The Philadelphia Flyers (10-6-3) found a way to pull off their second comeback victory in six days against the St. Louis Blues (6-9-6). Just last week, we watched the Flyers come back from several multi-goal deficits in St. Louis, resulting in a 6-5 shootout victory. This time, the Flyers did it again, but found a way to beat the Blues in overtime, 3-2.
Flyers Head Coach Rick Tocchet let it be known there were no excuses to coming out slow at the start of the game.
“It falls on me but you know, we’ve had four days here off. There’s no reason why we shouldn’t start on time tomorrow. So, hopefully we learn and we mature from these last couple of games where we didn’t start on time.” – Rick Tocchet; 11/19/2025
While the Flyers certainly did not come out slow, they still found themselves with a two-goal deficit after the first period. However, Dan Vladař would go on to stop every ensuing shot on goal. Rodrigo Ābols cut the lead in half at the end of the second period. Then Tyson Foerster tied the game with a rocket of a shot from the top of the left circle. It would then be Travis Sanheim who, on a 2-on-0 with Sean Couturier, ripped the puck far side to seal the victory.
When asked about the start, Tocchet had this much to say:
“Just a couple of missed passes. I don’t know if it was that bad of a start. I know [how] the optics look [when] you make a bad pass or something, that’s when it looks bad. Overall I don’t think it was that bad.” – Rick Tocchet; 11/20/2025
There were a lot feel good narratives from this game. Ābols, who may have been on the verge of being sent down to the Phantoms, scored his first goal of the season. Emil Andrae, despite the adversity he faced, played his best game of the season. He ended up being paired with Jamie Drysdale and earned the ice time of a top-four defenseman. Foerster, who has had a slow start since returning from injury, scored an incredible 5v5 goal.
Perhaps the best story of all was one that happened before puck drop. Jason Myrtetus, who wears many hats in the Philadelphia hockey scene, was diagnosed with stage 3 colon cancer in December 2024. As of Oct. 31, 2025, his scans showed no sign of cancer. Jason is a beloved figure in hockey media circles, particularly in Philadelphia. So, it meant a lot to people in attendance for the Flyers’ Hockey Fights Cancer Night to see Jason participate in the ceremonial puck drop.
FIRST PERIOD
While the Flyers certainly did not come out slow, they still found themselves with a two-goal deficit after the first period. A point shot, and a tic-tac-toe powerplay goal put the Blues ahead early. It’s not to say the Flyers did not have their chances, though. Early in the game, Trevor Zegras stole a puck and had a give-and-go with Dvorak. Travis Konecny made a nice feed to Sanheim who was parked in the right circle, but they could not come up with a goal. Joel Hofer was the better goaltender in this period.
On their first goal, the Blues had taken advantage of a turnover behind the net, moved the puck to the point where Justin Faulk scored his first of the night just five and a half minutes into the game.
Sure, it was just a 1-0 lead. Not ideal, but not end of the world. The Flyers’ response? Sending Blues forward Jake Neighbors on a breakaway. Nick Seeler and Drysdale got caught with a bad gap in middle of the ice skating backwards. The result was Seeler getting turnstiled. Luckily, Vladař was locked in on the stop.
Shortly after, the Flyers would get their first crack at the power play but would come up empty handed. The Blues went on to their first power play and scored immediately. It was a nicely designed play, with strong puck movement that led to Faulk’s second goal of the night.
The vibes were starting to go bad. After all the talk of playing prepared with four days of rest, the Flyers found themselves in a hole again in the first period. Through 19 games, the Flyers have forfeited the first goal in 13 of them. Giving up the first goal in 68% of your starts is probably not sustainable. Fortunately for the Flyers, this would be the last goal the Blues scored in this game.
SECOND PERIOD
The Flyers were still struggling in this period, to be sure. Despite that, there were technically players on the ice doing good things. Andrae was seemingly promoted to the second pair with Drysdale. This was a fascinating decision by Tocchet. Between Tocchet, and the Flyers front office, there has been a clear emphasis on size with their defensive core. This has been especially true as the Flyers have paired up their smaller defensemen with much larger ones. Look at the height differentials below:
Sanheim (6′4″) – York (6′0″)
Seeler (6′3″) – Drysdale (5′11″)
Andrae (5′9″) – Juulsen (6′2″)
It was Flyers Assistant Coach Todd Reirden who encouraged this move to Tocchet, who happily obliged. This move would later provide huge dividends to the Flyers victory.
“I was talking to Todd after the 1st. I said, let’s make the switch here. I just felt Emil has been playing pretty good for us. He’s one of our better guys that goes back and wheels the puck and makes an outlet pass. Even on the blue line, faking and juking players and stuff like that. So you know, keep working with him and he’ll get some more ice time. ” – Rick Tocchet; 11/20/2025
Ābols would find himself with some scoring chances, but just could not find a way to beat Hofer. Later, Noah Juulsen, a person many fans of the online variety do not enjoy, did no favors for himself. Towards the end of the second period, he too would get burnt, caught skating backwards in the neutral zone. Again, Vladař made the stop.
Finally, the Flyers would score and cut the lead in half. It was none other than Ābols with his first of the season.
Every now and then, Owen Tippett does things outside of scoring goals that makes you feel amazed and frustrated all at the same time. It’s because when you see plays like this, you wonder about a world where he can put these games together with more consistency.
Trevor Zegras earned a secondary assist on this goal, but why is that important? With that point, Trevor Zegras became the fourth player in the past 30 years to record 20 points with the Flyers in fewer than 20 games. He now joins Peter Forsberg (05-06), Dale Hawerchuk (95-96) and Danny Brière (07-08), per NHL Stats.
THIRD PERIOD
The Blues played through their second power play on the night, but would be unsuccessful this time. The Flyers would get one more chance on the power play. They nearly scored, but the result was a full-blown highway robbery stop by the Blues netminder.
Shortly after this, the Flyers would finally tie the game. Konecny made a great effort diving for the puck to send it back up to the blue line. It would be retrieved by Andrae, who corralled the puck and skated to the right, which gave Foerster the space to rip home his fifth goal of the season.
In the final minute, the puck had taken a strange bounce. Suddenly, with less than a minute left, the game was on Konecny’s stick, staring down a completely empty net. Somehow, someway, he shanked it. Yup. Just blew it. It felt like someone was rubbing salt back into a familiar wound, when the Flyers nearly beat the Oilers in regulation with less than 30 seconds left on the clock last week. It was Tippett who went offside, overturning what should have been Konecny’s game winner just the week before. Had the Flyers lost this game, a lot of fans would have been easy to forget Konecny’s multi-point night (2 assists).
OVERTIME
In the end, though, the Flyers would win. The Blues and Flyers traded chances, and the Blues nearly scored but Vladař made an unbelievable post to post save. Sanheim would find separation, and create a 2-on-0 with Couturier. However, Sanheim had no interest in passing this puck and sniped it home far side from the left circle.
UP NEXT
The Flyers will continue their homestand on Saturday night where they will host the New Jersey Devils (7:00pm/ET; NBCSP).
