Martone Moment: Flyers Rookie Scores First NHL Goal to Seal Easter Overtime Win
Apr 5, 2026; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; Philadelphia Flyers right wing Travis Konecny (11) celebrates with teammates after the game against the Boston Bruins at Xfinity Mobile Arena. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Ross-Imagn Images
The Flyers got an Easter miracle on Sunday, with rookie Porter Martone scoring his first NHL goal in overtime to down the Bruins 2-1 and keep the playoff dream very much alive in Philly.
Easter Sunday in Philadelphia, and the Flyers weren’t hunting for eggs. They were hunting for points. The rubber match against the Boston Bruins was the tiebreaker of a season series and a statement game in the middle of a genuine playoff push. Boston came in sitting on 94 points and owning the top wild card spot, but they were limping into Philly, having dropped two straight in Florida. The Bruins were vulnerable. The Flyers came in playing their best hockey of the season. As it turned out, there was no better time to make a move than today.
The Flyers have had trouble scoring first all season. Today, they got the first goal on their first shot of the game, when Christian Dvorak took a beautiful outlet pass, which was dug off the board by Martone. It was Dvorak’s 9th point in 9 games.
The scoring paused until the third, with Boston starting the third on the power play, and that immediately resulted in a goal for the Bruins, who got the game-tying goal with a wrist shot over a sprawling Daniel Vladar off the stick of Pavel Zacha.
That goal held up as the teams both earned an important point and took a tie into overtime. In the overtime period, the Flyers turned on the offense, and on the heels of a 5-on-3, Martone banged through his first NHL goal to get the Flyers 2 massive points as the season winds down, with an exciting 2-1 win for the Flyers in overtime.
The Flyers are now in sole possession of the third spot in the Metropolitan division, jumping the New York Islanders with today’s win. The Flyers have the 10th most points in the NHL with 90, their first season reaching 90 in eight years.
Vladar Stands Tall Yet Again
Every game from this point forward is the most important game of the season, but today, Vladar had a game that fully captured his season for the Flyers. The Bruins were definitely trying to play a muddy game and get shots on Vladar by any means necessary. In the first two periods, the Bruins’ forecheck was not getting anywhere near him, but on the shots he saw, he played on his head today. After an early initial goal, Joonas Korpisalo tightened up and took everything the Flyers threw at him until the 5-on-3 was just too much for him in overtime.
It’s repetitive to say, but in a playoff environment, Vladar stood tall and quietly took home the win. If this is what can be expected of Vladar when the lights are the brightest, the Flyers will be a team nobody wants to see as their first-round matchup.
What made this game a quiet one in the Flyers’ defensive zone was how well Vladar controlled the rebounds, with the one goal he gave up being off the rebound, showing just how much that one element of his game has led to this wild turnaround in his career. After the game, Vladar showed the fans just how much this run means to him.
Young Flyers Get Under the Bruins Skin In Gritty Game
The Flyers are certainly smaller than the bigger Bruins players, and you could tell they knew this going in. But they also knew that Boston is the most penalized team in the NHL this season, and it appeared that the Flyers gameplan was to poke the bear and goad them into penalties, and this is exactly what they did. The two players who took the assignment personally were the Flyers’ young players, Martone and Matvei Michkov. They were doing everything they could to get under the skin of the Bruins players. Before the game, both Rick Tocchet and Keith Jones gave Martone high praise when they both said he reminds them both of Corey Perry, and today he proved them right. Not only with how much he annoyed the Bruins, but with how the moment wasn’t too big for him in overtime, scoring the winner.
One thing that was made very clear in a grinding game like today, the Flyers were doing everything they could to get penalties and get the retaliation from the bigger Bruins players, but in the scrums after the whistle, the Flyers players were looking up at the Bruins. The Flyers are going to have to make a concerted effort to get bigger in the offseason and look for an enforcer.
The Power Play Comes Through to Get the Huge OT win
Between periods, Tocchet made a change to the power play to get some life back on the man-advantage. In the second period, the Flyers’ power play looked very disjointed. After shuffling the top line on the power play, the first shift led to a shot that hit the post, but you could see the puck movement starting to come together. On the next power play, Martone anticipated a turnover and got the puck to Tyson Foerster, who narrowly missed an opening that Korpisalo closed off quickly.
Before the third power play, Tocchet was asked what he’d like to see from the Flyers’ power play for the rest of the game. He said that the Flyers needed execution and to make one more play, one more pass to relieve the pressure that the Bruins’ penalty kill was putting on. In the overtime period, the Bruins lost their composure with David Pastrnak getting a penalty which gave the Flyers a 4-on-3 advantage, and on the ensuing faceoff Charlie McAvoy took a high stick penalty against Trevor Zegras to make it 5-on-3, and Martone’s patience paid off, with Tocchet drawing up a play for him to come over the boards, and get the pressure on the net. This could be the jump start the power play unit needed to right the ship.
After a day off tomorrow, the Flyers look to continue this march to the playoffs with a visit to Newark to take on the New Jersey Devils, in the next most important game of the season for the streaking Flyers team.
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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