Flyers happy to ‘stick it to the doubters’ this season
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Greg Wyshynski, ESPN
Joel Farabee didn’t understand the negativity.
As he walked into Philadelphia Flyers training camp last September, he saw a locker room that had become even more tight-knit over the summer. He saw key players like center Sean Couturier, now their captain, and winger Cam Atkinson finally healthy again. He saw a coach in John Tortorella who demanded effort every game — the last guy you’d expect to lord over a last-place season.
Yet the Flyers had been effectively counted out in preseason predictions. Their .457 points percentage in 2022-23 was seen as a harbinger of rough seasons to come. And it wasn’t coming just from media or fans: Team management had candidly communicated that the Flyers were rebuilding and not a Stanley Cup contender this season.
But that’s not what Farabee saw before the season. That’s not what a lot of his teammates saw either. And they weren’t happy about what they felt was disrespect from the rest of the NHL.
“We just came in with that F.U. attitude,” Farabee told ESPN. “Just seeing all the media, and everyone else, having us in the bottom five or bottom three in the league, whatever it was, I think it just fueled a fire and motivated us to stick it the doubters.”
Through 57 games, the doubters have been stuck. The Flyers are third in the Metro Division with a 30-20-7 record (67 points), trying to make the Stanley Cup playoffs for the first time since 2020. Instead of tabulating their lottery odds, as many anticipated, it’s their playoff odds that are getting the most attention: a 76.8% chance of making the cut as of Thursday, according to Stathletes.
“There was a chip on our shoulder from the beginning of the year. People were always saying that we were supposed to be one of the worst teams in the league,” defenseman Sean Walker said. “Once we started to win some games, we felt like we could be successful this year. And then we started actually doing it.”
TO A MAN, the Flyers say that training camp was where the belief started. The team had lost a few veteran players in the offseason, including trades that shipped out center Kevin Hayes and defenseman Ivan Provorov. Expectations were low for what was seen as a rebuilding campaign.
But Tortorella believed they could be better than that, and it started with team chemistry.
“For me the most important part of our summer prior [to the season] was our locker room. You could see early on that our locker room was together,” he said. “It’s just something you feel. It’s hard to explain how you see it. There’s no analytic for it. It’s just your gut and how you watch how they act.”
It’s something veteran defenseman Marc Staal experienced as one of a handful of new faces on the Flyers this season, signing in Philadelphia after helping the Florida Panthers to the Stanley Cup Final.
“When I got here, guys already had a really good culture and a good room and everyone enjoys each other’s company,” he said. “We’re able to push each other while still keeping each other accountable and having fun at the same time.”
“I knew the projections of what the Flyers were supposed to be. I didn’t really believe when I saw it,” Staal continued. “I looked at their lineup; they were getting players back, good goaltending. I was just like, they’re not far off, and that’s been proven that over the season.”
The word “belief” is heard a lot around the Flyers. It’s a mantra from Tortorella, a catchall word that refers to everything from desire to win to confidence that success can be achieved.
“The word ‘belief’ is huge for us. We’re not a team of stars, and we certainly don’t have things figured out here as the beginning of our process of rebuilding this. But belief brings in a lot of good things,” said Tortorella, in his second season with the Flyers and 22nd as an NHL head coach. “If you have the effort and you have the mindset that we’re going to do this together, you can stay competitive in this league.”
But at some point, belief isn’t enough. There has to be proof of concept to reinforce it.
For the Flyers, that came early. They started the season 3-1, including wins over the Vancouver Canucks and Edmonton Oilers. Then came an overtime loss at the Dallas Stars and a tight 3-2 loss at the Vegas Golden Knights. The wins didn’t start arriving en masse until November, but those early efforts were fortifying.
“I think that first road trip, going into Dallas, Vegas [and playing other] top teams, we were right there,” Staal recalled. “We had some big wins, really close games, and I think that started to kind of build like, ‘Hey, we’re competitive every night. We have a chance.'”
ONE THING EXPECTED to be a drawback for the Flyers might have actually helped bond the team: the lack of true star players. Sure, Travis Konecny has 27 goals and Couturier is considered one of the better two-way centers in the league. But as Tortorella said, and Farabee reiterated, it’s not a team of stars.
