Sanheim's stamina on display with Flyers on cusp of Eastern 2nd Round

VOORHEES, N.J. -- Travis Sanheim skated onto the ice at Flyers Training Center on Thursday with the rest of his Philadelphia Flyers teammates, went through all the drills and never looked tired or taxed.

He certainly didn't look like a player who skated a team-high 25:08, including 9:00 in the third period, just 12 hours earlier in a 5-2 win against the Pittsburgh Penguins in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference First Round.

"I've been doing it all year so it's nothing new for me," Sanheim said. "Our schedule was compact this year so I'm going to do it more regular, so it makes it easier to do it come playoff time."

Little about Sanheim's ice time has been easy, but his play is a significant reason the Flyers lead the best-of-7 series 3-0 with a chance to eliminate the Penguins in Game 4 at Xfinity Mobile Arena on Saturday (8 p.m. ET; HBO MAX, SN-PIT, truTV, TBS, NBCSP, SN, TVAS).

Through three games, the 30-year-old defenseman is averaging a Flyers-high 24:51 of ice time, including 3:44 per game on a penalty kill that's gone 10-for-12 (83.3 percent). 

And despite most of his 5-on-5 shifts coming against Sidney Crosby and the Penguins' top line, he's been on the ice for one even-strength goal-against in a team-best 20:21 per game.

"He's really become one of the top two-way defensemen, I think, in the League," Flyers captain Sean Couturier said. "He's relied on in all situations, PK, power play at times, 5-on-5, offensive-zone starts, D-zone starts, late in games when we're up or down a goal. He really does it all. I really think he's probably one of the underrated (defensemen) in the League, if you compare him to other guys, but we know what he brings to our team, and we're glad to have him."

Sanheim's playoff success is just the next step in a season-long ascension. 

He had 17 points (three goals, 14 assists) at 5-on-5 and averaged 24:02 of total ice time with a plus-2 even-strength goal differential in 56 games before the break for the 2026 Winter Olympics.

Then after Sanheim returned from averaging 13:14 of ice time in five games for Team Canada, he was even better when the Flyers rallied from eight points out of a Stanley Cup Playoff spot to finish third in the Metropolitan Division. In 25 games, he saw his average ice time climb to 24:40 (including 3:11 short-handed) and had a plus-9 even-strength goal differential.

And he's been even more dependable during the postseason.

"Usually guys start to tail off a little bit, get a little tired, and I haven't seen it," Flyers coach Rick Tocchet said. "That's what's impressed me most about him."

Sanheim believes that if some is good, more is better. 

"I feel like I'm a high-load guy that needs that to perform well," he said. "It's been proven that ... getting those high volumes for me has been beneficial, so just something I want to continue."

The foundation to thrive with this kind of workload is set during his offseason workouts.

"High-volume training," he said. "Most guys are doing three or four sets of heavy lifting, I'm doing 12 sets, so my workouts tend to be two hours instead of an hour. It's just something that's worked for me. I've been doing it the last couple seasons, and I've noticed a big difference throughout the course of the year and something that I'll continue to keep doing."

During the season there are conversations with the Flyers' strength and conditioning and sports science departments about monitoring his energy and workload, but Sanheim believes he knows his body better than anyone else.

"I don't ask a ton, because there's some information that I don't necessarily want to know," he said. "They have all that information. I'll ask when I feel like it's necessary and just curious depending on how I'm feeling, if maybe my load's getting too high and maybe I do need a break. Then in other times, they're going to come to me and tell me, not so much maybe taking the day off the ice, but maybe there's stuff that I can do around the ice that can help me recover moving forward.

"I know what my body feels. I don't want to mess with it too much if I'm feeling good and just want to continue to roll with it. And other times, maybe I do need some extra work or some more recovery and just try to use that information the best that I can."

Tocchet said Sanheim's off-ice dedication is benefiting not just him. He knows the younger players are watching.

"I think it's important veteran players showing the way to the young guys," he said. "'Sanny' is more by action. He's not the most vocal guy, but he has been more vocal since the Olympics. ... It's no different from when I was a young guy and Brad McCrimmon, Mark Howe, those guys pass the torch on. They were the same, so having guys like Sanny in the organization to pass that down is huge."

Defenseman Cam York has been one of many paying close attention.

"He's been a workhorse for us all year," York said. "He's been incredible. The minutes he plays, that's hard to do; 25 a night in this league is taxing, and over the course of 82 games and even in playoffs, it adds up quick. To be able to stay healthy and continue to just pour out good minutes for us, it's been fun to watch."