The Philadelphia Flyers’ 4-game road trip came to a close with a 6-4 loss to the Seattle Kraken.
Ivan Fedotov allowed 5 goals on 24 shots through 2 periods before he was replaced by Samuel Ersson to start the third. Scott Laughton scored the Flyers’ first two goals while Cam York and Jamie Drysdale added a goal apiece in the third period.
The Kraken got goals from Brandon Montour, Jarred McCann, Eeli Tolvanen, Jordan Eberle, Shane Wright, and Oliver Bjorkstrand. They scored 4 goals in the second period, including 3 of them coming in a 2 minute and 55 second span that truly tilted the game in their favour. Philipp Grubauer made 19 saves on 23 shots to secure his first win of the season.
Looking to end their road trip on a positive note, the Philadelphia Flyers visited the Climate Pledge Arena to face off against the Seattle Kraken.
Ivan Fedotov got the call in net after Samuel Ersson played on Tuesday night in Edmonton and is expected to suit up for the home opener on Saturday. The lineup remained unchanged with Jett Luchanko keeping his 2nd line centre status intact.
As for the Kraken, coached by former Pittsburgh Penguins bench boss Dan Bylsma, the game marked the first of 5 in a homestand. Philipp Grubauer earned his 3rd start of the season with an 0-2-0 record, 2.59 GAA and a .896 SV%. Offensively, the Kraken were paced by Jordan Eberle’s 3 goals and 4 points and Jared McCann’s 2 goals and 4 points.
FIRST PERIOD
4:23 into the game, the Flyers got on the board after Scott Laughton finished off a wraparound attempt for his first of the season. Garnet Hathaway kept the puck in at the blue-line before Laughton fed Ryan Poehling for a one-timer that missed the net. However, Laughton raced for the rebound and finished it off with Philip Grubauer out of position.
Shortly after, Morgan Frost was nailed for a delay of game minor but despite 5 shots attempts by the Kraken, they couldn’t solve Ivan Fedotov. At the expiration of the penalty, the Kraken were found guilty of a too man men on the ice minor but similarly, Grubauer fended off 4 Flyers attempts to keep the score at 1-0.
The Flyers then found themselves on the power play again with Shane Wright getting the gate for a hooking minor. Despite the offensive zone pressure, the Flyers failed to generate much offense with the Kraken cracking down the shooting lanes.
With 1:45 remaining in the period, Brandon Montour took a slap-shot from the point through traffic that beat Fedotov through the five-hole. There was a mini screen in front of the net from Jaden Schwartz but that was definitely a goal that Fedotov would like to have back after a solid start to the game.
The Flyers bounced back right away as they retook the lead 42 seconds later with Laughton registering his second of the night. Poehling kept the puck in at the point, fed Hathaway in the middle of the ice, before he found Laughton near the face-off dot as he wired a quick snap shot high over Grubauer’s shoulder.
SECOND PERIOD
2:27 into the middle frame, Joel Farabee was whistled for a slashing minor against Shane Wright. 38 seconds into the man advantage, Jared McCann wired a slap shot through the five-hole of Fedotov again. This time around, the shooter was left unmarked, unimpeded, and the goaltender had full view of the blast.
At the 9:09 mark of the period, Hathaway was called for a tripping penalty against Eberle right in front of the benches, in what looked like a slight embellishment from the veteran. Unlike their previous attempts, the Flyers kept the Kraken from creating much of anything with Travis Konecny having the best chance.
With 8:05 left in the period, Brandon Tanev was initially called for a tripping minor but a two seconds later, Cam York took a cross-checking penalty to negate what would have been a Flyers power play. What could have been a momentum builder for the Flyers, turned ugly real fast.
The Kraken took the lead at the 14:59 mark after Eeli Tolvanen finished off a rebound opportunity at the front of the net. André Burakovsky created time and space before he wired a shot from the faceoff dot. Fedotov couldn’t save it cleanly and Tolvanen was able to clean up the mess with his 2nd of the season.
Eberle then doubled the Kraken lead with 2:16 remaining after McCann found him for the easy tap-in. Similar to Blake Coleman’s set up to Mikael Backlund last Saturday in the Flames game, McCann was able to wait out the goaltender before finding Eberle alone with an open cage and a defender trailing.
If that wasn’t bad enough, just 8 seconds later, Wright wired a shot blocker-side in the slot to make it 5-2. The Kraken set up quickly after the faceoff with Eberle finding Wright streaking in with no white jerseys around him. The goal represented Seattle’s 3rd tally in 2 minutes and 55 seconds.
The Kraken scored 4 goals in the period and outshot the Flyers 15-5 to take a commanding 3-goal lead in the final frame.
THIRD PERIOD
In an unsurprising move, John Tortorella replaced Fedotov with Samuel Ersson to start the final frame of regulation.
The start of the third was filled with penalties as Michkov was initially called for a tripping minor just 57 seconds in. Hathaway followed suit nearly 4 minutes later with his second penalty of the game and then Kraken returned to the sin bin with 12:29 remaining in the period. With neither team scoring on their chances.
With 9:41 left to play, York gave the Flyers some life after he finished his shot from the slot high-glove on Grubauer. Travis Sanheim started the exit from his own goal-line and as the Flyers traversed into the offensive zone, Bobby Brink lost the puck but it went right to Laughton, who one-touched a pass to a streaking York before his finish.
The comeback attempt looked dead in the water when the Kraken seemingly made it 6-3 but the referees waived it off immediately as Yanni Gourde kicked in the loose puck past Ersson with 7:36 remaining.
All hell broke loose as the teams joined in on a scrum that eventually led to a fight between Konecny and Gourde. Out of all the chaos, the Flyers jumped back onto the power play with a chance to cut the deficit to 1 as Montour headed to the box after the dust settled.
It only took the Flyers 7 seconds this time around as Jamie Drysdale’s point shot beat Grubauer high-blocker with a lot of traffic impeding the goaltender’s vision. The goal represented their 5th power play marker in 4 games; comparatively they scored 5 power play goals last year in the first 17 games.
Unfortunately, the Kraken added the next goal with 5:09 left to play courtesy of Oliver Bjorkstrand. The Danish winger beat Ersson glove-side on his breakaway attempt that came to be after Drysdale tried pinching to keep the puck in the zone.
UP NEXT
The Flyers’ next game will be on Saturday night as they welcome the Vancouver Canucks for their home opener (7:00pm ET; NBCSP).
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