Tyson Foerster’s slow start is par for the course. The numbers support that.

COLUMBUS, Ohio ― If you look at the stats page, Tyson Foerster is tied with Trevor Zegras for the second-most goals on the Flyers with four.

If you ask him, it’s really five.

“In my mind that one counted,” he said with a grin Friday in the visiting locker room at Nationwide Arena after a spirited practice. Foerster thought he scored off a quick strike 25 seconds into the third period against the Vancouver Canucks on Monday.

The forward seemed to look to the heavens afterward before hugging Zegras, but the joy was short-lived. The Canucks challenged, and it was overturned with the Flyers being just offside.

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On Wednesday, against the Edmonton Oilers, his joy stuck. Foerster scored with a blazing wrist shot on a power play and kinda looked to the heavens again; it was his fourth goal in 20 games.

“I think for him, when he gets a shot off, that’s his gift, right?” coach Rick Tocchet said. “And we’ve talked about it, he’s got a quick release, and when he moves his feet just another foot or two — because I felt when, earlier [this season] he got a shot, it was getting blocked a lot.

“If you look at the goal last night against Edmonton on the power play, it was off his stick in two seconds. That’s when he’s on his game.”

Foerster said the non-goal against the Canucks did take some weight off his shoulders. Probably because, despite having the second-most shots on goal (42) and, according to Natural Stat Trick, the most individual shot attempts (94), the second-most individual scoring chances (49), and the third-most high-danger chances (40), he doesn’t have a handful of goals.

Set to play in 83 games this season — he missed one game after blocking a shot off his shooting hand against the Ottawa Senators — he is on pace for 17 goals.

Or is he?

In his first full NHL season, Foerster finished with 20 goals and 25 the next year. Last summer, he had an off-season to forget, undergoing surgery to repair a right elbow injury he suffered during that spring’s World Championships that became infected. He then missed 49 games due to an upper-body injury that required surgery. He still finished with a respectable 13 goals in 29 games, which would have him at 37 if he played the 82-game slate.

But outside of last season’s blistering pace, where he scored nine goals in his first 20 games, Foerster typically struggles to get going. When he scored his career high of 25 goals in 2024-25, he started with the same four goals and six points he has now.

Flyers general manager Danny Brière told the team before the Edmonton game that entering the night, it was a clean slate, and it seemed to work in Foerster’s favor. The question is, what now? The Flyers hope it’ll be something like the next 20 games in 2024-25 where he scored eight goals and 13 points.

Called up from Lehigh Valley of the American Hockey League in October, Cole Knuble played nine consecutive games, scoring three goals — two against the Buffalo Sabres in his second career NHL game.

He played primarily on the wing, with two games on his off-wing as a right-handed shot, and center three times. On Sunday against the Calgary Flames, his second at the Flyers’ second-line center, he skated with veterans Zegras and Tippett. Although Knuble was minus-2, the first goal against saw Flames star defenseman Zayne Parekh sliced right through Tippett and Zegras before scoring over Dan Vladař’s glove.

Knuble has been a healthy scratch for the past two games.

“I think sometimes you’ve got to realize young guys, they don’t have to play every game. Eighty-four games is a lot for a lot of guys, so it’s OK for him to take some games off,” Tocchet said Friday.

“It’s not a panic city, like we can relax. He’s going to get in there. He’s a good player. [But he] hit the wall. ... [Michael Bunting] came and did a nice job, so you want to keep the same lineup. But we can’t sit him out for two weeks, and we understand that.”

A 5-foot-10, 184-pound sparkplug who plays a much bigger and more fearless game than his frame, Knuble said that he is learning he cannot take it for granted when he is in the lineup. In conversations with the coaching staff, the message has been to keep bringing that energy, don’t let it dip, and continue to be the smart, 200-foot player he has shown he can be.

Knuble is in his first full pro season. He got a taste of the AHL last season, playing in seven games with the Phantoms after completing his junior season at Notre Dame. Before he was called up to the Flyers, he had four points in six games in Lehigh Valley this season.

The 22-year-old, who spent some of his childhood in the Philly area, is the son of former Flyers forward Mike Knuble, and his dad has given him some advice. He told him to stay ready and not to lose his confidence because he’s going to get his chance.

“I know I’m an NHL player. I think I can be better than how I’m playing in games right now, honestly,” Cole told The Inquirer on Friday.

“I know I can make more plays, and I know I can bring energy on a consistent basis. I think every day I’m kind of learning just from either watching or practicing or playing, and I know I’m going to get another opportunity. So I’ll be ready.”

Noel Acciari fully participated in practice Friday after leaving Wednesday’s game against the Oilers with an upper-body injury.