2026 NHL Preseason Recap: Philadelphia Flyers at Boston Bruins

So far, the 2026 NHL Preseason has been rough on the Philadelphia Flyers.

A loss to the Boston Bruins, 5-1, replicated a lot of what we saw the night prior against the Washington Capitals. The Flyers surrendered another five goals, lost another player to injury, and another opposing forward was one empty-net opportunity away from a hat trick. Philadelphia has played four goaltenders in the 2026 NHL Preseason, where Joseph Woll is the front-runner to start the 2026-2027 NHL Regular Season.

That’s no overreaction, either. Dan Vladař (upper-body) didn’t return after Tanner Jeannot made contact with him. Vladař looked rather sharp before exiting. Once Jeannot made contact with Vladař, Vladař surrendered his lone goal.

Michael Eyssimont scored two even-strength goals, including the lone goal on Vladař. Eyssimont also capped the Bruins’ scoring, beating Aleksei Kolosov to put an exclamation point on his performance.

Before the puck dropped, the Flyers knew it would be a hard battle against Boston. In comparing the lineups, Philadelphia included Vladař, Alex Bump, Noah Cates, Carl Grundström, Owen Tippett, David Jiříček, and Nick Seeler, who are all NHL players. The Bruins lineup featured Eyssimont, Jeannot, Morgan Geekie, Elias Lindholm, Casey Mittelstadt, David Pastrňák, John-Jason Peterka, Pavel Zacha, William Borgen, Connor Clifton, Hampus Lindholm, Nikita Zadorov, and Jeremy Swayman, a much heavier NHL roster. One team was a clear underdog. The result was unsurprising, but as always in the NHL Preseason, the tidbits along the way are vital for opening night of the 2026-2027 NHL Regular Season.

Final: Flyers 1, Bruins 5

• Aleksei Kolosov: L
• Jacob Gaucher: 1G
  • Jett Luchanko: 1A
  • Nick Seeler: 1A

• Jeremy Swayman: W
• Michael Eyssimont: 1G
  • Frederic Brunet: 1A
  • Tanner Jeannot: 1A
• Morgan Geekie (PP): 1G
  • David Pastrňák: 1A
  • Hampus Lindholm: 1A
• Brian Halonen: 1G
  • Frederic Brunet: 2A
  • Brendan Gaunce: 1A
• Elias Lindholm: 1G
  • Nikita Zadorov: 1A
  • Pavel Zacha: 1A
• Michael Eyssimont: 2G
  • Dans Ločmelis: 1A

David Jiříček (+)

Jiříček is expected, if at all with the Flyers, to contribute from the blue line on the power play. He played strongly against some premier talent, such as Pastrňák, Zacha, and Peterka. In the first period, Jiříček disrupted them both on a long, extended shift. On the stat sheet, Jiříček led Philadelphia in blocks (4), ice time (22:46), and giveaways (3).

With the puck, Jiříček tallied a shot on goal. The Flyers only went on the power play once (0%; 0/1), which doesn’t help if you wanted to see more of Jiříček from the blue line on the power play. Rick Tocchet is aware of Jiříček’s ability to shoot the puck and wants more shots on goal.

However, Jiříček looked a lot better defensively. There are a lot more questions about Jiříček on defense than on offense.

I don’t believe Tocchet has played Jiříček for the last time in the 2026 NHL Preseason.

Cole Knuble and Jett Luchanko (+)

Originally, I was going to include these two as a separate entry. Cole Knuble was a standout once again, working hard in the offensive zone and nearly scoring, hitting the crossbar in the third period. Jett Luchanko was the best center on the ice for Philadelphia, creating a lot of space for Tippett and Jacob Gaucher to generate offense.

Then, it just felt right to include how well Knuble and Luchanko looked on the same line.

This has been the story since the 2026 NHL Rookie Series with the New York Rangers. Luchanko and Knuble each have a high motor; they’re making plays with the puck, and as the trajectory projects, they’ll feed off of each other on the Lehigh Valley Phantoms before they’re recalled at some point to the Flyers in the 2026-2027 NHL Regular Season.

Dan Vladař

Vladař exited after 13:31TOI. Between the pipes, Vladař was off to a hot start. It wasn’t the quantity of shots he faced, but the quality of the shots he stopped. The first six shots he faced weren’t simple. Then, Jeannot made contact with Vladař, and that was the end of his night.

Immediately, Eyssimont would put Boston ahead, 1-0, with 6:29 remaining in the first period. Vladař was helpless in this situation.

No further update was provided on Vladař, but he’s listed as day-to-day.

Jacob Gaucher

Gaucher took the easy pass from Luchanko, saw nothing but space down the left wing, and burned past Maxence Guenette to score on Swayman, 1-1, with 1:54 remaining in the first period. Guenette and Gaucher were formerly teammates on the Phantoms. He liked his matchup and made the house call.

Unfortunately, Gaucher did lose a critical faceoff in the defensive zone that would put Philadelphia into a deeper hole. He lost his faceoff to Brendan Gaunce, then Frederic Brunet placed a shot on Kolosov. Brian Halonen buried the rebound, 3-1, with 12:17 left in the third period.

Aleksei Kolosov (-)

Kolosov closed out the first period and held the Bruins off the scoreboard throughout the second. Over that time, Kolosov stopped 9/9 (100%) shots on goal. Then, Geekie broke the ice in the third period on the tip drill, 2-1, with 14:41 remaining in the third period.

To give you an idea of how rough a third period Kolosov had, he stopped 5/9 shots on goal (55.5%). The defense in front of him didn’t help all too well, either.

Ty Murchison (-)

Ty Murchison had a rough outing. In the second period, he left after taking a big hit from Zadorov, but returned to the game. He kept getting hit around the ice by Boston. Then, he took the cross-checking minor penalty that opened the floodgates on Kolosov. Lastly, he had an ugly defensive zone turnover to Dans Ločmelis, which turned into another goal by Eyssimont, 5-1, with 1:13 remaining in the third period.

Unlike Jiříček, I would expect not to see too much more of Murchison in the 2026 NHL Preseason.

Danila Klimovich (-)

Danila Klimovich is a free agent signing that hasn’t been on much of anyone’s radar. He was a former second-round pick in the 2021 NHL Entry Draft. However, he’s always been an AHL player, never recalled to the NHL by the Vancouver Canucks, who stashed him on the Abbotsford Canucks. After his outing against the Bruins, he’ll be a fixture in Lehigh Valley.

Klimovich was fourth amongst forwards in ice time (15:33) and tied Knuble in takeaways (2). His awareness in the defensive zone could be much improved. He was between Zadorov, who carried the puck on the outer perimeter, and Lindholm throughout the sequence when Boston went up 4-1, with 5:11 remaining in the third period. Zadorov and Lindholm designed this scoring play to exploit Klimovich, and it worked to perfection.

Up Next

Next, the Philadelphia Flyers host the Boston Bruins on Thursday, September 24th. The puck drops at 7pm/ET.