After a huge win over the Golden Knights on Monday to break their losing streak, the Flyers continued on to the next stop on their road trip, heading to Utah to face off against the Mammoth and hopefully keep their positive momentum rolling. And while this was something that worked initially for them, lapses and lack of attention to detail quickly allowed this game to get away from them, and instead the Flyers were stuck with a heartbreaker of a loss in overtime to cap this one off.
The Basics
First period: :30- Cam York (Dvorak, Sanheim), 4:36- Christian Dvorak (Konecny, Juulsen)
Second period: :58- Bobby Brink (Zegras, Drysdale)PPG, 5:35- JJ Peterka (unassisted), 6:11- Lawson Crouse (Schmaltz, Keller), 10:28- Christian Dvorak (Zegras, Drysdale)PPG
Third period: 12:47- Barrett Hayton (Guenther, Schmaltz)PPG, 19:25- Clayton Keller (unassisted)
OT: 2:01- Clayton Keller (Guenther)
SOG: 29 (PHI) – 27 (UTA)
Some takeaways
Starting hot and staying hot (to a point)
One of the major standout elements of the Flyers’ big win over the Golden Knights on Monday was the way that they were able to jump out to an early lead and keep their momentum rolling once they had the lead, and it was nice to see them able to keep that good work carrying into tonight’s game as well. The Flyers came out with some good pace, came out swinging, and were able to get themselves on the board just 30 seconds into the game, care of Cam York, and just ask quickly seemed to have the Mammoth on their heels.
The early goal certainly gave them a nice jolt, but it’s notable too that the first period on the whole was a good one for the Flyers — they came up with a big penalty kill just over a minute after York’s goal, and were largely able to control play through the first frame, coming away with an advantage in the shot department to the tune of 14-7. Now, this is not a level of play they could maintain for the complete 60 minutes (more on that later), but it remains a positive that the Flyers seem to finally be figuring out how to start these games on time.
The power play looks visually better
While the penalty calling was a little lopsided in this one, the Flyers still got a good number of power plays to work with in this one (six in total), and they showed some good flash on the man-advantage. Though the Flyers weren’t able to immediately build on their early lead with a conversion on their first attempt of the night, they did deliver some quick and decisive puck movement which seemed quite promising. And promising it was in practice, and the Flyers were able to break through quickly on their first time out in the second period, working their cycle well and getting the puck down low for Bobby Brink to bang it in. The work wasn’t done here though, and the Flyers were able to tack on a second power play goal later in the period, though on a less finely set up play, as this one came on a rush chance, with Christian Dvorak skating the puck in on an entry, putting up an initial shot, and then grabbing and putting away his own rebound for their fourth goal of the night.
Of course, this too was not a level of effectiveness that they were able to sustain across the whole of the game — are detecting a theme here? — and they didn’t get much to speak of in the way of chances on their final two attempts of the game, when they really could have used another conversion for a bit more insulation, but all the same, there was some good work put in leading up to that.
Tippett blindsided
Before some of the blunders which would come to define this game, the Flyers also got hit by a bit of bad luck, when Owen Tippett was rocked on a blind hit in the neutral zone — which did look high from our vantage point, but which was called as a major and ultimately reduced to no penalty by the officials upon review — and seemed shaken up enough to head off the ice and to the room for an evaluation.
After a video review there was no call for this hit from Liam O'Brien on Owen Tippett pic.twitter.com/tzMHEKrU6m
— Gino Hard (@GinoHard_) January 22, 2026
And while Tippett did have himself an extended stay in the locker room getting checked out after that hit, he was able to ultimately return to the game. This, of course, was a huge relief — with how depleted the lineup is at the moment, the Flyers really cannot afford to be struck again by the injury bug.
Puck management an issue
The temporary loss of Tippett in this game was a tough one for the Flyers no matter how you slice it, but to add insult to injury, that hit — with it’s legality questionable — provided a really notable spark for the Mammoth to finally get their game going. And while they did some good work on their own part to pick up the pace and begin to pile on the more dangerous chances, the Flyers’ carelessness with the puck did also make their jobs easier.
The Mammoth got themselves on the board on a hard-working bit of play in front of the net — after Sam Ersson was able to get to the one side and seal up his post to take away the jam play, they were able to take advantage of both Cam York and Travis Sanheim getting pulled to that same side of the ice to help Ersson and the resulting breakdown which left the far side lightly attended to — and just 36 seconds later were able to force a turnover right in the slot and convert on the quick chance back on Ersson. The called timeout after that second goal helped to settle them, but this was a degree of mental slippage which got them into big trouble.
Missed opportunities
This loss stings. There’s no other way around it. The Flyers had this game pretty well controlled for the majority of it — that two-goal flurry for the Mammoth was a tough one, but the Flyers were able to keep things pretty well locked down after that, and even after giving up to power play goal in the third to make it a one-goal game, there didn’t seem to be any panic creeping in. But while there was no panic making its way into their game, there also wasn’t a ton of urgency rising either.
Mistakes and misplays sank the Flyers in this one. The most egregious was the missed chance to ice the game with the empty netter squandered when Garnet Hathaway spent too much time handling the puck on the way towards the net and allowed it to be taken off of him, but defensive breakdowns proved equally costly — Travis Sanheim got worked by Clayton Keller on the tying goal, and then a bobble, a failure to get control of the puck in Utah’s end sent them on their way up-ice for the game winner. It was a pretty devastating way to lose this one, and it should serve as a worthwhile reminder to this team — though it’s hard to understand why, on the heels of a six-game losing streak, this would be a reminder that they need — of just how thin the margin for error is, and how attentive to their details each player, rookie or veteran, needs to be.
All stats via Natural Stat Trick and the NHL.
