Cole Knuble grew up watching his dad, Mike, play for the Flyers. Now, he’s living out his own NHL dream on the same ice.

Mike Knuble would tuck his son, Cole, into bed when he was little.

“Dad, do you think I could play in the NHL?” Cole would ask before he drifted off to sleep.

“Of course,” Mike would answer, hoping, like any parent, that it would work out. He’d tell him it was a long way off, so have fun playing hockey now, and let’s see how it goes.

But Cole was determined. In elementary school, when asked to write a letter about what he wanted to be when he grew up, he’d always write: hockey player.

On Monday night in South Philly, the kid who wore a Flyers jersey as a tyke when learning how to skate, who would later mess with and be carried around by Alex Ovechkin, and who went to bed dreaming of following in his dad’s footsteps as an NHLer, became just that. In the process, he and Mike became the first father-son combo to play for the Flyers.

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With injuries to several veteran forwards, the Flyers recalled Cole from Lehigh Valley of the American Hockey League before hosting the Colorado Avalanche. He took his rookie lap — accomplishing his goal of not falling — and, across 13 minutes, 44 seconds of ice time in the Flyers’ 3-2 win, showed the traits he can bring to an NHL lineup while skating with fellow youngsters Denver Barkey and Alex Bump.

“He’s a fast player, something we need,” coach Rick Tocchet said postgame. ”We need some fast players. And there was two times when the puck was inside our blue line, they were about to get it, and he got it. That we lack. That was unreal. Because [if] he doesn’t get that out and they keep it in, who knows what happens?”

Once critiqued for his skating, Cole used his speed and “dog on a bone” mentality to chase down and pressure the Avalanche, notably in the third period. His trademark high hockey IQ helped him read plays in the defensive zone and create chances offensively, like when he set up Bump for a quick shot off the rush in the second.

And the 22-year-old forward impressed the bench boss with his courage.

Standing at 5-foot-10 and 195 pounds, he was rocked by former Flyers defenseman Noah Juulsen in the middle frame. In the third period, he got the puck in the defensive zone, skated up the ice, and swung wide left before cutting around veteran blueliner Brent Burns to the net. He may have put a shot on, but it’s hard to tell because in the moment, he was meeting the full force of 6-3, 218-pound bruiser Josh Manson.

“Yeah, definitely the first one,” he said when asked if the big hits were “Welcome to the NHL” moments.

“I was telling the guys I lead the league in stitches per game, so I got three. But yeah, I’ll take a hit. I don’t know. I’m just trying to make a play, so I’ll do whatever it takes.”

Monday was Game 1 for Cole. He knows it’ll be tough to match his dad’s games-played tally, “but I can get him on something, so we’ll see what it is,” he said with a grin in Allentown on Oct. 9.

The elder Knuble played 1,068 NHL games, signing with the Flyers two days after Cole was born, and following multiple seasons with the Detroit Red Wings, New York Rangers, and Boston Bruins. Mike played 338 games in orange and black across two stints, 2005-09, and 28 games in 2012-13, his final season.

“I think that short season, my older son Cam and Cole, they ran into Wayne Gretzky in the hallway, and Wayne kind of razzed them a little bit about, ‘Oh, I had so many points, and I would have had one more if your dad would have scored that open net for me,’” Knuble recalled of his former Rangers teammate. “They couldn’t wait to tell me that in the car.”

Although the family didn’t move back to Philly for Mike’s last season, opting to stay in Grand Rapids, Michigan, Cole remembers things like the PECO power play, fans leaving hats outside the family’s house in Haddonfield when Mike scored a hat trick, and skating in Learn to Skate as a 3- and 4-year-old before moving up to mites at the Flyers Training Center.

“There’s definitely pressure. I’d be lying if I said there’s not,” Cole told The Inquirer about being the son of not just a former NHLer, who also spent three years with the Washington Capitals, but a former Flyer.

“Definitely when I got drafted, I felt like I was in the shadow for sure. I feel like I’m slowly coming out of that, but I don’t really focus on that. I know I’m my own player.

“It’s something I’ve dealt with my whole life. Growing up, kids were always saying stuff to me. ‘You’re only here because your dad,’ all that stuff. So I’ve definitely dealt with it, but when I was younger, I felt like I was a little — I don’t know if I was a late bloomer, maybe a little bit. So I felt like I’ve always been kind of grinding to prove those people wrong.”

» READ MORE: Flyers sign prospect Cole Knuble, the son of former NHLer Mike, to entry-level contract

The pressure comes from all sides, including the fact that the younger Knuble did not get his dad’s 6-3, 230-pound frame. But he has an internal confidence and belief, and he knows he wasn’t drafted in 2023 as an overager because the general manager and his dad were teammates. There were no favors here.

As Flyers assistant general manager Brent Flahr told The Inquirer last December, Knuble “is one of my favorites. ... So competitive, great motor, smart, plays every position.” That is why on Monday, the fourth-rounder became the fourth member of the team’s 2023 NHL draft class — six months after wrapping up his junior year at Notre Dame — to break in, joining Matvei Michkov, Barkey, and Oliver Bonk in the lineup.

Mike and Cole’s mom, Megan Knuble, landed Monday morning from Michigan. They, along with Cole’s siblings — Monday was his sister Anna’s birthday — and other family members and close friends, watched from the stands as he made his NHL debut in No. 54. Proud dad Mike was spotted by the NBCSP broadcast taking pictures with his phone.

He watched his son grow up and prove people wrong as all the doubters — whether it was kids questioning his talent or Cole being “pretty devastated” when he was passed over his first year of draft eligibility — lit a fire.

“He was a little bit undersized growing up, but I think it really helped turn him into the player that he is today,” said Mike, who is now a college scout for the Edmonton Oilers.

“And you watch him, he’s crafty, and he has the puck all the time, right? He has the puck and makes the right play all the time, and the puck sticks to him. He always has his head up, and he has excellent vision. I think that happened for him, as a positive, being a smaller guy because you have to have your head up because kids were bigger than you, and you had to go figure out ways to go get the puck, and you have to be brave, and you have to know you’re going to lose the battle of inertia and physics sometimes, right?”

Mike started coaching Cole around 8 years old for the Fox Motors Hockey Club in Michigan until he moved to North Dakota to play for Fargo of the United States Hockey League. Car rides home weren’t always roses, but at the end of the day, he was just Dad.

“I didn’t carry stuff over, and I didn’t pout. Some coaches will just carry things on. It’s like, man, this is kids’ hockey. Their development is the biggest thing. It’s not about whether we win and lose all the time. It’s how are we playing, and are we playing to the best of our abilities, and we’re competing. I’d give it my five-minute speech after, and every player knew, including my own son, when I walk out of the room, it’s over.

“I’m back to Cole’s dad, and back to [having] a smile on my face.”

That smile was prevalent at Xfinity Mobile Arena on Monday. From the Knubles in the crowd to the one on the ice under the brightest lights the sport has, doing it on the same rink his dad skated on.

“Yeah, the fans are as loud as I remember,” said Cole. “That was just so awesome being out there. And then ‘The Orange and the Black’ song brought back good memories after.”

Back in Philly. Back in the jersey he wore as a tyke. It feels quite full circle and always meant to be.

The only question remaining: Did Mike take him for Rita’s after the game like the old days, too?