The Flyers’ season has already delivered plenty of reasons to grimace, but Porter Martone offered a reminder on Monday night that not every spark has to come from a highlight play.
Philadelphia fell to the Lightning, 4-1, and the numbers around the start are ugly enough on their own. Through four games, the Flyers are 0-2-2 for the first time in 12 years, they’ve been getting outshot badly, and the power play is still stuck at 0-for-11.
That’s the backdrop Martone stepped into. The 19-year-old rookie hasn’t put his name on the scoresheet yet, and his early season has had its rough spots. Still, against Tampa Bay, he found a way to matter without touching the puck much in the offensive zone.
He didn’t record a shot on goal. He didn’t pile up eye-popping chances.
But he did make life uncomfortable around Andrei Vasilevskiy, and that mattered on Philadelphia’s only goal. Martone created the traffic that tied up Lightning defenseman Charle-Edouard D'Astous, who then unknowingly redirected Tyson Foerster's high-circle shot into the net.
That kind of play can look simple when it works, but it’s exactly the kind of thing a team searching for rhythm needs more of: get to the crease, make a mess, force a reaction.
Martone brought more than just net-front work, too. He was in the middle of a handful of scrappy exchanges with Lightning players and drew two penalties along the way. D'Astous was called for roughing in the second period, and Brandon Hagel picked up an elbowing call in the third.
It was the sort of edge that can jolt a team awake. The Flyers have been short on that kind of energy, and the fit is obvious enough - the mascot’s name is Gritty for goodness’ sake.
The expectations around Martone are still centered on offense. He’s projected to grow into a top player for the Flyers, and that part of his game will matter plenty down the road. But early in the season, when the scoring isn’t coming and the group is still looking for traction, there’s real value in the less glamorous stuff.
Philadelphia doesn’t have a single elite scorer carrying the load right now. The attack is spread around, and in Tampa, Martone showed a version of how that group can still generate offense: go hard to the net, make things ugly, and create something out of chaos.
If the Flyers can bring more of that style, they may finally find the switch they’ve been searching for.
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