The Philadelphia Flyers had bad goaltending performance for the first time all season, and offer sheet dynamo Leo Carlsson had a multi-point game as Anaheim edged the Flyers 5-4 Saturday afternoon at Xfinity Mobile Arena. The loss ended Philadelphia’s three-game winning streak, and put them at 3-7-3 overall.

The basics

First period: 13:59- Matvei Michkov (Jamie Drysdale, Trevor Zegras) (PPG), 15:02- Porter Martone (Travis Sanheim, Trevor Zegras) (PPG)
Second period: 8:38- Leo Carlsson (William Gauthier), 13:07- A.J. Greer (Tim Washe, Tristan Luneau), 15:04- Tyson Foerster (Nick Seeler) (SHG), 16:19- Judd Caulfield (Alex Killorn, Tristan Luneau)
Third period: 2:00- Tristan Luneau (Travis Mitchell), 7:10- Beckett Sennecke (Leo Carlsson, Jackson LaCombe) (PPG), 8:17- Matvei Michkov (Porter Martone, Noah Cates)
SOG: 32 (PHI) – 26 (ANA)

Some takeaways

Risto returns

Having played his last game in the 3-2 overtime loss to Carolina on Oct. 3, Flyers defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen returned to the lineup Saturday afternoon against Anaheim. The big blueliner, who scored against New Jersey on Oct. 1, found himself with Hunter McDonald on Philadelphia’s third pairing, meaning that the work Oliver Bonk did thus far in Ristolainen’s (and Cam York’s) absence didn’t go unrewarded. Or putting Ristolainen in limited minutes to shake some rust off might be a good idea also. Either way, having him back in the lineup was a good sign. While not quite game ready, Ristolainen held his own in 14:34 of playing time, most of it on the third pairing, but finding some time occasionally with Travis Sanheim.

Zegras with a pair (of assists)

Trevor Zegras doesn’t need much fuel to play his former club. As was the case last year, he appears to have an extra gear against the California club. And this day was no different. From having a pair of assists on Philadelphia’s first two power play goals, to being very engaged each and every shift, Zegras is looking more like the forward from 2025-26, then the player that started the season. Zegras had his best chance late in the second when he one-timed a shot into Dostal with the game tied 3-3.

The forward landed awkwardly late in the second after jumping in the air to bat a puck away, but fortunately didn’t look worse for wear entering the third.

Animosity anyone?

Considering how far apart the cities and teams are geographically, it’s extremely odd that, perhaps outside of any Metropolitan Division rival, the Flyers truly do not like the Anaheim Ducks. Without rehashing what happened with one William Gauthier, nor the Trevor Zegras trade, nor the Leo Carlsson offer sheet, there is some hatred between the two sides. It didn’t take long for some physicality to commence, with Noel Acciari delivering a good hit in the neutral zone before Christian Dvorak had the favor returned to him.

With (expletive-laced) boos for Gauthier nearly every time he touched or approached the puck, McDonald buried fourth-liner Sam Colangelo before A.J. Greer dropped the gloves to fight McDonald. McDonald held his own, and Greer was put out to pasture for 17 minutes being the instigator. On top of that, Anaheim got another minor penalty on the same play, resulting in a five-on-three (more on that later). It seemed to rattle Anaheim, as a Noah Cates tripping penalty was met with a scuffle. Fortunately, Philadelphia only needed to kill half of the penalty as Anaheim took a minor on a Noel Acciari short-handed chance.

Power play shows promise again

After scoring power play goals in three consecutive games (and three consecutive regulation wins in quite a while), Philadelphia got an early opportunity when Tyson Foerster got caught up high with a stick. The Flyers were entering the zone with almost comical ease compared to earlier in the season, but the first unit didn’t muster much offense. The second unit had some better chances with traffic in front, however it came up emptyhanded. Meanwhile, the biggest chance Philadelphia had was a glorious five-on-three chance for a full two minutes after a fight involving Hunter McDonald and Anaheim’s A.J. Greer coincided with Sam Colangelo also getting a roughing minor.

The first unit started the power play, with Michkov winning another faceoff. And seconds later, Michkov buried a shot by Dostal to give the Flyers the 1-0 lead. With Martone and Foerster being huge screens to Dostal’s vision, Philadelphia scored its (gulp) fourth power play goal in as many games. And they still had a five-on-four for just over 100 seconds.

ELECTRIFYING. ⚡️#ANAvsPHI | #LetsGoFlyers pic.twitter.com/T6Ims5l4sm

— Philadelphia Flyers (@NHLFlyers) October 24, 2026

After nearly giving up a short-handed goal that Joseph Woll got just enough of, Philadelphia capitalized again, as Porter Martone made it 2-0, taking a great pass from Trevor Zegras to give Philadelphia their fifth power play tally in the last 10 periods of play.

It’s hard to criticize a power play that had a pair of goals, but considering Philadelphia had a lot of chances to add to that amount, the Flyers should’ve had more breathing room entering the third period tied.