“Obviously we’re one of those groups where it takes all of us to win games. We don’t have the one guy that’s going to score four goals and win us the game. It takes everybody, and it’s every night,” Farabee said. “We go into every game believing that we’re going to win the game, so I don’t think we overanalyze too many things. I think the good thing about our group is we kind of just go out there and play. We compete really hard. We’re hard to play against. I think if you have those attributes as a team, you give yourself a chance to win every night.”
New Jersey Devils coach Lindy Ruff said the Flyers are a “hard team to play against” as an opponent.
“For me, they’ve been a highly competitive team almost every night,” he said. “You’ve got to compete for all the ice you’re going to get in every zone. They’re defending well, and they’re playing the game quick. They’re creating some really good opportunities.”
The Flyers are 23rd in goals per game (2.91) and 11th in goals against per game (2.88).
What Philadelphia has excelled at this season is not allowing its bubble to burst. In December, the Flyers lost seven of nine games; then followed that with five straight wins; then followed that with five straight losses; then followed that with four straight wins. Lots of peaks, lots of valleys, but not a lot of panic.
The Flyers credited Tortorella for helping them maintain confidence. There was probably a time earlier in his career when losing seven of nine games might have led to a volcanic response from the coach. But Farabee said that Tortorella has managed emotions well.
“I think he has a really good feel on the group and what we need versus what we don’t need — when we need to maybe be yelled at a bit versus when we don’t,” he said. “I think it’s him just knowing that it’s a long season, obviously you can’t be on it guys too much. I just think with how good our group is, he’s really found a really good balance on just letting us go out there and play and play our game.”
Staal played for Tortorella with the New York Rangers back in the coach’s more volcanic days. Although he said the coach is “still the same guy,” he believes the 65-year-old has found a better balance in his life.
“I think his coaching style has changed a little bit since the last time I had him,” he said. “His assistants run a lot of the meetings. He’s still very involved in the day-to-day business of it, but I think he’s a little bit more hands off in certain areas than he was when I had him in New York.”
Tortorella said being “hands off” sometimes means monitoring from afar.
“I do a lot of watching of the team when they don’t think I’m watching them. I learned a lot then as far as how they’re together,” he said. “You win a few games early on, you get off on the right foot. I watched how they handle it then, and you just saw it built. That helps [when] have some stretches where we struggled.”
THE FLYERS HAVE FACED some uncertainty as they journey to a surprising playoff berth.
Starting goaltender Carter Hart, who played 26 games for Philadelphia this season, took a leave of absence from the team in January. He surrendered to police in London, Ontario, having been charged with one count of sexual assault after an investigation into an incident involving Canada’s 2018 world junior championship team. He was one of five players charged in the case. Hart, 25, is a restricted free agent this summer.
His absence meant that rookie Samuel Ersson and 29-year-old veteran Cal Petersen are the team’s goaltenders going forward.
The March 8 NHL trade deadline could mean more roster changes. Despite their playoff position, the Flyers are still thinking ahead. Pending unrestricted free agent defensemen Walker and Nick Seeler have been in the rumor mill, as has veteran center Scott Laughton, who has two more seasons left on his contract.
“It’s been interesting at some times, but you just try to put it at the back of your mind and take everything with a grain of salt,” Walker said. “Everything will work itself out at the end of the day.”
Tortorella has said that the team is “not backing off at all as far as what we’re trying to do with the organization in the big picture as far as rebuilding,” regarding the trade deadline.
GM Danny Briere has all but ruled out trading draft picks to bolster the team’s current playoff chances.
“We’re not going to make trades just to make trades,” he said in January, via PhillyVoice. “If there’s something that makes sense that we feel makes us better for the future, we’ll strongly consider it.”
Finally, there’s the rest of the conference. The Devils, New York Islanders and Pittsburgh Penguins are trailing the Flyers with games in hand, and they can’t be counted out for the third seed in the Metro or a wild-card spot.
All that said, Philadelphia is in the driver’s seat for a playoff spot. Which is not where many expected the Flyers would be — outside of their locker room, at least.
“Being the underdog, there’s nothing wrong with that, right?” Atkinson said. “Personally, I’ve been an underdog my whole life, my whole career trying to prove people wrong. There was no expectation for us. We have each other’s backs. We put our bodies on the line. You can see how excited the guy next to you is when someone scores a goal. It’s a special group, and it’s fun to be a part of that.”
