Flyers Need a Power Play Reset Before It Is Too Late
Jan 10, 2026; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; Philadelphia Flyers right wing Owen Tippett (74) celebrates his goal with right wing Matvei Michkov (39) against the Tampa Bay Lightning during the third period at Xfinity Mobile Arena. Mandatory Credit: Eric Hartline-Imagn Images
The Flyers didn’t just drop another one to Tampa Bay at home this week; they walked out of this back-to-back having been outscored 12-3 across the two games in South Philly. What keeps coming up and what keeps the Flyers from truly gaining any momentum is a power play unit that can’t capitalize on the man advantage and has even had trouble getting shots on net recently.
The Flyers’ power play has made having the man advantage look like the team has forgotten the basics of how offense is supposed to work. The damage is always self-inflicted because the way they set up, move the puck, and read what the penalty kill is giving them keeps drifting away from what this team is actually built to do at five on five. Instead of creating advantageous time, they slide into soft perimeter loops that burn precious seconds without ever forcing defenders to shift, overcommit, or open up the middle of the ice. Because of this, every entry feels heavier than it should, passes miss open players by half a step, and every puck that ends up along the wall turns into a clear and a reset rather than the start of anything that raises the goalie’s pulse at all.
What made the Travis Konecny injury in the first meeting so frustrating wasn’t that the Flyers were missing their usual point man on the first power play shift, it was that it handed Rick Tocchet a rare, clean mulligan to see what new blood could look like when the power play didn’t have to orbit one familiar rotation, and instead of using that opening to create a new look or even a temporary imbalance that might have forced opponents to re-read the ice, the units stayed stagnate with just a replacement to Konecny, which meant all the same reads and all the same low danger touch passes kept rolling through even though the player they were built around wasn’t there to drive them, it was just someone new leading them.
Now with Konecny back in for the second game, nothing has changed, because the puck still gets funneled to the same spots, the Flyers are right back to the same predictable lanes, which allow defensive players to wait on tendencies and pounce. This leads to the Flyers rushing shots and shooting from the outside before the plays have any time to set up, or not at all, which is why the power play unit has become disconnected from what actually makes this team dangerous, since their five on five game relies on layered pressure, quick puck support and attackers moving into open ice rather than waiting for a play that never quite opens. All of this is forgotten in the 5-4, and somehow, when the Flyers have a 5-3 advantage, this seems to be even worse.
That’s why I love the the idea of Matvei Michkov and Denver Barkey sharing that power play ice together, even if they play as a PP2 unit, not as some flashy future casting gimmick but because their games already fit what a functional power play needs, which is players who see the the plays develop ahead of them and can create seams instead of just waiting for them to open and when Barkey has been out there at even strength you can see how he pulls defenders just by shifting his weight just enough to give the impression that a shot is coming. Meanwhile, Michkov thrives when he’s allowed to improvise off those small movements, so putting them together would at least give the unit a chance to keep penalty kill units on their toes, instead of waiting on patterns and pouncing.
The stubbornness here isn’t about loyalty to Konecny or trust in veterans; it’s about a coaching habit that keeps choosing stability over creativity even when the stable version has obviously not been working at all this season. When you keep running the same groups out and watching them waste two minutes over and over, you start to teach the whole bench that the power play is something to survive rather than an advantage to lean into, which is why the building almost tightens up when the other team takes a penalty because everyone knows the Flyers are about to play their least convincing hockey of the night.
This isn’t about chemistry needing time, because team chemistry hasn’t been an issue at all this season. The team plays loosely generally, and right now, the Flyers’ power play is so rigid and so predictable that even players who shine in full-strength matchups play tight and not like themselves. I will admit that Tocchet seems to have limited trust in Michkov, and it has shown in his play so far this season. Pairing him with another young creative player like Barkey could allow him to gain some confidence and get back on track.
The real fix isn’t waiting another month for this to click; rather, it’s admitting that it has become something you don’t want — a toothless power play unit, which means Tocchet should punt on these units and treat the rest of this season as an experiment to find the right chemistry. If there aren’t wholesale changes made to this unit, I fear our taste of the playoffs this season could be a short one.
Steve Hamilton
Steve may have been born in California, but don’t let that fool you. After dating a local woman and clashing with her and her family over sports for decades, he has an affinity for Philly sports. Balancing love for Philly and Bay Area sports teams may seem impossible, we can all agree that the Cowboys are the true evil.
Get New Articles Emailed Right To Your Inbox:
