The Philadelphia Flyers opened up their Rookie Series against the New York Rangers with a 3-2 win in regulation Saturday night at the PPL Center in Allentown. The Flyers were led by some guys looking to make a case to stick around with Philadelphia once the regular season begins.

The basics

First period: 4:23- Matthew Gard (Noah Powell, Alex Ciernik), 15:20- Dylan Roobroeck (Liam Greentree, Alberts Smits) (PPG)
Second period: 15:41- Cole Knuble (Alex Bump)
Third period: 0:44- Alex Bump (Jett Luchanko), 1:33-Nathan Aspinall (Albert Smits, Cole Beaudoin) (PPG)
SOG: (PHI) – (NYR)

Some takeaways

A few standouts, no real poor performances

Rookie camp isn’t a time to lollygag, especially if you’re a Flyers prospect trying to make a first (and possibly lasting) impression on the Flyers staff. It’s not like everyone who played Saturday night is on the bubble regarding making the big club. Most are enjoying this weekend before heading back to the Phantoms or junior hockey. But there are a few trying to turn heads over these two games. With no Porter Martone (nor Denver Barkey) dressed for the opener, Philadelphia relied on a few guys looking to take the reins.

With just a few practices to find some chemistry, naturally there were a lot of stoppages early on, with very little flow. However, the Flyers struck first on a hard-working play by Alex Ciernik. Ciernik, paired with Matthew Gard and Noah Powell, beat a Ranger to the puck deep and tossed it in front where Powell was in front. Although he wasn’t able to finish, Gard potted the rebound.

🚨 GOAL! 🚨

Matthew Gard cleans up in front to draw first blood in Allentown. Credit Noah Powell and Alex Ciernik with the assists.

💻: https://t.co/E0eAQVNmdL | #LetsGoFlyers pic.twitter.com/B4FouakItg

— Philadelphia Flyers (@NHLFlyers) September 12, 2026

Gard was dialled in early, making another nice takeaway behind the Ranger net in the first that generated a scoring chance.

Luchanko looks lively and loose

One of the bigger topics of conversation so far in Rookie Camp was the status of Jett Luchanko. Luchanko, recovered from off-season surgery, looks fresh and eager to get going. And Phantoms coach John Snowden seems big on the young center. In a pre-game presser Saturday, Snowden said it’s up to Luchanko to determine his own fate. But according to Snowden, if the youngster ends up in Lehigh Valley, the emphasis will be on establishing his offense game, enabling him to get more touches and more ice time than he might get if he ends up with Philadelphia. On Saturday night, Luchanko was on the Flyers top line with Alex Bump and Cole Knuble. He got bulldozed on the initial shift, but recovered to begin looking like the two-way center he’s been known to be.

Luchanko made a great play mid-way through period one, stickhandling his way out of his linemates before finding some open ice. A nifty give-and-go put him in on Rangers keeper Callum Tung but couldn’t score. Despite not scoring, there’s an extra gear in his step that he didn’t seem capable of last year. Unfortunately, as he did in period one, Luchanko got hit hard by Liam Greentree but didn’t look worse for wear.

What might have been his best shift was early in the third, when Luchanko controlled the puck (and play) in the neutral zone, drew one too many defenders toward him, and shoveled a lovely pass over to a rushing Bump who buried the puck for a 3-1 lead.

🚨 ALEX BUMP! 🚨

Bumper buries one to extend our lead early in the third period!

💻: https://t.co/E0eAQVNmdL | #LetsGoFlyers pic.twitter.com/HMkvZIEvA7

— Philadelphia Flyers (@NHLFlyers) September 13, 2026

On the whole, Luchanko was doing all the little things that made him so alluring to Flyers general manager Danny Briere back in 2024. Add in a bit more offensive oomph, and things went quite well.

Bump with a big shift, big night

Like Luchanko and Knuble, Alex Bump had his moments to shine. And he did! He was the catalyst for a lovely little goal late in the second period. After battling hard in the offensive zone and winning some puck battles, Bump fed Knuble with a lovely backdoor pass that Knuble made no mistake on. It seemed to come at the perfect time as the Rangers were starting to control play.

