Broad Street Hockey: A Philadelphia Flyers Podcast · For Fans Hockey Network, Bleav

Flyers Postgame: Denver Barkey scores first NHL goal in 5-2 win over Oilers

January 4, 2026·1 hr 11 min·6 clips

Denver Barkey scores his first NHL goal to open the scoring in a 5-2 Flyers win over the Oilers.

1. Broad Street Hockey's postgame episode covers the Philadelphia Flyers' 5-2 victory over the Edmonton Oilers in Edmonton, the first win the hosts have covered in the podcast's postgame format. 2. Hosts Ryan Gilbert and Jacob Russell are Broad Street Hockey contributors who analyze the Flyers with statistical depth alongside traditional game observation. 3. The episode's core argument is that this Flyers win demonstrated the team's structural resilience—ability to rebound from losses, win road games in tough buildings—while also exposing the power play as a persistent organizational failure. 4. Denver Barkey scored his first NHL goal in his seventh career game, starting a near end-to-end rush from his own goal line in the first five minutes and finishing in the Oilers' end. 5. Jacob reports that Barkey's line with Owen Tippett and Sean Couturier has the best expected goals percentage of any line with at least 50 minutes played this season. 6. Dan Vladar made 22 saves on 24 shots, with Jacob noting the performance was better than the raw numbers suggest, particularly during the Oilers' second-period surge from McDavid, Draisaitl, and Bouchard. 7. The Flyers scored three first-period goals—from Barkey, Brink, and Nick Seeler on the fourth line—controlling shot attempts 21-11 in the second period and holding to a 13-7 advantage in the third. 8. The Flyers' power play is 3-for-34 over the last 14 games, ranking 30th in the league, and has produced only one more goal than the team's penalty kill has surrendered as shorthanded goals in the same window. 9. Jacob frames the power play failure as an organizational issue spanning at least five years, predating any current individual players and not explained by personnel talent alone, citing Utah and the Blackhawks as counter-examples with effective units despite less individual talent. 10. Matvei Mishkov played only 13:37 of ice time, the same as Carl Grunstrom, and his second-period stick infraction on Mattias Janmark led directly to the Oilers' power play goal that made the score 3-2. 11. Jacob argues Mishkov's limited minutes reflect coaching decisions about conditioning and mental sharpness rather than favoritism, comparing his tendency to take careless stick penalties to a deeper pattern of not knowing where to be without the puck. 12. The hosts contrast Mishkov's situation with Barkey's rapid integration, arguing that the Flyers' AHL system is successfully preparing players like Barkey and Grunstrom for NHL roles while Mishkov has not yet demonstrated the holistic game to earn more ice. 13. Garnet Hathaway returned to the lineup after injury and led all Flyers with 9:30 of ice time, leading the team in shot attempts at 14-for-3 against; his fourth line went 13-3 in shot attempts overall. 14. Jacob references the Flyers' current playoff standing: second-best point percentage in the Metro, with only 14 regulation wins but a plus-8 goal differential ranking fourth in the conference. 15. He raises the question of whether the Flyers could beat Washington, Carolina, or New Jersey in a first-round playoff series, calling it 'plausible but not favored.' 16. The hosts note the Flyers have only lost back-to-back regulation games once this season and came into this game off a 5-1 loss to the Flames, the same day the Oilers lost 6-2 to the Bruins. 17. Christian Dvorak led all forwards with 20:29 of ice time, more than two minutes ahead of Travis Konecny at 20:11, a workload Jacob describes as 'crutchy' given Dvorak's role. 18. The episode is data-driven and analytical throughout, with hosts referencing Corsi numbers, expected goals percentages, and prior season statistics from broadstreethockey.com. 19. Philadelphia Flyers fans who want detailed tactical and statistical analysis of a specific game will find this valuable. 20. Casual NHL viewers or fans of other teams looking for broad league coverage will find the episode too granular for their needs.

As heard by us

Broad Street Hockey's postgame works best when it stays with the Darnell Nurse fight and the next-shift Connor McDavid breakaway.

Broad Street Hockey's postgame is at its best when Ryan Gilbert and Jacob Russell stay with the Darnell Nurse fight and the next-shift Connor McDavid breakaway. That is the show's cleanest hinge, and the hosts keep the hockey argument moving instead of sanding it down.

Read the full review in PlayNext →

Why you'd press play

You want a raw postgame reaction to a game that turns on a fight, a rush chance, and a McDavid breakaway.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

Listen to the show on

Apple Podcasts Spotify

Play clips from this episode More from Broad Street Hockey: A Philadelphia Flyers Podcast