Not a great way for Joel Farabee to spend his 24th birthday.

In their second installment of back-to-back games against division rivals, the Flyers traveled down the turnpike to take on the Pittsburgh Penguins. It was an action-packed contest from start to finish (even without the Flyers surprise trading a highly-touted prospect for an equally bright young defenseman), but there were plenty of takeaways to be had in the midst of the chaos. 

Hard Knocks

Flyers fans were given a couple of frights during this game, with both Jamie Drysdale and Tyson Foerster needing to head down the tunnel. Drysdale was rocked by Jansen Harkins, and was sent crashing down to the ice clutching his shoulder. He immediately ran down the tunnel, and did not return for the remainder of the game. 

As of right now, no updates have been provided on Drysdale's condition, but it is worth noting that the shoulder he was grabbing in pain was the same shoulder he injured in 2022 that kept him out of playing contention for around 6 months. 

Foerster's knock appeared to be less serious, although it didn't start out that way. After taking a puck directly to the knee, Foerster fell in very obvious pain, crawling towards the bench and not able to stand up or walk down the tunnel without assistance. He did end up returning to the bench, and ended up scoring a second goal after coming back. 

Battle Back

It was as back-and-forth of a game as you could get. The Flyers got on the board first, but had to fight back from behind multiple times as the Penguins had a response for every Flyers goal. As is typical of the Flyers, they kept fighting for a comeback, but the frustration was evident. Head coach John Tortorella believed that they were still able to play their game, and took the Flyers' ability to keep responding every time they went down as a positive.

"They played free. They played hard," he said. "To come back like that as many times as we did—we weren't playing safe. We were playing. I give our team a lot of credit for their resiliency to keep on coming back...It's not frustrating. I know that's what we have on our team. That's a positive. We don't win tonight, but it's a positive we just keep on playing."

Scott Laughton, on the other hand, felt the energy drainage that comes with having to chase a game across three periods. 

"It's tough when you're chasing games," he said. "We did a lot of that last year. Guys are grinding through it and trying to get back, but we let a couple in on their power play. We could've been a little bit better there. You're chasing it, you're trying to get back, but we were close and played until the last minute."

He also acknowledged that, at this point in the season, the team just simply has to be better—especially in games like the ones this weekend against two of their biggest rivals. 

"It's not good enough this time of year and the guys know it," he said. "We've got to be better. Four huge points that are wasted away with a good effort yesterday [against the New York Rangers] and coming in here, but we've got to get back to the drawing board here, have a good practice, and get back into it."

Time For A New Backup?

Let's not beat around the bush—Cal Petersen struggled against the Penguins. He just didn't look like an NHL-level goalie, and his weaknesses were exposed time and time again. 

Some fans had sympathy for Petersen. 

Many others are calling for his head and telling Felix Sandstrom (who has played backup goalie for the Flyers in previous seasons) to "keep that phone ready." 

It wasn't a good game for Petersen, but the goalie situation for the Flyers has gone through the ringer this season. Both Sam Ersson and Petersen have new roles to adjust to, and although it may feel like it, it hasn't been that long since they officially had to become the No. 1 and No. 2 for Philadelphia. While this performance was a difficult watch, it's unlikely the Flyers will suddenly demote Petersen and burden themselves with the task of integrating another new goalie into the team. If Petersen consistently shows that he can't handle goaltending at this level, that's one thing. But in order to do that, he needs more chances to show what he's made of—whether Flyers fans like it or not. 

The Flyers' next game will be on home ice against the Tampa Bay Lightning at 7:00 p.m. EST.

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