Flyers begin to build a foundation under Rick Tocchet but there’s ‘still a lot to work on’

SUNRISE, Fla. — After the Flyers concluded their final practice before the 2025-26 season began, Noah Cates summed it up best.

“Just huge tests,” he said.

The huge tests included Thursday’s season-opening matchup with the Florida Panthers, followed by a rematch with the Cats in the home opener on Monday. It’s sandwiched around a game against a team pundits are calling the best in the Metropolitan Division, the Carolina Hurricanes.

» READ MORE: Flyers come up short to begin the Rick Tocchet era in 2-1 loss to the Panthers

Entering Thursday’s lid-lifter against the two-time defending champions, new coach Rick Tocchet and his crew knew it was a chance to ask: How do we stack up against the Panthers, even with Florida missing two of its top stars in Matthew Tkachuk and Aleksander Barkov? Did we absorb enough of the concepts and strategies that we want to install, especially in the defensive zone? Can Dan Vladař be the reliable goalie partner for Sam Ersson the team has been craving for two seasons?

The scoreboard tells you it was a 2-1 loss to open the season, but it doesn’t tell the full story.

“There was some good stuff. It’s a good measuring stick,” Tocchet said afterward, adding he didn’t care for the team’s second period. “The one thing with Florida, I respect, is they believe in what they do. They dump a lot of pucks. They’re a great forechecking team.

“We’ve got to make sure we believe in what we’re doing [for] 60 minutes, right? Pucks turned over, things like that, we’ve got to clean up. But for the most part, the effort was there. Can’t really get too upset.”

Yes, the Flyers allowed 34 shots on goal, but, according to Natural Stat Trick, of the 23 they conceded at five-on-five, 12 were low-danger shots. It’s a baby step in the right direction for a coach who said in September about low-danger shots, “I don’t care, go ahead [take those], we don’t want to give up Grade A shots.”

Outside of the game-winner from the half-wall by Brad Marchand, which Vladař looked to be screened on, the netminder seemed to be tracking the puck well. There were a few scrambles around the crease, but it’s clear why the Czechia native was signed during the offseason. Like his counterpart, Ersson, Vladař looked cool and calm in net.

After the game, however, he said, “It wasn’t enough tonight,” before adding that “[Sergei] Bobrovsky was one save better than me, and that’s why we lost.”

The good news is that the penalty kill was stout. Natural Stat Trick had the Flyers down for allowing five high-danger shots across all strengths, with none coming across five — yes, five — Florida power plays. They did allow one power-play tally, a shot by Anton Lundell along the inner edge of the right faceoff circle that was labeled mid-danger.

“Other than the penalties, they did [have] some puck possession; that’s a good team there,” Tocchet said. “Thought for the most part, what I liked about it, when they did have puck possession, we didn’t panic. We stayed in our spots, gave them the outside, so that’s a positive.

“Think early in the camp, we were running around a bit, but I didn’t see as much of that. So that’s a positive.”

But the hockey gods giveth and taketh, and they still aren’t giving anything to the Flyers’ power play. Sure, the old saying goes, Rome wasn’t built in a day, but the Flyers didn’t register a shot on goal across 2 minutes, 16 seconds of power-play time — all in the first period.

They had trouble entering the zone and, when they did, they couldn’t get set up. Bobby Brink had the lone shot attempt, which was blocked by Panthers defenseman Jeff Petry.

Maybe the lack of oomph on the power play impacted five-on-five action for guys like Trevor Zegras and Christian Dvorak — each making his Flyers debut — as well as Travis Konecny, Owen Tippett, Matvei Michkov, and Sean Couturier.

Michkov had the best chance in the first period, when he tried to stuff the puck in at the right post. But the two jams to try and beat Bobrovsky were his only shots in the game across 14:54 of ice time. He played on a line with Couturier, who does so many of the little details right, especially in the defensive zone, and Dvorak. The Flyers had nine shot attempts when they were on the ice compared to 12 for the Panthers.

» READ MORE: The Flyers are in Rick Tocchet’s ‘blood.’ Now he’s tasked with returning the once-proud organization to prominence.

The Zegras line, which featured Tippett and Konecny as the wingers, also struggled to find offensive-zone time. The group’s best chance came in the third period when a pretty passing play off the rush found an open Konecny at the left post with a gaping net. Unfortunately, the two-time All-Star rang it off the metal.

“Low-event game,” said defenseman Travis Sanheim, who sported an “A” and played a game-high 27:15 with Cam York on the shelf with a lower-body injury.

“Obviously, they score on the power play, and then both sides didn’t generate a whole lot [at] five-on-five, and unfortunately, TK didn’t bury that one at the end,” he added.

“They’re a tough team there. They’re the Stanley Cup champs for a reason. Obviously, take away some of the positives, but still a lot to work on in our game, and hopefully get better for the next one.”

What doesn’t need any work is the trio of Cates, Brink, and Tyson Foerster. The line picked up right where it left off last season, and not just by notching the Flyers’ only goal.

Natural Stat Trick had the line down for seven chances for and none against at five-on-five. Across all strengths, Cates led the Flyers with three shots on goal, Brink had two shot attempts that were blocked, and Foerster had four shot attempts, with Bobrovsky having to stop a pair.

On the goal, a set play, according to Cates, he won the faceoff — something he’s struggled with in the past and has been working on, as evident from him winning 9-of-15 — back to Foertser. The winger put a hard, high shot on net that seemed to handcuff Bobrovsky, allowing Cates, after driving to the crease, to pop it in on the rebound.

“When we get back together, we’re talking on the bench, and I think just a step ahead with where we want to be in just kind of different plays and whatnot from last year,” Cates said. “So I think it was a good start for us.

“And, I mean, just for the team, you see it, defending Cup champs. We just can’t kind of take some breaks, and you see how mature their game is, but we’re right there, so we know we can play with the best teams in this league, and compete with them.”