Rick Tocchet's Philadelphia Flyers (22-12-7) are home on Thursday to take on old friend Craig Berube's Toronto Maple Leafs (20-15-7). The game marks the start of the statistical second half of the Flyers' 2025-26 regular season.
Game time at Xfinity Mobile Arena is 7:00 p.m. EST. The game will be broadcast on NBCSP.
This is the second of three meetings between the Eastern Conference teams this season. On November 1 in Philadelphia, the Flyers scored first but went on to lose by a 5-2 score.
The Flyers enter this game coming off an emotional and feisty 5-2 home victory over the Anaheim Ducks on Tuesday night. Trevor Zegras led the way offensively with his 16th and 17th goals of the season. Meanwhile, Toronto is coming off a 4-1 home win on Tuesday against the Florida Panthers.
On Tuesday, the Flyers held a partial squad practice at the FTC in Voorhees. Roughly half the team practiced while the others rested from the grueling Anaheim game the previous night.
Here are the RAV4 Things to watch on Thursday night.
1. Game management
If the regular season ended today, the Maple Leafs would miss the playoffs. Nevertheless, Toronto remains a dangerous opponent with significant star power on the roster: Auston Matthews, John Taveres, William Nylander, etc. Even with the departure of Mitch Marner this past summer, the Leafs on paper should be in better position than they are through their first 42 games.
The Flyers learned the hard way on November 1 that the Maple Leafs can still roll over an opponent who doesn't manage the puck properly. Turnovers led to a couple Toronto goals in the 5-2 game. The Leafs, in fact, still rank 5th offensively in the NHL with an average 3.36 goals per game. The Flyers rank 19th (3.02 goals per game).
On the flip side, the Leafs are too often their own worst enemy. They enter the game with the 24th team goals against average (3.29), while the Flyers have improved to eighth-best (2.80). If the Flyers apply pressure while avoiding careless mistakes with the puck, Toronto has shown itself to be beatable. Turn the puck over or lose structure, however, and the Leafs will still burn you.
It's no secret that the Maple Leafs have given the Flyers trouble in recent years. Dating back to Nov.10, 2021, the Flyers are 1-10-2 in head-to-head meetings with Toronto. The lone win came on March 19, 2024. In that game, the Flyers held on for a 4-3 victory after a 3-0 lead nearly slipped away.
2. Michkov returns to the lineup
Flyers second-year winger Matvei Michkov took a puck off his foot in the Edmonton game on January 3. He missed Tuesday's match against the Ducks. Tocchet said on Wednesday that he anticipates Michkov being ready to play against Toronto. The player practiced in full and will take part on Thursday's morning skate. Barring any setbacks, the 21-year-old forward should be good to go.
The Flyers lost both defenseman Jamie Drysdale and winger Bobby Brink to upper-body injuries in the Anaheim game. Although Tocchet said both are feeling better, Drysdale and Brink are both doubtful for Thursday's game. The likeliest, albeit unconfirmed, scenario would have Michkov and former Toronto winger Nikita Grebenkin flanking Noah Cates at 5-on-5.
3. Grebenkin follow-up game
Rookie winger Grebenkin played arguably the best game of his young NHL career in the win against Anaheim. Even apart from scoring an empty-net goal (precipitated by his hustle to beat out an icing) and chipping in an assist, Grebenkin fared very well in 50/50 puck battles. With the Flyers' power play continuing to struggle, Tocchet publicly floated the idea of experimenting with Grebenkin as a netfront presence on the power play.
Overall, the Russian rookie has four points (1g, 3a) in his last four outings. The coaching staff is still working with Grebenkin on some structural issues, particularly in coming through the neutral zone, but he's been making progress over the course of his first first full NHL season. The exuberant young player will also surely be fired up to play against his original organization.
4. Big minutes for Risto
Thursday's game marks the 11th since veteran Finnish defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen returned to the Flyers' lineup after missing the first two-plus months. The Finnish Olympian hit the ground running and has been a tower of strength for the team in the 10 games he's played to date. Ristolainen logged 24:04 of ice time in the Anaheim game, topping his previous season high of 23:39 in the team's win in Vancouver on Dec. 30. Especially in the absence of Drysdale for the majority of Tuesday's game, Ristolainen's presence took on heightened importance to the Flyers.
Assuming Drysdale is unavailable on Thursday, Noah Juulsen (28 games played) will slot back into the lineup on the third pairing.
