A month ago, Porter Martone was preparing for his first NCAA Tournament and he helped lead Michigan State past UConn before Wisconsin stormed back in the second round to beat the Spartans after they were leading 3-1 with under five minutes left.
Martone’s college career came to a disappointing end, and for a lot of first-year players, that would have been devastating and difficult to bounce back from right away.
Martone isn’t like most freshmen, though.
The 19-year-old shook off the disappointing NCAA Tournament loss to Wisconsin that ended his college career earlier than he would have liked, and he signed with the Philadelphia Flyers to join the squad for their playoff run. He helped the Flyers (under a 30 percent chance to make the playoffs two weeks ago) to a playoff berth and now they’re up 2-0 in the first round against the Penguins.
The reason they’re up 2-0? Martone.
OK, well he’s not the only reason the Flyers are up 2-0 in the series with two road wins over the Penguins, but he has scored the game-winning goal in each of the games to put the Penguins away. With those two game-winning goals, Martone has made NHL history — again.
PORTER MARTONE 🤩🤩🤩
— NHL (@NHL) April 21, 2026
The first teenager in NHL HISTORY to score the game-winning goal in each of his first two career #StanleyCup Playoff games! pic.twitter.com/w1AEFUYVu8
In 11 games since signing with the Flyers, Martone has 12 points (six goals, six assists). He’s added two goals in the playoffs thus far, and both have been game-winners. He’s now the only teenager in NHL history with a game-winning goal in each of his first two playoff games.
Somewhere, Adam Nightingale is grinning ear-to-ear — that’s a Nightingale product.
Porter Martone has taken the NHL by storm
A few days ago, Martone became the first teenager this century to score a game-winner in his first-ever NHL Playoff game, and now he’s the first to ever do it in his first two games.
Talk about elite.
Scoring 12 points over an 11-game span doesn’t seem all that insane, but when you consider that Martone was wearing a Spartan uniform three weeks ago, it’s even more impressive.
Martone is becoming a household name for NHL fans, and it’s taken him less than a month to have his impact felt by the highest level of the sport. He’s led the Flyers to an improbable 2-0 lead in the playoffs against the Penguins and he’s not done yet.
The Spartan rookie could lead the Flyers to their first playoff series win since 2020 and if he can somehow help Philadelphia win the Stanley Cup for the first time in 50 years, he may never have to pay for a single thing in the city for the rest of his life.
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