Game Preview: Avalanche Are Rolling. The Flyers Just Finally Got Started

The Philadelphia Flyers have finally remembered how to win a hockey game, so the Colorado Avalanche won’t be facing a winless team on Monday after all. That’s one storyline off the table, but Philly still has plenty to prove.

After taking care of the Pittsburgh Penguins with a 5-2 win at Ball Arena on Friday, the Avalanche are heading to Xfinity Mobile Arena to face the Flyers, who entered the weekend still searching for their first win of the season. Philadelphia finally got it done Saturday, beating the Ottawa Senators 3-1 at home to improve to 1-6-3. Better late than never, right?

One win doesn’t exactly erase what’s been a rough start for Philadelphia.

Through 10 games, the Flyers have surrendered 34 goals, tied with the Buffalo Sabres for the most allowed among Eastern Conference teams. The difference? Buffalo has scored 27 goals of its own, while the Flyers have managed just 14—the fewest in the Eastern Conference. Scoring goals apparently isn’t high on Philadelphia’s list of priorities right now.

A few teams around the league have been even worse defensively. The Chicago Blackhawks have allowed 36 goals, the Calgary Flames have given up 37, and the Vancouver Canucks have surrendered a whopping 45. That leaves Philadelphia tied for the fourth-most goals allowed in the NHL. Not exactly the kind of company you want to keep.

Meanwhile, Colorado has looked far more comfortable on both ends of the ice. The Avalanche enter Monday’s matchup with a 5-2-1 record, 36 goals scored, and 27 allowed. Only the Vegas Golden Knights (42) and Edmonton Oilers (37) have scored more than Colorado this season. Vegas has already played 10 games, while the Oilers have also had more opportunities to pad their totals. The reigning Stanley Cup champion Carolina Hurricanes have scored 36 goals as well, though they’ve also played 10 games.

All things considered, the Avs are off to a pretty solid start.

Here’s a stat that might surprise you heading into Monday’s game: Nathan MacKinnon isn’t the Avalanche’s outright leader in goals. Technically, he is—but he has company.

Through eight games, MacKinnon and Artturi Lehkonen are tied with eight goals apiece. Apparently, scoring goals is more fun when you have someone to share the spotlight with.

Philadelphia has lost four of its last five matchups against Colorado, although the Flyers did win the most recent meeting, a 7-3 blowout at Ball Arena on January 23. The last time these teams met in Philadelphia was December 7, 2025, when Colorado escaped with a 3-2 victory.

MacKinnon has six goals and 15 assists for 21 points in 22 career games against the Flyers. He’s been particularly productive lately, recording three goals and six assists for nine points in his last five games against Philadelphia. The catch? He hasn’t scored a goal in either of the teams’ last two meetings. He did, however, dish out two assists in that January 23 matchup.

Lehkonen has scored four career goals against Philadelphia. The last time he found the back of the net against the Flyers was during his first season with Colorado, about six months after the Avalanche won the Stanley Cup in 2022. So, yeah, it’s been a minute.

Cale Makar has also made his presence felt against Philadelphia, tallying three goals and three assists in his last five games against the Flyers.

Then there’s Martin Necas, whose goal total against Philadelphia might not jump off the page, but whose playmaking certainly does. He has 17 points in 20 career games against the Flyers, with 14 of those coming from assists. Clearly, he’s found a few ways to make himself useful against this team.

There's another reason for Avalanche fans to be optimistic heading into Monday's matchup: the power play may finally be finding its groove under new assistant coach Brett McLean.

Colorado scored a power play goal against Pittsburgh on Friday, offering an early glimpse of what this unit could look like under new guidance. It's only one goal, so nobody's handing out trophies just yet, but Monday presents another opportunity to show that a coaching change might have been exactly what this group needed. If the Avs can keep producing with the man advantage against Philadelphia, that early progress could start looking like something more than a one-game flash.

Mackenzie Blackwood will likely get the start in net for Colorado, and if there’s a matchup tailor-made for him to put on a show, this might be it.

Blackwood took the loss in Colorado’s 7-3 defeat against Philadelphia in January, but his career numbers against the Flyers tell a much different story. In 16 games, he’s posted an 11-3-2 record, a 2.48 goals-against average, and a .917 save percentage.

Not too shabby.

He’s also coming in hot, having won his last two starts while posting a .929 save percentage. If he can keep that momentum going against a Philadelphia team that has struggled mightily to score, the Avalanche could be in for a comfortable night.

Of course, hockey has a funny way of making things complicated when they should be simple. Still, Blackwood has plenty of history against the Flyers from his days with the New Jersey Devils, and he’ll have a good opportunity to build on an already impressive record against them.

Matvei Michkov leads Philadelphia with four goals and one assist for five points through 10 games. Christian Dvorak and Trevor Zegras are next, each with two goals and two assists for four points.

That’s not exactly an intimidating offensive leaderboard, especially when you consider Colorado has already scored 36 goals this season.

Dan Vladar will likely get the start in net for Philadelphia. He hasn’t faced Colorado as a Flyer, but he’s familiar with the Avalanche from his four seasons with the Calgary Flames. In six career games against Colorado with Calgary, Vladar went 2-4 with a 3.88 goals-against average and a .887 save percentage.

Those numbers don’t exactly inspire confidence against an Avalanche offense that’s been lighting up the scoreboard. If Philadelphia wants to make this a competitive game, Vladar may need to stand on his head—and the Flyers will need to give him a little more help than they have over the first 10 games.

The Avalanche have the offensive firepower, the goaltending matchup looks favorable, and Philadelphia is still trying to figure out how to score consistently. The Flyers may have finally gotten that first win out of the way, but they’ll need a whole lot more than one victory to keep pace with Colorado.

Puck drop is scheduled for 5 p.m. local time on Monday at Xfinity Mobile Arena.