Flyers pick up a 6-3 win over the Canucks in Rick Tocchet's return to Vancouver

Jackie Spiegel, The Philadelphia Inquirer on Dec 31, 2025

Published in Hockey

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As the Flyers skated around the rink for warmups, a fan held up a sign that read “Toccquit,” in reference to Flyers coach Rick Tocchet opting to leave the Vancouver Canucks and finding a home in Philly.

Whether it sparked the Orange and Black or not, the Flyers did what good teams do — defeat bad ones. And despite an iffy start, they skated away with a 6-3 win against the Canucks.

It is the Flyers’ third win in four games, a stretch starting with a 5-2 win against the same Canucks on Dec. 22.

Of course, in the penultimate game of 2025, the Flyers would trail 1-0. Since Jan. 1, Tuesday’s game was the 46th time in 82 games they’ve trailed 1-0, tied for the third-most in the NHL with the New York Rangers and Calgary Flames. But it is also their 19th win, which ties the Dallas Stars for the most in the calendar year.

David Kämpf gave the Canucks a 1-0 lead 3 minutes, 45 seconds into the game on their eighth shot. The Flyers hadn’t registered one, and they got pinned after a breakout pass off a faceoff hit the back of Denver Barkey’s skate as Vancouver controlled the boards. Drew O’Connor created a separation between himself and Cam York and found Kämpf in front.

But the Canucks played Monday night in Seattle and, despite beating the Kraken in a shootout, entered the night 30th in the NHL in points percentage. So the Flyers started to turn it up — with their play, their speed, and on the scoreboard.

First, Noah Cates tied it up 12:02 into the game. Travis Konecny threw a big-time hit on Vancouver’s Conor Garland as he tried to carry the puck into the Flyers’ zone. It didn’t lead to the goal, but it forced the Canucks to regroup with the Flyers clogging the neutral zone.

Travis Sanheim got the puck after it bounced down — Matvei Michkov forced the air pass — and gave it to Bobby Brink. He found Michkov on the right wing. The Russian actually knocked the puck down with one hand on his stick, settled it, and, while drifting backward, fed Cates, who wristed it short-side.

Cates now has 10 goals on the season. Across the past seven games, since Cates, Brink, and Michkov became a line, the Minnesotan has three goals and five points.

The trio wasn’t done, as Michkov fed Brink to make it 4-2 in the third period. Cates sprung the duo from the Flyers’ end. Michkov settled the bouncing puck as Zeev Buium poked it back to him and then avoided the Canucks defenseman’s poke check.

Michkov carried the puck wide as Brink went right to the net — something Tocchet wanted to see more of from his club — and Brink opened up to direct it into the net.

The assist is the 50th of Michkov’s career, and he now has 22 points in 38 games this season. Brink has 10 goals, two off his career-high.

In between the third line’s scoring spree, Carl Grundström continued his hot streak, and Konecny scored his 12th of the season.

Grundström made it 2-1 Flyers early in the second period. Sanheim moved the puck up to Nikita Grebenkin, who couldn’t control it inside the Canucks’ blue line but was able to push it down the right boards. Grundström skated down, corralled the puck, and scored into the top left corner from the bottom of the right circle. The Swede now has seven goals in 12 games with Philly and extended his goal-scoring streak to four games.

Konecny made it 3-1 in the second with a nifty move in front. Jamie Drysdale, who was flying all night, sent a shot-pass down to a wide-open Konecny in front. He tried to score on the backhand, flicking it on Canucks goalie Thatcher Demko, but was stopped.

But there’s no quit in Konecny, and after turning to face the net, he realized not only did he have the puck, but he was still alone. While falling, he flicked it past Demko on the forehand to give him 35 points in 38 games; he also had an assist on Christian Dvorak’s empty-netter to extend the Flyers lead to 6-3.

Breakaways

O’Connor scored for Vancouver in the third period to make it 3-2 and Tom Willander scored with under two minutes in regulation to make it 5-3. … Owen Tippett notched a short-handed empty-net goal to make it 5-2. … Defenseman Noah Juulsen was a healthy scratch in his return to Vancouver. … Dan Vladař was stellar once again in net, stopping 31 shots.

Up next

The Flyers get right back to it with a New Year’s Eve matchup in the Canadian Rockies against the Flames (9:30 p.m., NBCSP)