Friday Forecheck: Foerster Surging to Finish Line

When the Flyers returned home from their late March five-game road trip, winger Tyson Foerster was seemingly stuck on 16 goals for the 2024-25 season. He only had one tally (Feb. 27 in Pittsburgh) since the NHL returned from the Four Nations Tournament break.

His overall game remained strong all the while. Even so, with the Flyers team as a whole mired in an offensive slump, Foerster was clearly eager to end a personal 15-game goal drought to alleviate the burden.

As with a large percentage of players who are expected to contribute offense with regularity, Foerster's tendency at both the AHL and NHL level so far in his pro career is for his production to ebb and flow. Once he finally got his 17th goal out of the way, there was a strong possibility that score in bunches in the games to follow.

That's exactly what happened. On March 27 at home against the Montreal Canadiens, Foerster scored what proved to be the game-winning goal at 10:09 of the third period. Foerster collected the loose change from a Nick Seeler point shot and buried the rebound in the back of the net to end a 14-game goal drought. The goal lifted Brad Shaw to a 6-4 victory in his debut as Flyers' interim head coach.

As often happens, the tally against the Habs opened the floodgates for Foerster once the goalless stretch was finally brought to an end. He'd score again two nights later against the Buffalo Sabres, bringing his season total to 17 goals.

Foerster did not find the net in the Flyers' 2-1 win over the Nashville Predators to close out the March portion of the schedule. However, on the road in Montreal on April 5, Foerster scored a late power play marker to reduce a 3-1 deficit to one goal with 40 seconds remaining in regulation. The Flyers could not generate an equalizer in the 3-2 loss after taking a 1-0 lead into the third period.

On Wednesday night of this week, needing one goal to match his rookie total from last season, Foerster and the Flyers entered Madison Square Garden. He got to the 20-goal milestone at 9:03 of the second period.

Foerster's tally, which forged a 1-1 tie at the time, was notable for more than just being his 20th of the season. The way he scored the goal was also notable. Foerster has always prided himself on his ability to score goals from the flank. This season, however, pucks were simply not going in the net for Foerster when he'd shoot from the outside or above the hash marks. Most of his goals, similar to the previous game against Montreal, came from driving to the net.

Here, after Noah Cates kept the play going inside the blue line, Foerster scored on a grip-and-rip wrist shot from just above the top of the left circle. The shot beat veteran goaltender Jonathan Quick.

Foerster wasn't finished yet. At 15:33 of the third period, Foerster notched his second goal of the game (21st of the season) for a 6-4 lead. On this one, Foerster set up at the left dot to load up for a pass from Travis Sanheim. Foerster promptly one-timed the puck into the net. Another goal scored from his off-wing shooting range.

Foerster finished off his first career NHL hat trick (22nd goal of the season) into an empty net at 19:05 of the third period. Owen Tippett (20th) would tack on an additional empty-netter to close out the scoring in an 8-5 win.

Suddenly, after going through a 14-game spell without a goal, Foerster has six tallies and one assist for seven points in the last five games. He'd need three more over the season's final four games to increase his full-season total from 20 as a rookie to 25 in his second year. Foerster, 23, has already topped last season's point total by six (33 to 39) and became the first Flyer since Simon Gagne to hit the 20-goal milestone in both his rookie and second NHL seasons.

"Coming into each year, you just want to get a little bit better, so that's pretty cool," Foerster said, adding that he'd have much preferred if the team made the playoffs this season after missing out on the final night of the regular season in 2023-24.

Frozen Four: Two Flyers draftees advance to NCAA title game

The Western Michigan Broncos, playing in their first Frozen Four in program history, knocked off the defending NCAA champion, the Denver Pioneers in double overtime on Thursday night. With the 3-2 victory, Western Michigan will advance to the 2025 championship game to play the Boston University Terriers.

Flyers prospect Alex Bump continued his magical sophomore season for Western Michigan with an excellent performance in the semifinal. He did not get on the scoresheet but made an impact throughout the match, including nine shots on goal.

Fellow Flyers draftee, Boston University junior power winger Devin Kaplan, will square off against Bump's Broncos in the championship game on Saturday (7:30 p.m. EDT, ESPN2). On Thursday, the Terriers defeated first-time Frozen Four participant Penn State, by a 3-1 score. Kaplan chipped in a second period helper on freshman New York Islanders prospect Cole Eiserman's tally that gave the Terriers a 2-0 lead midway through the second period.

In Memoriam: Ray Shero

Longtime NHL executive Ray Shero, who passed away on Wednesday at age 62, never worked for the Flyers but holds a special place in the extended family history of the organization. The son of legendary Flyers head coach Fred Shero and the father of Flyers amateur scout Kyle Shero, Ray spent his early life around the organization during the Broad St. Bullies heyday.

Along with older brother Jean-Paul, Ray Shero frequently attended Flyers practices at the Class of 1923 rink and games at the Spectrum. Ray's personality differed from him famously shy father -- he took after his late mother Mariette's talkative and sociable nature -- but he inherited his passion for hockey from "The Fog".

Ray accepted his father's posthumous induction into the Hockey Hall of Fame and he was also on hand, standing alongside Ed Snider, when the statue of Fred Shero was unveiled.

In addition to his familial sports lineage from his father, Ray's late aunt, Doris Witiuk (nee Shero), played baseball during the early 1950s in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. Her name is featured in the Women in Baseball exhibit at the Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown, New York. Ray's late uncle, Steve Witiuk, played in the NHL for the Chicago Black Hawks.

Ray's son, Kyle, has been an amateur/collegiate hockey scout for the Flyers since 2022-23. Older son Chris played collegiate hockey at Boston College before becoming an amateur scout for the New Jersey Devils and Columbus Blue Jackets.