Bobby Brink (11th). A breakaway goal by Connor McDavid (25th) reduced the Philly lead to 3-1.

In the middle stages of the second period, Evan Bouchard (PPG, 8th) cut the gap to 3-2. In the third period, the Flyers kept Edmonton without a shot on net for half of the period before Nick Seeler (1st) opened a 4-2 lead. Owen Tippett (ENG, 13th) restored the three-goal margin with 1:10 left in the game.

Dan Vladar played a very strong game in stopping 22 of 24 shots to earn the win. Edmonton's Calvin Pickard made 24 saves on 28 shots.

FIRST PERIOD SYNOPSIS

The Oilers had three of the game's first four shots on goal, Vladar's third save was a glove stop on Vasily Podkolzin after a lead pass from Leon Draisaitl.

Barkey started and finished a gorgeous sequence to give the Flyers a 1-0 lead at 7:16. It began with Barkey making a good defensive play deep in the Philly zone to start a push the other way. In tic-tac-toe fashion, Sean Couturier fed Owen Tippett. Barkey charged to the net and scored on the backhand after Tippett's tape-to-tape pass.

Sanheim doubled the lead at 10:31. Darnell Nurse turned the puck over in the defensive zone directly to Sanheim. The goal was unassisted on the score sheet but not in reality. Tippett, Couturier and Barkey (providing a screen) all had a hand in the short-side tally over Pickard's glove.

A double deflected Cam York shot went off the heel of Brink's skate for a 3-0 lead at 14:38. The assists went to York and Matvei Michkov.

Edmonton had a counterattack underway after Nick Seeler missed the puck at the point. Behind the play, Garnet Hathaway dropped the gloves and fought Nurse at 15:40.

A Sanheim giveaway on a lateral pass in the offensive zone created a breakaway for Connor McDavid off a Mattias Ekholm lead pass. McDavid beat Vladar cleanly over the blocker to narrow the gap to 3-1 at 16:08.

Shots: Flyers 9 - Oilers 13
Faceoffs: Flyers 11 - Oilers 11

SECOND PERIOD SYNOPSIS

Rodrigo Abols had the first shot attempt of the period for either team at 2:47. The forechecking work of the Flyers' fourth line preceded it. Pickard made the stop.

Christian Dvorak was not able to finish a wraparound with room open inside the post. Instead, the puck danced along the goal line and went off Pickard's skate. McDavid had a scoring chance in transition as play moved the other way.

At 8:47, Mattias Janmark got clipped up high by a high stick from Michkov. Edmonton went on the game's first power play. At 9:54, Bouchard set up at the top the right circle and blasted home a set up pass from McDavid. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins earned the secondary assist as Edmonton drew within one goal.

The Oilers were able to get the McDavid line out against the Abols line. Abols grabbed hold of McDavid for a neutral zone penalty at 11:42. The Flyers killed this one off and had a shorthanded foray in the middle stages. Pickard stopped a Sanheim shot from about 40 feet.

The Flyers went to their first power play at 17:25. Alec Regula high-sticked Trevor Zegras. Owen Tippett took the puck hard to the net off the rush. Edmonton had a shorthanded push near the end, with McDavid in the middle of the sequence.

Shots: Flyers 11 (20 overall) - Oilers 5 (18 overall)
Faceoffs: Flyers 17 (28 overall) - Oilers 6 (17 overall)

THIRD PERIOD SYNOPSIS

Through the first six minutes, the Flyers had the only three shots on goal for the period.

Seeler provided an insurance goal at 9:09. Abols won an offensive zone left circle faceoff back to Seeler at the left point. The shot through traffic found its way into the net.

Now trailing again by two goals, the Oilers sent Leon Draisaitl out with McDavid for the next shift. At 10:20, Ekholm was called for a holding minor. The Flyers played the 5-on-4 very cautiously. There was still a near chance (but no shot) for the Oilers.

The Flyers gave up a 4-on-2 rush. Vladar made a clutch save (his first of the period). Edmonton pulled Pickard for a 6-on-5 attack with just over four minutes remaining.

Attempting a long-distance empty net goal, Travis Konecny iced the puck with 2:43 on the clock. Edmonton called a timeout.

Draisaitl created a scramble near the Flyers' net. The Flyers iced the puck twice -- the first one was a questionable ruling, the latter was obvious. Finally at 18:50, Tippett outmaneuvered a tired Bouchard and scored from the blueline. The assists went to Couturier and Seeler.

Shots: Flyers 9 (29 overall) - Oilers 6 (24 overall)
Faceoffs: Flyers 9 (37 overall) - Oilers 7 ( 24 overall)

FLYERS STARTING LINEUP

Trevor Zegras - Christian Dvorak - Travis Konecny
Denver Barkey – Sean Couturier – Owen Tippett
Matvei Michkov – Noah Cates – Bobby Brink
Carl Grundstrom – Rodrigo Abols – Garnet Hathaway

Cam York - Travis Sanheim
Emil Andrae - Jamie Drysdale
Nick Seeler – Rasmus Ristolainen

Dan Vladar
{Samuel Ersson]

Postgame RAV4 (RAV4 Things Revisited)

1. Contain McDavid and Draisaitl

The last time the Flyers played the Oilers, they nearly blanked Connor McDavid (1a, one shot on goal) and Leon Draisaitl (0 points, 0 shot attempts). Now, however, McDavid brought a 14-game point streak into this match. He extended the streak to 15 games with his first-period breakaway goal. He added a second period assist and finished with six shots on goal in 23:17 of ice time

Draisaitl was quiet for most of the game. He did not record a point, had three shots on net and finished -3 on the day.

2. Flyers Olympians: Sanheim and Ristolainen

Travis Sanheim (Team Canada) sniped a goal to give the Flyers a two-goal edge on the power play in the first period. Later, though, it was Sanheim's turnover that produced McDavid's breakaway tally.

Rasmus Ristolainen (Team Finland) was +2 in 19:16 of ice time.

3. Special teams

The Flyers went 0-for-2 on the power play. They were 1-for-2 on the penalty kill against an Oilers team that entered the game with a 33.3 percent success rate. Philly's successful kill on their second penalty, accomplished while leading by one goal, proved very important.

4. Michkov watch

Second-season forward Matvei Michkov had six career points (4g, 2a) in three games against the Oilers. He made it seven career points with his secondary assist on Brink's deflection goal.