A Familiar Foe, A New Identity: Flyers Prepare For Playoff Showdown Against Penguins

Perhaps no player embodies that transition more convincingly than Porter Martone.

At 19, with just nine NHL games under his belt, he should look like a newcomer in these moments. Instead, with 10 points in that timeframe, he's been nothing short of one of the main attractions.

Tocchet (and the rest of Philadelphia, for that matter) has noticed.

“For a 19-year-old, he’s a pretty even-keel kid," he noted. "Obviously, when he scores, he’s excited, but on the bench, he’s pretty even-keel. Even in the pressure moments, a lot of lines are going out, sometimes it’s chaos, and he’s not shy. He wants to be out there. He wants to be out there for the games on the line. He’ll look at me and—one time, I think something where we were short a left winger, and he just looked at me like, ‘I can play left wing.’”

That mindset, in a playoff atmosphere where hesitation is often the difference between impact and irrelevance, matters as much as any skill set.

Philadelphia Flyers winger Porter Martone (94) taking in the moment after the Flyers clinched their playoff spot. (Megan DeRuchie-The Hockey News)

A Goaltender Built for the Moment

In a series that will inevitably be must-watch TV, the Flyers seem like they will continue to lean heavily on goaltender Dan Vladar.

In his first season as a Flyer, Vladar has proven himself to be an outstanding addition in his position. As a locker room personality, he is a vocal leader in a way that his teammates have rarely, if ever, seen from a goalie.

After the team clinched their spot on Monday, Owen Tippett said postgame, "The emotion Vladdy plays with, the excitement he has, it doesn't matter who it is—he's the guy that has always got a smile on his face. I've never played with a goalie that has been that vocal, both on the ice, off the ice and the TV timeout, he's always coming by and keeping us going. He's a big part of this."

From a playing standpoint, Vladar has provided the Flyers with the invaluable asset of predictability under pressure.

“I think if you look at his last month he’s played, they’re desperate playoff games and games in general. He’s got a pretty good runway of these type of games," Tocchet said. "[In playoffs], we’re just playing the team more often. I don’t know if that makes a big difference. I’m not really worried about it. The fact that he’s played four or five in a row in these pressure situations, I think that has helped for sure.”

And then, more tellingly, Tocchet added, “Very rarely he’s just okay or, say has a game that was okay. The next game he does is pretty strong. That says a lot. When [top goalies] have an off night, they’re usually pretty strong the next night. That’s a pretty good pedigree to have.”

A City Waiting, and a Team Ready to Meet It

For players like Travis Konecny, who has been with the team since 2016, this moment carries a deeper meaning.

Philadelphia has watched the Eagles, Phillies, Sixers, and Union step into the spotlight of postseason play in recent years. The energy, the attention, and the shared experience of a city so uniquely wildly passionate about its sports rallying behind you is something that just means more to a player.

In the past six seasons, the Flyers have been outside of that.

Until now.

“I’ve been through all the Super Bowls and World Series stuff. I’ve seen all this playoff stuff going on around here, the basketball team, too," Konecny said. "All the playoff stuff, you want to be part of it. Every single year you see it. I’m just excited. I think the whole city was.”

The connection between team and city is not automatic here. In Philadelphia, it has to be earned. Over the course of this season, through resilience and identity, the Flyers have rebuilt it.

What This Series Really Represents

On paper, this is a hauntingly familiar matchup, often a bloodbath where the wins are more euphoric and the losses more devastating.

Flyers and Penguins. Hatred and history. Vitriol and valiance. Where different iterations of these two teams are etched into each other's legacies for better or worse, forever intertwined through a 59-year history of unrelenting loathing.

For this Flyers group, it represents something more foundational. It is the first real test of what they have built.

This a roster where only a few players—Sean Couturier, Travis Konecny, Travis Sanheim—have experienced playoff hockey in this uniform. This is a team that has spent the last month learning how to play games that matter, and a locker room that believes, in the truest sense of the word, that it belongs here.

The Penguins will bring elite, established experience. The Flyers will bring something different.

They have youthful energy and hunger on their side. They're riding the high of tangible and sustainable growth, while harboring a kind of faith that only comes from having had to fight for every inch of this opportunity.

The Beginning, Not the Arrival

There is a temptation, after a season like this, to frame the playoffs as the culmination.

It is a laudable accomplishment, no doubt. But in the Flyers' minds, they haven't reached the mountaintop yet. Not even close. To them, this is just the starting line.

The players Tocchet described—showing up every day, competing and producing under the bright lights of meaningful games, learning what these moments demand of you, physically and mentally—are no longer preparing for possibilities.

They are stepping into their new reality.

And if their final month is any indication, they will not be overwhelmed by it. They will meet it head-on.