Martone madness: Flyers’ phenom delivers playoff position — now comes the hard part

PHILADELPHIA — No need to pinch yourself. You are not dreaming. When you woke up Monday morning, the Flyers were, in fact, in a playoff spot. 

That was the result of a 2-1 win overtime win over the Boston Bruins on Sunday that had a Hollywood ending. 

Porter Martone, the uber-prospect that joined the Flyers four games prior, became the first Flyer to ever score his first NHL goal as an overtime game-winner. 

Ironically, it came on the power play, a unit that has been buried at the bottom of the league in success rate for more what seems like an eternity. 

But the  Bruins were kind enough to take two penalties in the extra session, giving the Flyers a 5-on-3 advantage and Martone took advantage. 

How Porter Martone’s First Goal Sounded

Courtesy of @NHLFlyers pic.twitter.com/aZdB4JzfyJ

— 97.5 The Fanatic (@975TheFanatic) April 5, 2026

Get used to that. There are going to be a lot of those. 

But don't sleep on Martone's ability to make little plays that lead to goals as well. 

Like the play he made on the Flyers first goal where he wins a board battle and makes a between the legs pass to Christian Dvorak to spring him on a 2-on-1 break. 

The Porter Martone touch pass to Christian Dvorak 😮‍💨

1-0 #FLYERS. pic.twitter.com/L97iXgIZpt

— Flyers Nation (@FlyersNation) April 5, 2026

"That's something I worked on a lot this year, my wall play," Martone told reporters after the game. "A lot of the game, not just in college, but in the NHL (too) is played along the walls. I felt like the [defenseman] kind of pinched down so I just re-directed it through my legs to [Dvorak] and he had a really nice shot to score there."

Sometimes, it's the little things that matter. Actually, a lot of times,

The little things - the small area plays — like the give and go small area plays between Matvei Michkov and Alex Bump that led to Travis Sanheim's goal against the New York Islanders on Friday to Martone's chef's kiss of a touch pass to Dvorak — it's those small details that make the difference between winning and losing, and the Flyers are doing a lot of winning, lately, while the teams around them are doing a lot of losing.  

"There's been a lot of growth," coach Rick Tocchet said in his post game press conference. "The team's done a great job since training camp. It's been a little bit of a roller coaster at times, but this team has stuck together. I'm really proud of them."

Since the Olympic break, the Flyers have gone 14-6-1 (.691 point percentage). 

But more impressively, in the last few weeks (since March 11) the Flyers are 10-3-1 while, the five teams they are battling for playoff position with — Ottawa, Detroit, Columbus, Washington and the New York Islanders — are a combined 29-30-6. 

That combination of consistency from the Flyers and mediocrity from the other teams in the conference, have allowed the Flyers to catch up, and now they are in a position with a little more than a week to go in the season. 

But now comes the challenging part.

Climbing up that mountain took a lot of work, but falling from the peak can be fast and easy if you aren't careful. 

And the Flyers know their work is far from over.  

"When you are chasing someone it's hard, but when you are getting hunted, it's harder," Tocchet said. "We're going to have a short practice (Monday) and then we're going to worry about the Devils. The hardest part is you are getting chased so you start to get nervous. ... Now you got three or four teams coming for you."

A three-game road trip that begins in New Jersey on Tuesday is what's next before returning home to face a pair of 100-plus point playoff teams in Carolina and Montreal on back-to-back nights to end the season. 

In these five games, eight points will all but guarantee them a playoff spot at 98 points for the season, while seven points (like going 3-1-1 and finishing with 97 points) probably gets them there. The Islanders have just four games remaining and even if they win all four can max out at 97. Columbus has five games remaining, but can max out at 98. And that's assuming those two teams win all of their games. 

But it won't be easy. The Devils have been spunky lately, going 8-3-1 in their last 12 games. The Red Wings may be in do or die mode come Thursday and the Winnipeg Jets have suddenly gotten themselves back in the Western Conference playoff conversation after a dreadful first half. This is going to be a tricky road trip. 

Who knows if Carolina and Montreal will have anything to play for next week, but both could be playing for playoff positioning which includes home ice advantage. We won't know until the time comes, but every opponent is going to give the Flyers fits. It's going to be paramount that they stay the course, and trust in their systems to hang on to what they just got their hands on this past weekend.

Getting there through the Metropolitan Division remains the easiest path for the Flyers, but they could still get a Wild Card spot if either the Islanders or Blue Jackets get super hot.

Technically the Flyers are behind Ottawa currently, even though they are tied in points, Ottawa would win the tiebreaker with more regulation wins, so the Flyers would need one more point than the Sens over the course of the last five games to finish ahead of them. 

Detroit has five games left, but would need two more points than the Flyers over their last five to pass them (they play each other Thursday in Detroit). 

Meanwhile, the Capitals are still lurking, but they only have four games left and trail the Flyers by three points, so they would need a lot of help. Getting blown out by the Rangers 8-1 on Sunday night likely did them in. 

But the Flyers no longer need to scoreboard watch. Win a game Tuesday, and they stay ahead. Then look at the standings and reassess. 

That's going to be the process every day for the next eight days. 

And in the end, it just might end up getting them someplace no one thought they'd be six weeks ago.