🚨 2-1! 🚨

Cole Knuble buries a beautiful feed from Alex Bump. 🤝

💻: https://t.co/E0eAQVNmdL | #LetsGoFlyers pic.twitter.com/St0wBWoZlV

— Philadelphia Flyers (@NHLFlyers) September 13, 2026

Bump (who was the game’s first star) was showing a lot of poise and promise throughout, always on his toes and playing towards his strengths far more often than not. The lovely goal thanks to Luchanko’s pass certainly didn’t hurt. He’ll still have his work cut out for him when it comes to the Flyers training camp next week, as he doesn’t seem to be on guaranteed ground like Martone or Barkey. However, this was a showing that couldn’t do anything but help his cause to stay in Philadelphia.

Rangers took a few too many liberties

Although Philadelphia kept it tidy between the whistles (and between action), the Rangers were bowling over a few too many Flyers throughout the game. Besides Luchanko getting nailed twice, Cole Knuble was also hit midway through the second but fortunately got back up. It’s not that the Flyers should’ve turned it into a melee after each of these hits, but the Rangers had a few too many Rempe-esque forwards looking to make a name for themselves.

The Flyers started delivering a few hits in return, with Maksim Sokolovskii and Noah Powell putting some guys on their backsides. After Philadelphia took a 2-1 lead, Noah Powell was able to deliver a few other strong, hard hits that helped the Flyers maintain the lead heading into the second intermission. At the end of the game, the Flyers got into some fisticuffs with Ty Murchison and Dylan Roobroeck trading haymakers while Noah Powell went up against Jacob Battaglia. The vitriol should bode well for the second game Sunday afternoon.

Sokov/Liske

Maksim Sokolovskii and Brek Liske were paired together. Sokolovskii towers over almost everyone on the ice, and showed a lot of reasons why the Flyers are so high on the first-round pick. The defenseman demonstrated a bit of everything Saturday: his positioning was steady, he was able to deliver some good hits, but he also took the game’s first penalty, something he’s going to have to tidy up over time. It cost the Flyers dearly as the Rangers scored on the power play to tie things up 1-1 late in the first. And in the third, another penalty against Sokolovskii ended up in the net seconds later.

Because he’s young, and still growing, it’s important that Sokolovskii learns how to avoid those needless infractions. That will hopefully come with time and experience. It’s not a good habit to get into, especially this early in the season regardless of being in the National Hockey League or in junior.

Meanwhile Brek Liske looked better the longer the game went on. He was on the first unit on Philadelphia’s first power play in the second, and made some nice passes to set up a few good chances. Compared to Sokolovskii he didn’t seem to do an awful lot. Yet it was a decent first showing from the blueliner.

Murchison makes the most of it

Although he might have made news last year for his collision with Oliver Bonk which caused Bonk to miss some time, Ty Murchison is hoping to ride the wave of momentum he had late last year into this new season. Murchison’s still a work in progress, but he’s looking a bit more comfortable and confident at both ends of the ice. He got caught out of position late in the first, making a diving effort to prevent a great scoring chance. However, he didn’t get the puck first, and ended up with a tripping penalty against him.

Overall, Murchison was rarely out of position, showed glimpses of speed up the ice, and looked like he’s capable of being a dark horse when it comes to surprising Rick Tocchet, Danny Briere, and company next week at training camp. The tussle at the end with a Ranger minor league heavyweight certainly didn’t diminish his stock among the brass looking on.

Bjarnason with a bounce back?

After having a rather trying 2025-26, Carson Bjarnason is trying to erase that from his memory and wipe the slate clean. He got off to a decent start in that direction in the first, stopping a few quality chances including one from Ranger forward Liam Greentree just after the Rangers had tied things up. He also stoned Jacob Battaglia late in the first, going across the crease and diving to make the pad stop.

Bjarnason also started the second, although it wasn’t clear if he’d get 40 minutes or split the game with Marek Sklenicka, one of two goaltenders Philadelphia drafted in June. But midway through the game, Bjarnason remained in the net, and steadied the ship as the Rangers began tilting the ice a bit more, leaving Philadelphia hemmed in a bit more than at any other point in the contest.

Perhaps the biggest surprise of the night was seeing Bjarnason playing to start the third. Clearly, Sklenicka was eager to get his feet wet, but coach John Snowden and his staff thought better of it. It was a very good night for Bjarnason, having a clean sheet while five-on-five and allowing just two goals while the Flyers were down a man.