Especially when it’s a chance for a team from Philly to stick it to the critics.
“We’ve always thought that we were good enough to be here,” Konecny said. “This year is another opportunity to prove people wrong, the people that were counting us out. It gave us a little bit of motivation.”
The 2025 Stanley Cup Final will last at least six games, as the Edmonton Oilers won another overtime thriller over the Florida Panthers in Game 4.
With the series tied 2-2 heading into Game 5, it’s now a best-of-three, making Saturday’s game all the more pivotal. Which team will move within one W of the greatest trophy in sports?
Here are notes on the matchup from ESPN Research, as well as betting intel from ESPN BET:
More from Game 4: Recap | Grades
Matchup notes
Florida Panthers at Edmonton Oilers
Game 5 | 8 p.m. ET | TNT/Max
What a difference a game makes! Heading into Game 4, the Panthers were -260 favorites to win the Cup, with the Oilers at +215. Now, the two teams are both -110. Sam Bennett (+150) and Connor McDavid (+240) remain atop the Conn Smythe leaderboard — but Connor’s teammate Leon Draisaitl has joined him at +240 after he tallied the OT game winner (his second of the series).
In history, when a Stanley Cup Final has been tied 2-2, the winner of Game 5 has gone on to win 19 out of 26 times (.731 win percentage).
The Panthers have won their last three series that were tied 2-2: 2022 first round vs. the Washington Capitals, 2024 conference finals vs. the New York Rangers and 2025 second round vs. the Toronto Maple Leafs. The Oilers have won their last three series when they were trailing 2-1: 2024 second round vs. the Vancouver Canucks, 2024 conference finals vs. the Dallas Stars, 2025 first round vs. the Los Angeles Kings.
The Oilers became the seventh team to overcome a three-goal deficit to win a Stanley Cup Final game, and the first since the Carolina Hurricanes did it to them in Game 1 of the 2006 finals. They are only the second team to accomplish this feat on the road, joining the 1919 Montreal Canadiens at the Seattle Metropolitans.
The two teams have combined to score 32 goals thus far, which is the fourth most through the first four games of a Stanley Cup Final in NHL history.
The OT game winner Draisaitl scored in Game 4 was his fourth such goal this postseason, setting a single-year record. He now owns the record for a single regular season (six, set in 2024-25) and a single postseason.
After coming in to replace Stuart Skinner to begin the second period, Calvin Pickard ran his record this postseason to 7-0. He is the first goalie to win a game in relief since Andrei Vasilevskiy picked up the W after replacing Ben Bishop on 2015.
Draisaitl and McDavid make it five players in NHL history to score 30 points or more in consecutive postseasons (2024 and 2025), joining Nikita Kucherov (2020 and 2021), Mario Lemieux (1991 and 1992) and Wayne Gretzky (1983 through 1985, plus 1987 and 1988).
Florida’s Matthew Tkachuk became the ninth player in Stanley Cup Final history to score two power-play goals in a period and the first since Tampa Bay’s Brad Richards in Game 6 of the 2004 finals.
After three strong games to start the finals, Panthers goalie Sergei Bobrovsky faltered a bit in Game 4; his .857 save percentage was his lowest since Game 2 of the second-round series against the Maple Leafs (.800).
Brad Marchand scored four goals through the first three games of the series — including the game winner in double OT in Game 2 — but was held off of the scoresheet entirely in Game 4. Will the change of venue back to Edmonton result in his getting back on the board?
Scoring leaders
GP: 21 | G: 14 | A: 7
GP: 20 | G: 11 | A: 21
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Greg Wyshynski
SUNRISE, Fla. — Leon Draisaitl is at his best when describing the Edmonton Oilers‘ worst moments.
They were “waxed” and “spanked” in Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Final by the Florida Panthers, when they lost 6-1. They “put us on our heels early and we were lollygagging around” in the first period of Game 4, when Florida built a 3-0 lead and chased starting goaltender Stuart Skinner for the second straight game.
“It’s certainly not the time to lollygag around, right?” Draisaitl asked rhetorically.
