The Flyers left Tuesday night with a comeback to talk about and a loss that still felt like a gut punch.
Philadelphia spotted Columbus a 3-0 lead after just 14 minutes, clawed all the way back to force overtime, and still came away with a 4-3 defeat when the Blue Jackets scored on their second two-on-none of the extra session. That kind of rally would normally earn a team some credit.
For the Flyers, though, the context is doing all the heavy lifting. They opened the 2026-27 season with nine straight losses, so even a spirited response can’t fully cover up the mess that started the night.
The damage came early, and it came in a hurry. Columbus took the lead at four-on-four when Adam Fantilli finished off a sequence that started with an awkward Flyers change and a moment where an extra Philadelphia skater was briefly over the boards. Noah Cates and Oliver Bonk both ended up on Kent Johnson, which left Fantilli free for his fourth goal of the season.
Philadelphia then made things harder on itself. A failed breakout pass between Travis Sanheim and Trevor Zegras was followed by a Bonk giveaway, and Danton Heinen fed Zach Werenski for a one-timer that went in off Johnson. Not long after that, Jamie Drysdale and Cam York lost a battle along the boards, and Denton Mateychuk found space in the slot for his third goal of the season.
That stretch lasted only 2:46 between Fantilli’s goal and Mateychuk’s, but it buried the Flyers in a hole they spent the rest of the game trying to climb out of. They managed it well enough to force overtime, but the ending looked familiar in the worst way.
There was at least one bright spot in Tyson Foerster, who may have turned in his best game of the season. Before this one, he had only two goals, including a fluky short-handed one on Saturday, and his underlying numbers had been rough. Against Columbus, though, he looked like the player the Flyers paid $56.8 million to keep over the summer.
Foerster nearly scored a highlight-reel goal after weaving around a Columbus defenseman, only to be turned away at the net front. Later, he appeared to have earned a late tripping call that never came. Then, with 9.6 seconds left, he set up Jamie Drysdale’s tying goal with a backdoor feed after getting denied point-blank again in the final half-minute.
He finished with three shots on goal, tied for second on the Flyers, and an 86.71% expected goal mark that ranked third among Philadelphia skaters. He and Nick Seeler were the only Flyers on the ice for a 5-on-5 goal for and not one against.
That kind of performance matters because the Flyers have been fighting for anything that looks stable. They’ve scored three or more goals in five straight games after failing to do it in their first nine, and if that offensive trend is going to hold, Foerster has to keep looking like this.
The bigger picture still isn’t pretty. One game remains in October, and Philadelphia probably can’t wait to flip the calendar.
The club has already tried a little of everything - call-ups, free-agent moves, even changing the warm-up mix - to shake itself loose from this start. So far, nothing has stuck.
There’s some recent history that offers a sliver of hope, but not much more than that. In January, the Flyers opened the month with a 4-8-3 record and then spent the rest of the year looking much more like a 103-point team. This season’s start, at least on paper, is tracking at an almost identical 59-point pace over 82 games.
Injuries were a major part of last January’s collapse, too. Dan Vladař missed time from Jan. 14 to Jan. 28, and during those six games the Flyers allowed 9.02 goals above expected, per Moneypuck.com.
Rasmus Ristolainen missed six games that month, Drysdale missed three, and Matvei Michkov and Travis Konecny each missed one. Foerster’s absence also hung over that stretch.
Even with all that, the Flyers didn’t fall apart everywhere. Their 51.71 expected goal share at 5-on-5 in January ranked 10th in the NHL, per Natural Stat Trick, and that was actually a tick better than their full-season 50.71 mark, which ranked 14th.
This month has been far uglier. Entering Tuesday, their 30.95% expected goal share was better than only the Chicago Blackhawks, San Jose Sharks, and Vancouver Canucks.
Philadelphia now heads to Washington to finish October against the Capitals, who haven’t played since Saturday and have only one game since last Tuesday. The Flyers, meanwhile, will be walking into a nationally televised game with a rest disadvantage and more pressure than they can afford.
If anything has been made clear already, it’s that this is not going to be a clean climb out of the hole.
In Other News...
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Blue Jackets Nearly Let Two Points Slip Before One Star Saved Them
Columbus looked in control early, building a 3-0 lead in the first period and getting contributions from Adam Fantilli, Denton Mateychuk and Trevor Zegras in a game that seemed headed for a comfortable finish. Instead, the Blue Jackets had to sweat through a tighter-than-expected night against Philadelphia, the kind of result that can swing from routine to urgent in a hurry when an opponent starts clawing back.
Kent Johnson ultimately spared the Jackets from leaving with only frustration, finishing off the game in overtime for a 4-3 win. The comeback by the Flyers turned what should have been a straightforward two points into a test of composure, and Columbus at least found a way to answer when it mattered most. [Read more 🡒]