That home opener was one of the worst by the Philadelphia Flyers (0-1-0). In my lifetime, the worst loss I’ve seen was a 9-0 loss to the New York Rangers in 2020-2021, officially the second-worst loss in the Flyers’ history. Last night, Philadelphia began its 2026-2027 campaign with a 7-0 loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins.
“I don’t know if we [the Philadelphia Flyers] won a battle. When you don’t win battles, they [the Pittsburgh Penguins] have the puck. They out-coached us tonight. They outplayed us. They did everything better than us tonight.” – Rick Tocchet; 9/30/2026
At practice on Tuesday, Rick Tocchet spoke about the Flyers and their battle against complacency after making the 2026 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs. Tocchet was asked if he gets the sense that Philadelphia is not complacent and if there’s anything from practices or training camp providing evidence:
“No. Not from practices. [The] exhibition games; a little bit [in] the last two games. I get it, it’s been a long summer. We got to tighten up, and we got to score some goals. I felt some of the guys were playing a little [too much on the] perimeter. We took the easy way out [in] those two games. If you want to score goals, you can’t do what we did. We had some chances, don’t get me wrong. It’s going to be hard to score goals, and you have to get to these certain areas.” – Rick Tocchet; 9/29/2026
In the 2026 NHL Preseason finale, the Flyers essentially had an NHL lineup on the ice. They lost to the Washington Capitals, 5-1, who more closely resembled the Hershey Bears. That loss should’ve made Philadelphia wary of the 2026-2027 NHL Regular Season. Then, Tocchet acknowledged complacency. Lastly, they lost 7-0 in the season opener.
…And the Flyers can only improve from here.
“If we won seven-nothing, I’d say the same thing. It’s a long year. You can’t get too high. We can’t get too low. You have to have that approach, but there’s alarming things out there. We honestly didn’t win a battle. We had a lot of, I hate to say it: snow blowers. There’s a couple plays where we don’t go through people. We don’t have to kill ’em, but you can’t play this game and [not] win battles. I don’t know if guys are reading their press clippings, I don’t know. It wasn’t good. Even the last two exhibition games, the same thing. [If] we play like this tomorrow with a team like Jersey [the New Jersey Devils], it’s gonna’ be even worse. We got to be careful.” – Rick Tocchet; 9/30/2026
The NHL Regular Season is 84 games. It’s already the longest it’s ever been. If Philadelphia doesn’t find a way to snap out of La-La Land, it’ll be a real long season. Tonight, there’s an opportunity to score and win on the road against the New Jersey Devils (0-0-0).
When: 7:00pm/ET
Where: Prudential Center; Newark, NJ
Watch: ESPN+, Hulu, Disney+
Philadelphia Flyers
Joseph Woll will make his Flyers debut. Philadelphia has a back-to-back to begin the 2026-2027 NHL Regular Season. The schedules are not friendly at the beginning of the season, but that invites an early look into the goaltending tandem that’ll be in the back pocket for Tocchet. Woll had the lone 2026 NHL Preseason win, 2-0, versus the Boston Bruins.
Alex Bump (1SOG, 2HIT, 14:39ATOI) is a forward Tocchet had a conversation with regarding scoring goals. He’s emphasized that Bump must find the high-danger areas around the hash marks to score hard goals. Last night, Bump only had one shot on goal, and it was from above the faceoff circle toward the point. However, Bump was responsible away from the puck. In a 7-0 thrashing, he had two takeaways and wasn’t on the ice for any goal scored by the Penguins.
Nick Seeler (2PIM, 1BLK, 2HIT, 19:54ATOI), like Bump, wasn’t on the ice for any goal scored by Pittsburgh in a 7-0 loss. In fact, Seeler and Bump were the only two Flyers to escape with an even rating. Seeler was tied for third in shifts taken (23), third in ice time (19:54), tied for second in shots blocked (1), and tied for first in hits (2).
New Jersey Devils
Jake Allen is the likely starting goaltender for the Devils. Last season, Allen faced Philadelphia once, on the road, taking a loss, 6-3.
Jack Hughes led New Jersey in points last season. It was his second-best season in the NHL, totaling 77 points (27G, 50A). He earned votes toward the Lady Byng Memorial Trophy and Hart Memorial Trophy, finishing seventh in voting for the Lady Byng Memorial Trophy.
Dougie Hamilton is the premier defenseman on the Devils roster, leading New Jersey defensemen last season with 39 points (12G, 27A), including 14 power play points (4PPG, 10PPA).
Philadelphia Flyers: Projected Lineup
Travis Konecny – Christian Dvorak – Porter Martone
Alex Bump – Trevor Zegras – Owen Tippett
Tyson Foerster – Noah Cates – Matvei Michkov
Carl Grundström – Noel Acciari – Sean Couturier
Travis Sanheim – Rasmus Ristolainen
Cam York – Jamie Drysdale
Nick Seeler – Simon Benoit
Joseph Woll
(Dan Vladař)
New Jersey Devils: Projected Lineup
Anthony Mantha – Jack Hughes – Jesper Bratt
Timo Meier – Nico Hischier – Luke Evangelista
Arseny Gritsyuk – Evan Rodrigues – Dawson Mercer
Amadeus Lombardi – Cody Glass – Stefan Noesen
Jonas Siegenthaler – Dougie Hamilton
Luke Hughes – Brett Pesce
Brenden Dillon – Declan Chisholm
Jake Allen
(Nico Daws)
