The Philadelphia Flyers made franchise history, scoring three goals in just 26 seconds during a 6–3 win over the New Jersey Devils at Xfinity Mobile Arena on Saturday.
The rapid-fire stretch set a new Philadelphia record, bettering previous three-goal runs of 35 seconds recorded on March 1, 1979, against the Boston Bruins, and on October 7, 1982, against the Quebec Nordiques. The 26-second blitz also placed the Flyers in a tie with the 1989–90 Quebec for the fifth-fastest three-goal sequence in NHL history, with faster totals belonging solely to the Boston Bruins (20 seconds in 1971), the Washington Capitals (21 seconds in 1990), the Chicago Blackhawks (21 seconds in 1952), and the Montreal Maroons (24 seconds in 1932).
New Jersey opened the scoring at 7:37 of the first period with a power-play strike from Timo Meier, only for Philadelphia to counter immediately. Noah Cates tied the game at 9:00 after capitalizing on a rebound misplayed by Jake Allen. From there, the momentum shifted entirely. At 12:06, Matvei Michkov struck on a breakaway for his fifth goal of the season in his 100th career game. Just nine seconds later, Tyson Foerster buried a one-timer off a Cates feed, and at 12:32 Foerster added another off the rush, giving him two goals in 17 seconds, the fastest by a Flyer since Jeff Carter scored twice in 13 seconds in 2008.
The Flyers’ four-goal first period ultimately proved the difference in the victory, which moved them to 11-6-3 and extended their winning streak to three games. The offensive eruption also came on the night Philadelphia honored the late Bernie Parent.
In addition to Foerster and Michkov, the Flyers received goals from Bobby Brink, who struck midway through the second period, and Trevor Zegras, whose breakaway marker at 15:21 of the third secured the final margin. Zegras’ tally gave him 21 points through his first 20 games as a Flyer, placing him behind only Peter Forsberg (36 in 2005–06) and Danny Briere (24 in 2007–08) for the most in a player’s first 20 games with Philadelphia.
Goaltender Dan Vladar, who made 32 saves on 35 shots, improved to 7-4-1 with a 2.37 goals-against average and .911 save percentage, both ranking among the stronger marks in the league. The win also kept alive Philadelphia’s four-game ho me point streak and gave them their eighth home victory, tying them for the most home wins in the NHL.
Philadelphia now begins a four-game road trip, starting Monday in Tampa BayBay against the Lightning.
