A big reason why the Philadelphia Flyers have reentered the playoff conversation is because of the elevated play from both Owen Tippett and Noah Cates.
Tippett has 7 goals and 11 points over his last 10 games, whereas Cates has delivered with 5 goals and 9 points, helping the Flyers go 8-1-1 in that stretch.
Tippett has really elevated his game since the trade deadline and has flashed his ridiculous speed and lethal shot on a more consistent basis, which has helped the Flyers gain a lot of ground, including his hat-trick performance on Saturday night over the Detroit Red Wings.
It was a near “vintage” Tippett performance. On his first goal, he was sprung on a breakup after a turnover in the neutral zone, and fired it through Gibson’s five hole. He then followed that up with a hard snap shot from the face-off dot that trickled through the five hole again. Before completing the hat-trick as the sling-shot on the power play, getting past a few defenders, before roofing a quick shot over a befuddled Gibson.
Goal scoring wingers have a tendency to drive you nuts, because they can be so dependent on scoring goals, that if they’re not producing on the scoresheet, they can be invisible in other facets of the game. While that can be true about Tippett, he’s the type of player they’ve been looking for since, maybe, Jeff Carter.
However, having Tippett playing like this on a consistent basis is going to be the next step in his evolution into becoming a 30-goal scorer in this league.
The former first round pick is 1 goal away from tying his bench mark that he set in 2023-24, and is just 3 away from his first 30-goal season. His recent success with Trevor Zegras should not go unnoticed either, as they’ve finally incorporated the former Anaheim product as a centre – and in doing so, they might have found his future winger for years to come.
Tippett is also just 5 points away from tying his career-best mark in points (53) that he also set in 2023-24. He uncharacteristically only took 188 shots on goal last season after 289 in 2023-24 and 231 in 2022-23, but has returned to the norm with 206 thus far – with 9 games to play.
Beyond the goal scoring and shot production, Tippett has seen his game evolve a bit this year with some penalty killing time. It’s not in the same category as a Cates or Sean Couturier, but Tippett has seen a career-high 33 minutes shorthanded this year, which could lead to future deployment.
As for Cates, his defensive work is what he’s known for, but it’s been his offensive game that has stood out since the Olympic Break. Playing primarily with Matvei Michkov – on the right wing – has helped unlock some of that potential, as well as getting some reps on the top power play unit with Michkov, Zegras, and Travis Konecny.
The 26-year-old has been quietly having a career-season with 17 goals and 41 points in 73 games, to go along with a +20 rating, 114 shots on goal, 14.9% shooting percentage, 84 hits, 49 blocked shots, and 23 takeaways in 16:20 ATOI.
Furthermore, since the Olympic break, the Minnesota native has 7 goals and 15 points in 17 games with the Flyers having gone 12-4-1 in that stretch. Similarly to John Tortorella, Rick Tocchet has deployed Cates in all situations this season, and that’s a trend that will continue with crucial matchups upcoming.
With the Flyers’ playoff push having very little room for error, they are in action later today to kick-start a pivotal 4-game week with tilts against Washington, Detroit, New York Islanders, and Boston – the latter 3 coming in a 4-day span and being against teams they’re chasing for a playoff spot.
The Flyers are going to need more of the same from Cates and Tippett over the final few weeks of the season if they have any chance of jumping the myriad of teams in the congested Eastern Conference playoff picture.
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