The early part of the season can certainly highlight areas that are certainly a work in progress for teams. In the second period on Thursday night, everything appeared to need work for the Flyers.
The wheels fell off quickly, as the Seattle Kraken scored four goals, including the final three in 2:55 and the final two in eight seconds, in a 6-4 loss to close out a four-game road trip.
The Flyers opened the scoring for the second straight game, getting a contribution from the fourth line. A shot by Garnet Hathaway went wide of the net, but Scott Laughton jumped on the rebound and scored on a wraparound to make it 1-0 at 4:21.
After two power plays went by the wayside for the Flyers, the Kraken were able to break through for the equalizer with 1:45 remaining in the period. Brandon Montour put a shot on goal that got through the legs of Ivan Fedotov to make it 1-1. Just 43 seconds later, the Flyers grabbed the lead back on Laughton’s second of the game, a high shot to the blocker side on Philipp Grubauer.
Through 20 minutes, shots were 11-9 Flyers.
The second period was all Seattle, as the Kraken piled on with four goals in the middle frame.
It started on a power play at 3:06. Jared McCann fired another distance shot through a screen that beat Fedotov to tie the game at two.
It took until 5:03 remaining in the period for the Kraken to break through again and take the lead. Eeli Tolvanen cleaned up a rebound on an Andre Burakovsky shot to put Seattle in front.
From there, the floodgates opened, as Seattle added another two goals in an eight-second span. Jordan Eberle buried a feed at the side of the net from McCann to make it 4-2 with 2:16 to play in the period. Eight seconds later, Shane Wright scored to make it 5-2.
Through two periods, shots were 24-16 Seattle. Fedotov exited after two periods, making 19 saves on 24 shots.
After a sluggish start to the third period, the Flyers started a rally at 10:19 as Cam York scored from the slot to make it 5-3. On a power play just over two minutes later, Jamie Drysdale scored to cut the lead to one with 7:28 remaining.
As the Flyers pushed to find the tying goal, a sequence of extended pressure ended with a backbreaker. Oliver Bjorkstrand got a breakaway and scored, making it a two-goal game again with 5:08 to play.
Sam Ersson made four saves on five shots in relief. Grubauer finished with 21 saves on 25 shots in the win.
Laughton had three points in the loss. Hathaway and Ryan Poehling each had two points. It was a three-point night for McCann. Eberle, Wright, and Burakovsky each had two points.
The Flyers now return home on Saturday night for the home opener against the Vancouver Canucks at 7 p.m.
Box Score
1 | 2 | 3 | T | |
Flyers | 2 | 0 | 2 | 4 |
Kraken | 1 | 4 | 1 | 6 |
Scoring Summary
1st Period
- PHI Scott Laughton (1) (Ryan Poehling, Garnet Hathaway) 4:21
- SEA Brandon Montour (1) (Chandler Stephenson, Ryker Evans) 18:15
- PHI Laughton (2) (Hathaway, Poehling) 18:58
2nd Period
- SEA Jared McCann (3) PP (Andre Burakovsky, Vince Dunn) 3:06
- SEA Eeli Tolvanen (2) (Burakovsky, Shane Wright) 14:57
- SEA Jordan Eberle (4) (McCann, Yanni Gourde) 17:44
- SEA Wright (1) (Eberle, McCann) 17:52
3rd Period
- PHI Cam York (2) (Laughton, Bobby Brink) 10:19
- PHI Jamie Drysdale (1) PP (Matvei Michkov) 12:32
- SEA Oliver Bjorkstrand (2) (Jaden Schwartz, Adam Larsson) 14:52
Game Statistics
Flyers | Kraken | |
Shots | 25 | 29 |
Power Play | 1/4 | 1/5 |
Hits | 27 | 20 |
Faceoff % | 54.4% | 45.6% |
Giveaways | 10 | 12 |
Takeaways | 9 | 8 |
Blocked Shots | 21 | 19 |
Penalty Minutes | 19 | 17 |