Flyers Grit and Youth Define Heavyweight Win in Pittsburgh When They Needed it Most
Mar 7, 2026; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA; Philadelphia Flyers left wing Alex Bump (20) celebrates with the Flyers bench after scoring his first NHL goal in his NHL debut against the Pittsburgh Penguins during the second period at PPG Paints Arena. Mandatory Credit: Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images
The youth-driven energy of this win is exactly what the doctor ordered after that trade deadline mess.
In the first game after the disappointing trade deadline for the Flyers, they have to take on interstate rival, the Pittsburgh Penguins, who would be without Sidney Crosby due to injury and Evgeni Malkin due to a suspension for an incident earlier in the week. The Flyers front office, sensing a need to do something after the blowback of not moving Rasmus Ristolainen at the deadline, brought up top prospect Alex Bump, who has been torching the AHL as of late.
Both Pennsylvania teams have a lot to lose at this point in the season, and both teams started playing with that intensity. The Penguins started the scoring when Tommy Novak scored the first goal of the game, forcing the Flyers into a familiar role of playing from behind. This was the 42nd time this season the Flyers have given up the first goal. They did tie it up later in the first, when Owen Tippett scored his 20th goal of the season, which was on one of 2 shots in the period. The second period had each team scoring 2 goals, but the third period tightened up a bit with the Flyers feeling like they survived the third, with the Penguins having all momentum as regulation ended tied at 3.
The overtime period had a bit of controversy with Erik Karlsson drawing an interference penalty on Daniel Vladar with just over 2 minutes left, which would essentially end the overtime on a penalty kill for the Flyers. The fact that they ended the overtime period tied was a testament to them bending, but not breaking. The shootout would end with a Trevor Zegras goal, securing a clutch 4-3 win, and more importantly, 2 huge points for the Flyers.
Bump Scores a Goal in His NHL Debut
Going into tonight’s game, the Alex Bump promotion may have just been an attempted distraction from the trade deadline. He has played incredibly well at Lehigh Valley, with 11 goals and 15 assists for 26 points in 36 games. In addition to his booming shot, he hustles and makes the effort plays. Which is something sorely needed with the forwards. Tonight, he proved that he is the finisher we all hoped he would be. Outside of Trevor Zegras, the Flyers’ forwards tend to pass before holding the puck and hunting for opportunities, but Bump certainly breaks that mold. On several zone entries, he held the puck and spun away from pressure and held possession. This is a great sign for the Flyers.
In the second period, when the Flyers needed it most, trailing 2-1, Bump had a chance to show odd his sniper shot, when he took a beauty of a feed from Nikita Grebenkin and with a quick snap of his wrist evened the game at 2. His large cheering section, consisting of his family, wearing neon orange shirts that read “Official Bump Hype Crew,” had a chance to cheer as he became the first Flyer to score a goal in his first NHL game since Hayden Hodgson in 2022. Between periods, Bump said that it was a great feeling, but he was glad that the anticipation was over, and now he could concentrate on the game.
The Future For the Flyers Looks Bright
In the press conference after the trade deadline, Flyers general manager Daniel Briere was quick to talk about the young players in the Flyers system and how bright the future is. Tonight’s game in Pittsburgh did a great job of proving him right. I’m not absolving him of blame for the mess yesterday, but he was right here. In addition to Bump plugging into the lineup and making an immediate impact, a couple of the other young guns for the Flyers made an impact tonight. With the Flyers down 3-2, Matvei Michkov redirected a beautiful feed to Denver Barkey, who shot the puck past Stewart Skinner for the game-tying score, which in the moment was huge for the Flyers.
Seeing Michkov play well, hustling hard, making creative plays, and skating his linemates into open looks, Barkey finishing the look that Michkov provided him, and also playing hard without the puck as well, is great to see. Behind the blue line, Jamie Drysdale got involved at the end of the period when he took exception to Avery Hayes‘ hit on Cam York behind the net and dropped the gloves and dropped Hayes to the ice. It was Drysdale’s first fight at the NHL level, and he fired up the bench to close out the period. When Nicolas Deslauriers was traded, the fear was that the Flyers would be bullied a bit without an enforcer, but tonight Drysdale stood up for his teammate, sending the message that taking liberties won’t be accepted.
Flyers Face-Off Woes Continue
One of the things that has been frustrating all season is the Flyers’ inability to consistently win faceoffs, and tonight that was again an issue. The Penguins’ third goal was a direct result of a face-off win, which allowed them to set up and get Karlsson at the point and rifle a shot past Vladar to take a 3-2 lead at that time.
This is also a contributing factor to the Flyers’ power play dilemma all season as well. The man advantage doesn’t mean much if you can’t start with the puck and start your setup cleanly. To correct this issue, Briere brought in Luke Glendening off the waiver wire to try to address this issue, and tonight there was a definite improvement, but with the Karlsson goal as proof, there is still some work to be done there. This is an issue that Rick Tocchet and the coaching staff need to correct if the Flyers plan to fight back into the playoff picture.
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.
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