Tyson Foerster, Jakob Pelletier among players leading Flyers' post-John Tortorella surge

New York Times

12-04-2025

PHILADELPHIA — Tyson Foerster is often a man of few words. Those words were even fewer earlier this season, when current Philadelphia Flyers interim coach (and then associate coach) Brad Shaw took him off the penalty kill.
'Didn't talk to me for about a month,' Shaw said.
Foerster is speaking loudly now, at least on the ice. The 23-year-old has been the Flyers' most dangerous forward lately, scoring twice on Saturday in the team's 4-3 shootout win over the New York Islanders at Wells Fargo Center, one game after he recorded his first career NHL hat trick at Madison Square Garden on Wednesday.
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In the six games since the Flyers made a coaching change, Foerster has eight goals and one assist for 9 points, tied for the team lead in scoring with Matvei Michkov and Ryan Poehling over that span. The Flyers have now won five of those six games (5-1-0).
'Pucks are going in for me right now, so it feels good,' a not-so-loquacious Foerster said after the game.
With three games left in the season, Foerster is tied with Michkov and Travis Konecny for the team lead in goals with 24. Oh, and he's back on the penalty kill, as well as the top power-play unit, which is where he scored his first goal on Saturday against the Islanders, giving the Flyers a 1-0 lead at 3:28 of the second period.
Foerster Roofing Co.#NYIvsPHI | #LetsGoFlyers pic.twitter.com/nw87UhtEuo
— Philadelphia Flyers (@NHLFlyers) April 12, 2025
Yes, the Flyers are still an undermanned club these days, but it's safe to say Shaw trusts Foerster in every situation again.
'I think he's always a very conscientious player as far as 200-foot game,' Shaw said. 'I think like most goal scorers, when one goes in, they start to feel a little bit better. When it gets to two and three, they start to feel like the next shot's going in a little more than maybe when they weren't scoring.
'I like how he earns his success (and) doesn't cheat to get his success. That's not an easy thing to do on a regular basis. Real good sign from a young guy that's showing that he's going to be a good pro, and a good player for a long time.'
Foerster has had help, as the Flyers have averaged 4.67 goals in the six games Shaw has been behind the bench. While Foerster, a pending restricted free agent, may be earning himself a few more dollars with his strong play lately, one of his teammates may be solidifying his place on next season's roster after some earlier struggles.
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Jakob Pelletier, also a pending restricted free agent, scored a game-tying goal on Saturday in the third period to make it 2-2, and now has 6 points (three goals, three assists) in his last seven games.
It seems evident that Shaw sees a higher ceiling for Pelletier than did previous coach John Tortorella, who had him stapled to the fourth line after Pelletier was acquired from Calgary on Jan. 31 as part of the trade for Morgan Frost and Joel Farabee.
Pelletier is making that trade look better and better by the day, too. He has three goals and five assists for 8 points in 22 games since he moved to Philadelphia, which is actually more than Farabee (three goals, three assists in 28 games) has managed with the Flames (Frost has 10 points in 29 games).
The goal against the Islanders was the Flyers' prettiest of the afternoon. Pelletier and Poehling handed the puck off to one another in the neutral zone, and when Poehling sent a cross-ice pass to Owen Tippett, Pelletier drove the net, received the quick pass from Tippett, and made a move to his backhand before slipping it past Islanders goalie Marcus Hogberg.
'That was quite a passing display there,' Shaw said. 'That trio has done that a few times now where they support it, they execute it. It's great to see him have success. It gives us some balance, and lots of different options when we're down or looking for that next goal.'
Said Pelletier: 'I think our line, we skate fast, we take advantage of our speed. I think it's kind of how we kind of create goals.'
Shaw pointed out that the trade for Pelletier was difficult for the former first-round pick, but he's now finding his groove with his new teammates.
But the coach should get some credit for that, too, as he put that Pelletier-Poehling-Tippett line together in the first game after Tortorella was fired. In the past six games, they're controlling 59.6 percent of the shots on goal and 65.2 percent of the attempted goals, according to Natural Stat Trick. Further, the Flyers have outscored the opposition 4-2 at five-on-five when they're on the ice.
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On Friday, regarding Pelletier, Shaw said: 'I think that he's shown that he can provide offense. I think it's always going to be a challenge for him on the checking side because of his size. His body position has to be exemplary, his stick has to be fantastic, his reads have to be (a) step ahead a little more than a bigger guy. That's going to be his challenge. Can he do it? I think so.'
While these late-season wins are adversely affecting the Flyers' chances as a top-five pick in the 2025 draft, the way they've been playing as a group under Shaw has been eye-opening. And, of course, it's not a bad thing when some of the younger pieces that management is keeping a close eye on seem to be thriving after what was a monumental change a little more than two weeks ago. It could very well have gone the other way.
'The culture of this team and how it was put together in the last couple years, I'm not surprised that they're still playing with discipline and focus,' Shaw said.
(Photo of Tyson Foerster: Kyle Ross / Imagn Images)