Porter Martone and Rick Tocchet met the media in New York today, and the Flyers open a five-game road trip against the Rangers tonight.
Martone, the sixth overall pick in 2025, is in his first full run in the lineup. He's on a team that has lost 9 of its 17 games in regulation and sits 30th in the NHL.
The Flyers put out word that Tocchet and the winger spoke with reporters ahead of Thursday night's matchup.
Philadelphia then confirmed the trip starts tonight with a Metro matchup in New York City.
The 20-year-old has 3 goals and 5 assists in 17 games this season, and two of those goals came on the power play. That's a useful role for a team that needs offense from anywhere it can find it.
The rating is the ugly part. Martone is a -5, in line with a team sitting at -21 in goal differential.
Where Martone fits in a thin Flyers attack
Put him next to the other young forwards and the picture gets clearer. Matvei Michkov has 13 points in 17 games, and Trevor Zegras has 14.
Martone's 8 points trail both, but he's not far off the pace for a winger still learning the league. Michkov has the goals, with 10 of them, and a -10 rating that shows how rough things have been when he's on the ice.
Over his NHL career, Martone has 7 goals and 11 assists in 26 games. That's 18 points, and he's heading into a tough building.
The Rangers are 7-2-0 at home, which is a problem for a Flyers team that is 1-5-1 on the road. New York is 8-7-1 and won its last game 3-1 against St. Louis.
You can read how thin the lineup looked in our look at the Flyers needing more than Zegras and Michkov. Martone is one of the players who has to change that.
Tonight is the first test of five on this trip. The Flyers have scored 37 goals all season, and a third-line winger with a power-play role has to help change that number before they come home.
