The Philadelphia Flyers are back home for Game 6 against the Pittsburgh Penguins on Wednesday night. After taking a 3-0 series lead, the Flyers have lacked the killer instinct to close out their cross-state rivals in their first two tries.
Rick Tocchet has made a few lineup changes in this series, most notably taking Matvei Michkov out of the lineup in favor of Alex Bump in Game 5. He’s also switched things up on the blue line.
Noah Juulsen got into Game 2 and stayed in the lineup for Games 3 and 4 after Emil Andrae was injured in Game 1. It appeared that Andrae was healthy enough to play in one of those games, but the head coach wanted to stick with the veteran defenseman in an attempt to keep the winning lineup together.
However, Andrae came back in for Game 5, and a new defenseman could enter the fray for an all-important Game 6.
Oliver Bonk in the discussion to make playoff debut in Game 6
Oliver Bonk made his debut in Game 82 on April 14, scoring a goal and adding an assist in his first minutes of NHL action. The 21-year-old blueliner is being discussed as an option to insert into the lineup for Game 6, Tocchet told the media on Tuesday.
“Well, I’m not going to lie to you, it is in the discussion to maybe put him in,” Tocchet said. “So that’s something that we’re going to spend some time here at the rink and figure that out.”
Bonk made the jump to professional hockey this season, putting up 19 points in 46 games with the Lehigh Valley Phantoms. He was called up for that debut in Game 82 and has since been recalled as a playoff reinforcement with the Phantoms missing the playoffs.
The young defenseman lacks NHL experience, which can be a double-edged sword in the playoffs.
“Sometimes, when you put a kid like that in when they don’t think about it, that’s a good thing,” Tocchet continued. “But sometimes you want to make sure a young guy can succeed, too. So we’ll talk about that. It’s a good question. We have discussed it.”
Bonk won the OHL championship with the London Knights in 2024 and 2025 and was a Memorial Cup champion last year. So he’s played in high-stakes games before, although juniors and the Stanley Cup Playoffs are two completely different animals.
The Flyers showed some confidence in Bonk by calling him up to practice with the team as a right-handed defenseman toward the end of the Olympic break. It was a good vote of confidence for the defenseman after he missed training camp and the first few months of the season due to injury.
Our own Thomas Williams even speculated after Game 5 that the Flyers could throw Bonk into the fire for Game 6:
“But maybe Tocchet just goes crazy and someone like rookie Oliver Bonk is included instead of those two for the bottom pairing. Bonk did take part in Flyers practice on Sunday and was the only “black ace” on the Flyers to actually be with the main roster. That could have been Tocchet trying to get a read on the 21-year-old defenseman in a playoff practice, or him just needing the body.
It’s either something or it’s nothing, and that’s really all we can take from it. Bonk would give some jump and energy, and he did score a goal and earn an assist in his one and only NHL game during the Flyers’ season finale. Crazier things have happened.“
Putting Bonk into the lineup for Game 6 might just be crazy enough to work for the Flyers. He is a well-rounded defenseman who stands at 6-foot-2, so his size could be a factor in Tocchet’s decision-making, too.