Knuble dazzles

The Flyers started the game with the trio of Cole Knuble, Denver Barkey, and Jacob Gaucher. And like they did in Buffalo, the line was driving play up ice, and nearly scored first about four minutes into the game. Anaheim goalie Lukas Dostal looked behind him, but a Duck cleared it out of harm’s way before the Flyers could score. The line also dominated their shift midway through the first, taking some hits to make some plays, and Knuble still going into areas that he could be punished for. Knuble’s hard work saw him bumped up the lineup as he found himself with Christian Dvorak and Zegras in the later stages of regulation.

Michkov on cusp of a hat trick again

Matvei Michkov is on a mission. We don’t know from who. And we don’t care. The mission is working. Michkov scored his second of the game in the third period to cut Philadelphia’s deficit to one goal. It gave the Flyers life, especially after a power play goal gave Anaheim a two-goal lead. But Michkov, as he’s done all season, went to the net with a nose for the puck. And found it for his eighth goal of the season.

MICHKOV WITH HIS 6TH GOAL IN 5 GAMES 🔥😤

Flyers cut the deficit back to 1 just a minute after the Ducks extended the lead 👀 pic.twitter.com/am2guDv44M

— B/R Open Ice (@BR_OpenIce) October 24, 2026

Michkov ended the game with his second consecutive game over 18 minutes (18:15), one of five Flyer forwards who eclipsed that 18-minute mark.

Drysdale demolished

It seems weird that Jamie Drysdale looked a bit better during Philadelphia’s losing streak then he has during their recent resurgence. The defenseman might be missing his partner Cam York more than anyone realized, and appeared to be struggling as a result. Despite having over seven minutes of ice time in the first (with a chunk of that power play time), he was still having some issues. Fortunately, as the game went along, Drysdale looked less like a liability, ending the second period fourth among Flyer skaters in terms of Corsi for percentage (64.29). However, Drysdale was on the wrong end of a read killing a penalty. He let Beckett Sennecke alone in front, and giving Anaheim a 5-3 lead. Overall it was a better performance, particularly given how many times Travis Sanheim was on the wrong end of the puck.

Drysdale was the victim of a ridiculously bad call by the officials late in the game. Officials waved off an icing call as Drysdale got nailed. He flew into the boards to Woll’s left, with his leg bent behind him awkwardly. It’s the type of call that’s almost a given considering how dangerous the play is. Unfortunately the officials missed this one. Hopefully Drysdale’s okay.

Woll with a trying game

Joseph Woll had an adventurous game, not in a good way. After making a great save on Alex Killorn short-handed (and with Michkov baring down on him), Woll lost his stick. He then retrieved his stick but it nearly cost him an easy one for Anaheim. Fortunately he was there when it mattered. Woll, who seems to be finding his groove in an alternating blueprint the Flyers are using with himself and Dan Vladar, was fighting it in the first half despite Anaheim only have 10 shots 29 minutes in. A horrible miscommunication between the keeper and Nick Seeler left Gauthier with the puck, who fed Carlsson to cut Philadelphia’s lead in half. Essentially a freebie that a team still clawing back up to .500 can’t afford to concede.

Sadly, minutes later, Anaheim tied things up. A rebound by Woll left A.J. Greer alone who took the shot. Officials initially thought the puck was in, then waved it off. A review showed the puck hit the far post, then wiggled its way just over the line before Sanheim could clear it away. And, just like that, a rather strong opening period resulted in Philadelphia being back to square one. A power play chance for Anaheim dissolved into another Flyers special teams tally. Tyson Foerster and Noah Cates went on a two-on-one, and Foerster’s shot went through Dostal to give Philadelphia a 3-2 lead.

TYSON FOERSTER WITH A SHORTHANDED GOAL!!!

DOSTAL COMPLETELY MISSES THE PUCK!!!

3-2 #FLYERS!!! pic.twitter.com/IaiJNXOFKh

— Flyers Nation (@FlyersNation) October 24, 2026

Woll overall wasn’t extremely sharp, getting some bad bounces that gave Anaheim — a team that had scored only five second period goals all season — three in the middle frame.

#AnaheimDucksGoooaaalll Caulfield!
3-3 game. This game is 🥜 🥜! pic.twitter.com/OGxVAMnGYp

— DucksNPucks 🦆🏒 (@DucksNPucks) October 24, 2026

But he stoned Gauthier late in the second period, not once but twice, which got the crowd on their feet. And while he wasn’t having a great game that far, he made crucial stops with Anaheim looking to take a lead into the second intermission.

HOLY SHIT!!!

JOSEPH WOLL WITH ABSOLUTE ROBBERY ON WILLIAM GAUTHIER!!!

BACK TO BACK SAVES!!! #FLYERS pic.twitter.com/olESMOe1rY

— Flyers Nation (@FlyersNation) October 24, 2026

As confident as Woll should’ve been entering the third making those saves, he gave up a terrible one early in the third. A shot he should’ve had got through him courtesy of Tristan Luneau, making this effort perhaps the first subpar game Philadelphia had between the pipes all season. He finished the night stopping 21 of 26 shots, for a .808 save percentage. Considering how strong he’s been all year, it’s one to quickly forget about and move on from.

Stats courtesy of NHL.com and Naturalstattrick.com.