Indeed, it is not, which might be why Draisaitl didn’t let the Oilers linger in overtime too long before ending Game 4 with his 11th goal of the playoffs — shoving the puck towards the Panthers’ net, having it deflect off defenseman Niko Mikkola and behind Sergei Bobrovsky at 11:18. Edmonton won 5-4, tied the series at 2-2 and completely flushed any lingering embarrassment over that Game 3 “spanking.”
In the process, Draisaitl continued to rewrite the NHL record books and loudly stated his case as the Stanley Cup playoffs’ most valuable player.
As of Friday morning, Draisaitl had the second-best odds at winning the Conn Smythe Trophy, according to ESPN BET (+225), trailing Florida center Sam Bennett (+140) and ahead of teammate Connor McDavid (+260), who won the award in a losing effort last season.
Oilers defenseman Jake Walman believes that it’s not just Draisaitl’s scoring but his all-around game that’s what makes him such a driving force for the Oilers.
“He’s a beast who can do it all for us,” Walman said. “There have been stretches in this postseason when he’s played great defensively too.”
Edmonton has a plus-4 in goal differential with Draisaitl on the ice in the postseason.
“It’s incredible. He’s a horse out there for us,” said forward Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, who has played with Draisaitl since the 29-year-old center was drafted third overall in 2014 by Edmonton. “We can always lean on him. He always finds a way to get those big [goals].”
The numbers make that statement undeniable. Draisaitl’s Game 4 winner was his fourth overtime goal of this postseason, setting a new single playoff year record in the NHL. Incredibly, Draisaitl also holds the single-season record for overtime goals in the regular season (six), which he also set this season.
Draisaitl is just the fifth player in NHL history to score multiple overtime goals in a Stanley Cup Final series. Maurice Richard holds the record with three OT goals.
“He’s one of the best players in the world for a reason. He not only says what he’s going to do, he backs it up with his play and his actions. That’s what makes him an amazing leader,” Oilers defenseman Darnell Nurse said. “We get into overtime. In those tense moments, he has an ability to relax and just make plays. He gets rewarded for working hard.”
1:11
Leon Draisaitl scores OT winner for Oilers in Game 4
Leon Draisaitl notches the game-winning goal with this one-handed effort in a pulsating Game 4 that levels the series for Oilers.
Draisaitl has been perhaps the NHL’s most dominant player when factoring in the regular season with the postseason. The Oilers star finished a close second to Winnipeg Jets goalie Connor Hellebuyck in the voting for the Hart Trophy as league MVP, after a season in which Draisaitl led the NHL in goals (52) and was third overall in points (106). Draisaitl was the winner of the Hart in 2019-20, and this was the fourth season of 50 or more goals in Draisaitl’s 11-year NHL career.
Draisaitl is now second to Sam Bennett (14 goals) in postseason goals, after scoring his 11th in overtime of Game 4. He’s now tied with teammate Connor McDavid with 32 points in 20 playoff games to lead all scorers.
He has now reached 30 points in two straight postseasons, becoming only the fifth player in NHL history to accomplish that feat, along with McDavid (2024-2025), Nikita Kucherov (2020-2021), Mario Lemieux (1991-1992) and Wayne Gretzky (1987-1988 and 1983-1985). Draisaitl now has three 30-point playoff seasons in his career, tying him with McDavid and Hockey Hall of Famer Mark Messier for second all-time behind all-time leader Gretzky, who had six 30-point playoff campaigns.
It’s not just the amount of scoring for Draisaitl — it’s when he’s scoring. Consider that he has 16 points in the final two rounds of the playoffs, including a series-best seven points in the Stanley Cup Final. Draisaitl has points in 17 of 20 playoff games, and nine of his past 10 overall.
“He’s as clutch as it gets,” said goalie Calvin Pickard, also a Game 4 hero for Edmonton with 22 saves and a win in relief of Skinner. “He’s been playing great. Always scoring big goals at big times.”
In the case of his Game 4 performance, Draisaitl not only came through in the clutch but also did in a building that hasn’t been friendly to him. He hadn’t tallied a point in any of his previous five Stanley Cup Final games on the road against the Panthers. He didn’t even generate a shot on goal in Game 7 last season or in Game 3 this postseason. He also failed to generate a shot attempt in Game 3, marking just the second time in 93 career playoff games that this occurred for Draisaitl.
