Opening their 2026-27 regular season slate, Rick Tocchet's Philadelphia Flyers host Dan Muse's Pittsburgh Penguins at Xfinity Mobile Arena on Wednesday night. The archrival clubs faced off in the 2025-26 Eastern Conference Quarterfinal, with the Flyers prevailing in six games.
Game time is 7:30 p.m. EDT. The game will be broadcast on TNT, TruTV and HBO MAX.
There is modest Flyers roster turnover from last season to the new campaign. The most notable additions are goaltender Joseph Woll, defenseman Simon Benoit and former Penguins checking forward Noel Acciari.
Meanwhile, goaltender Samuel Ersson (now with Ottawa), defenseman Emil Andrae (now with the Columbus Blue Jackets) and Garnet Hathaway (Florida Panthers) departed over the summer.
Reigning Bobby Clarke Trophy (Flyers team MVP winner) Dan Vladar sustained an upper body injury during the preseason. Fortunately, he is ready to go for opening night. He recorded two shutouts against Pittsburgh in their 2026 playoff series, including a 1-0 overtime victory in Game Six.
For Pittsburgh, key offseason additions include Nick Robertson, David Gustafsson, Hendrix Lapierre, Trevor van Riemsdyk, and Declan Carlile. Notable departures include goaltender Stuart Skinner, forwards Acciari, Anthony Mantha and the now retired Kevin Hayes, as well as defensemen Ryan Shea and Parker Wotherspoon.
On Tuesday, the Flyers conducted their final practice before opening night. The team's line combinations (which is something that's always subject to change):
Owen Tippett - Trevor Zegras - Porter Martone
Alex Bump - Noah Cates - Matvei Michkov
Tyson Foerster -Christian Dvorak - Travis Konecny
Carl Grundstrom -Sean Couturier - Noel Acciari
Garrett Wilson
Travis Sanheim - Rasmus Ristolainen
Cam York - Jamie Drysdale
Nick Seeler - Simon Benoit
David Jiricek
Dan Vladar
Joseph Woll
Here are the RAV4 Things to watch on opening night.
1. The middle six/ top nine
The Flyers don't really have a set "hierarchy" of line combinations (1st line, 2nd line, etc) up front. They are a team that relies more on depth than on a few stars affixed to the top of the lineup. For Philly, it's more accurate to say there's a top nine (or at least a middle six) plus a fourth line that sees defensive/forechecking deployment at 5-on-5.
At least for the start of opening night, the lines centered by Noah Cates and Christian Dvorak are the "middle six" at five-on-five. Meanwhile, Trevor Zegras played more of a full-time center role atop the lineup during the latter part of last season. Previously, he was more of a winger/center hybrid in a forward pairing with Dvorak plus a rotating cast of wingers on the right side.
2. Michkov
Entering his third NHL season, Russian winger Matvei Michkov is coming off a roller coaster 2025-26 campaign. He had an excellent offseason and strong training camp. He also took a big off-ice step, as he has begun to do interviews in English.
Michkov had a rough playoff series against the Penguins this past spring. However, he assisted on Cam York's series-winning overtime goal in Game Six. Getting off to a flying start to the 2026-27 season would be huge both for the player and the entire team.
3. Special teams
So much has been said (fairly) about the Flyers' longtime struggles on the power play. The only thing to be added is this: the team could really use a quick jolt.
At least for the start of opening night, these are the Flyers' projected power play units:
1st unit: Martone, Foerter, Michkov, Zegras, Drysdale
2nd unit:: Konecny, Cates, Bump, Tippett, York
Meanwhile, the penalty kill ran hot and cold last season. By the conclusion of the 82-game campaign, their cumulative penalty kill percentage dropped to 77.6%, placing 22nd overall in the final NHL team rankings.
4. Martone
Porter Martone is officially a rookie this season but he gained invaluable experience during his NHL time late last season. Martone racked up 10 points in nine regular season games. Later, he started his NHL playoff career by scoring the game-winning goals in Games One and Two of the Pittsburgh series.
There's a lot of pressure on Martone to continue his fast NHL success. Expect him to receive a lot of checking attention for the Penguins right off the bat on opening night.
