'Absolute horse' Tippett's speed, scoring, power fueling Flyers' playoff push

PHILADELPHIA -- Owen Tippett saw an opening, and the Philadelphia Flyers forward didn't just skate into it, he exploded the door off the wall.

It was early in the first period of a game against the Columbus Blue Jackets on March 24. Zach Werenski, a Norris Trophy finalist for best defenseman in the NHL last season, and likely one again this season, made a slight bobble with the puck at center ice.

In a flash, Tippett was on him, stealing the puck and skating in alone on goalie Jet Greaves; he didn't score on the play in what turned out to be a 3-2 loss, but the move still made an impression. 

"I saw a little bit of a battle in front of him, and the puck squirted behind him," Tippett said. "I don't know if he saw me fully coming. I knew I had a decent amount of speed, so I just tried to get to him as quick as I can and I ended up being able to kick the puck ahead of me."

That followed a play he made against the Washington Capitals on March 11, stepping into an open inch of space to intercept a pass by defenseman Jakob Chychrun off the boards in the Philadelphia zone intended for forward Tom Wilson. Tippett blew through Wilson and powered through a stick check attempt by forward Dylan Strome to create a 2-on-0 rush that teammate Trevor Zegras finished for the game-winning goal in a 4-1 Flyers victory.

"I've never seen anything like that, and to play with him is such a treat," Zegras said that night. "He had like six breakaways. He fell down on the 2-on-0 that we had, and he was still skating faster than me."

Plays like that have become the norm for Tippett as he's been able to use his mix of gamebreaking speed and power to lead Philadelphia in a late push for a spot in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

With the Flyers having gone 13-6-1 in 20 games since the break for the 2026 Milano Cortina Olympics, Tippett leads Philadelphia with nine goals in that span and his 15 points are second to forward Noah Cates (17), and his offensive heroics have helped lift the Flyers into a four-way tie in points with the Ottawa Senators, Detroit Red Wings and Columbus Blue Jackets for the second wild card into the playoffs from the Eastern Conference.

"I don't know how many times this year you've seen in a game where we're a little sluggish," Flyers coach Rick Tocchet said, "and he pokes a puck away and he gets half a break, or he gets a breakaway, and all of a sudden the team kind of wakes up. He's got that ability to wake your team up with one of those rush plays, or one of those individual plays. 

"It's tough to find those guys and we have him."

Tippett is Philadelphia's leading goal scorer this season with 28 and is third in points with 50 in 76 games. With six games remaining, starting against the Boston Bruins at Xfinity Mobile Arena on Sunday (3:30 p.m. ET; HBO MAX, truTV, TNT, NBCSP, SN360), he has a chance to eclipse his NHL bests of 28 goals, 25 assists and 53 points he had in 78 games in 2023-24.

But more than the scoring has been the different ways he has affected the game with his display of game-breaking speed and strength in a 6-foot-1, 210-pound frame.

He's one of four NHL players with at least 25 goals and 150 hits; he's averaging 26 seconds of short-handed ice time per game, his highest total in seven NHL seasons; and his 53 speed bursts of at least 22 mph are second in the NHL to Edmonton Oilers center Connor McDavid (137).

"The guy's a stud," defenseman Jamie Drysdale said. "He's an absolute horse for us, the way he's been playing this year as a whole."

Tippett always has shown a tantalizing level of talent, but his ability to do it on a consistent basis has remained a question.

"What did he have that was super elite that you couldn't ignore? It was pretty obvious," said Jason Bukala, who was amateur scouting director for the Florida Panthers when they selected Tippett with the No. 10 pick of the 2017 NHL Draft. "... Elite skill, elite shooter, real good hockey brain. The engagement had to go to another level, and that was going to take time."

The Flyers acquired Tippett from the Panthers as part of a trade for forward Claude Giroux on March 19, 2022. He has since been a fixture in their top-nine and has four straight 20-goal seasons.

But each of those seasons was filled with inconsistencies in play and production. This season, however, he has been a factor even when he hasn't made it onto the score sheet, whether it be physicality, improved defensive play or extra responsibility from being on the penalty kill.

"His consistency this year, for me since the start of the year, there's not many lulls in his game," Tocchet said.
Tippett said age, experience, maturity and a growing level of trust from the coaching staff has helped him focus better shift to shift.

"I think something that's definitely helped me this year is kind of forgetting stuff, whether it's a turnover, bad shift, bad game, whatever it may be, forgetting about it right away and just realizing that you have the next shift to focus on and not really kind of dwelling on the bad, and just more focusing on the good," he said.

"Constantly being in the game, shift after shift, you just have to go out there and do your best. You can't worry about what happened the shift before, whether it was good or bad."

Tippett's teammates and coaches have noticed, and so has the rest of the hockey world.

"On your off days, when you're not producing offense, you've got to have the rest of it going," said Bukala, an NHL Network and Sportsnet analyst who founded The Pro Hockey Group, a professional and amateur hockey scouting service. "Take a look at his backcheck engagement, take a look at his speed, take a look at the bump to his game. I'm not talking about blowing people up, I'm just talking about pushing people off plays. Everything about him is better."

There are still areas of the game Tippett can improve, including hitting the net more often -- he leads the Flyers with 212 shots on goal but also with 107 missed shots -- but he appears to a be player finally maximizing his skill set.

"He's just got so much potential," Konecny said. "And I love when you see him realize it during a game, and he's like, 'This is my game and I'm taking over.' It's fun to watch."