On Thursday, he made up for lost time with three points, assisting on goals by Nugent-Hopkins and Vasily Podkolzin before scoring one of his own in overtime.
Florida coach Paul Maurice believes his team has defended Draisaitl and McDavid “reasonably well” in the series at 5-on-5.
“I think they’re still going to generate some action,” the coach said. “I think the even-strength chances are pretty tight through four games.”
One of the differences for Edmonton this postseason, after losing to Florida in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final in 2024, is their confidence and comfort in playing in tight games and grinding series. If they get down, they don’t get flustered. If things aren’t clicking offensively, they’re patient.
“You just get comfortable in those situations knowing that you play one good game, you find a way to get a win on the road, and you go home and the series is tied. That’s really all it is,” Draisaitl said before Game 4. “Sometimes those games where you just get waxed a little bit, they’re almost easier to get out of, right? We didn’t play our best. They played their best. We weren’t even close to bringing our best. You park that, you move on.”
1:00
Draisaitl comes up big with OT winner in Game 1
Leon Draisaitl nets the winning goal late in overtime to help the Oilers take Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final.
For all the message-sending that the Panthers did in Game 3 — on the scoreboard, on the ice and with their mouths — the Oilers sent an important one about their resiliency with their Game 4 rally.
“It tells you that our group never quits. We believe that no matter how bad it is, if we get over that hump of adversity, we’re going to keep pushing, we’re going to keep coming, and eventually it’ll break,” Draisaitl said. “You don’t want to be in these situations too many times. But when they happen, I think we’re great at it.”
It helps to have someone like Leon Draisaitl scoring when it matters most.
“I don’t know what could convey what he means to our team,” Edmonton coach Kris Knoblauch said. “The leadership, the play. He has just elevated his game in the toughest moments.”
Cincinnati Reds left-hander Wade Miley said Friday that he has not been accused of any wrongdoing, one day after reports stated a deposition from a lawsuit alleged he supplied Tyler Skaggs with drugs when both players were with the Arizona Diamondbacks.
The deposition is part of a motion for summary judgment filed by the Los Angeles Angels, requesting a lawsuit from the Skaggs family be dismissed.
The deposition from Ryan Hamill, Skaggs’ agent, contains testimony that he was concerned in 2013 about Skaggs’ drug use. Hamill said he and Skaggs’ family confronted Skaggs about his drug use. Skaggs was then in his second season as a teammate of Miley with the Diamondbacks.
“He came clean,” Hamill testified. “He said he had been using — I believe it was Percocets — and he said he got them through Wade Miley.”
Skaggs died on July 1, 2019, at age 27 in a Dallas-area hotel. The autopsy found fentanyl, oxycodone and alcohol in his system.
Miley briefly addressed the issue before Friday’s road game against the Detroit Tigers.
“I hate what happened to Tyler, it sucks. My thoughts are with his family and his friends,” Miley said. “But I’m not going to sit here and talk about things that someone might have said about me or whatnot. I was never a witness for any of this. I was never accused of any wrongdoing.”
Former Angels communications director Eric Kay is serving a 22-year prison sentence in Texas after being found guilty on two charges of providing drugs related on Skaggs’ overdose.
The Athletic reported that the criminal proceedings against Kay included a recorded phone conversation in which Kay told his mother that Miley was a drug source to Skaggs.
Asked if Major League Baseball has contacted him regarding the allegations, Miley said, “I’d rather just focus on the Cincinnati Reds right now and baseball and what I have to do moving forward. I’ve got to get ready for a game on Sunday.”
Miley was mentioned in Kay’s criminal case, but he was never charged with a crime.
Skaggs was traded to the Angels after the 2013 season. He went 28-38 with a 4.41 ERA in 96 career starts.
Miley, 38, is with his eighth big league team and attempting to revive his career after Tommy John surgery in 2024.
Miley has a career 109-99 mark with a 4.09 ERA in 319 games (311 starts) since making his major league debut in 2011. This is his second go-round with the Reds. He was with the team in the 2020 and 2021 seasons, going 12-10 with a 3.55 ERA in 177⅓ innings over 34 starts (32 innings).
The Skaggs family is suing the Angels, contending that high-level team officials, as well as other employees, knew Kay was a drug user and should have known he was Skaggs’ source.
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