The Philadelphia Flyers at least gave themselves a fighting chance Tuesday night. Down 2-0 after 40 minutes and staring at the possibility of an eighth straight loss, they clawed back, tied the game in the third, and dragged the Seattle Kraken all the way to a shootout.
That was the good news. The bad news was that once overtime got clipped by a bench minor, the Flyers never got the full chance to cash in, and Seattle walked out of Xfinity Mobile Arena with a 3-2 win.
Seattle struck first when Bobby McMann scored his third goal of the season to make it 1-0. The teams were dead even in shots after the opening period, 6-6, but the Kraken added to the lead at 8:54 of the second. Ville Ottavainen picked up his first NHL goal, finding room in the high slot and sending one through traffic for a 2-0 cushion.
Even then, the Flyers were hanging around. They entered the third trailing by two, but by then the game had turned into a slog for Seattle, and Philadelphia finally found some traction.
At 6:07 of the third, Oliver Bonk moved the puck cross-ice in a pass that slipped through Tyson Foerster and reached Christian Dvorak, who scored his second goal of the season to cut it to 2-1. Then, just over a minute later, on a 4-on-4, Travis Sanheim set up Trevor Zegras for the equalizer at 7:20.
From there, the game settled into a deadlock. The shots were even at 26 by the end of regulation, and the Flyers had done enough to force extra time.
But overtime never really opened up. A bench minor sent Philadelphia to the penalty kill, and the Flyers were never able to use the 3-on-3 format the way they wanted before the game moved to a shootout.
Seattle handled the skills competition and took the extra point. The shootout went this way: Trevor Zegras was stopped, Matvei Michkov scored, Tyson Foerster was stopped, Porter Martone was stopped, and Denver Barkey was stopped. On the Seattle side, Matty Beniers scored, Berkly Catton was stopped, Frederick Gaudreau missed, Mackie Samoskevich was stopped, and Bobby McMann scored the winner.
For Philadelphia, there were still a few bright spots. Zegras was active all night, got physical with Philipp Grubauer, and eventually broke through for his first goal of the season. Grubauer had the better of the Flyers for most of the night, but the third period pushed him hard before he settled things in the shootout.
The Flyers got a point, but that hardly feels like enough comfort right now. They have now dropped eight in a row, and five of those have come in regulation. They’re also still stuck below three goals in a game, and this one offered more evidence that cleaner execution, more time in the offensive zone, more pucks to the net, and more quality chances are still missing.
Next up is a road trip to face the Detroit Red Wings on Thursday night at 7:30 PM.
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Bobby McMann was central to the outcome for Seattle, with his goal in regulation helping force extra time and his shootout winner sealing it in the fifth round. Philipp Grubauer turned aside 24 shots for the Kraken, and the latest missed opportunity leaves the Flyers still searching for something to turn the mood after a stretch that has already become part of team history. [Read more 🡒]
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Flyers Losses Are Raising A Trade Question Fans Wont Ignore
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For a club trying to build around young talent, the line between available pieces and untouchable ones matters. The Flyers are believed to have a core of prospects and young players they are not eager to discuss, but that only makes the rest of the roster more interesting to the teams calling around. Among the names that naturally come up are veterans on the blue line, the kind of players contenders tend to want when the calendar turns and needs become more obvious. [Read more 🡒]