Trevor Zegras gave the Flyers a spark Tuesday night, and for stretches in a 3-2 loss to the Seattle Kraken, it looked like that jolt might be enough to drag Philadelphia all the way back.
It started late in the second period, when Zegras was working away at Philipp Grubauer’s pads trying to pry loose a puck and finish the play. The Kraken didn’t appreciate the scramble, and Zegras was hit with a slashing penalty.
But the sequence only seemed to crank the temperature up. After he came out of the box, Zegras ripped a shot on Grubauer, who snagged it with a glove save and then rolled the puck back to him after the whistle.
Zegras skated toward the net, exchanged some pleasantries with the Seattle goalie, and from there the Flyers came out of the period with an edge.
That edge carried into the third. Philadelphia fought its way back, tied the game at 2, and briefly looked like the team with the momentum.
From there, the Flyers backed off a little, whether by design or instinct, and never found the go-ahead goal. Still, that conservative stretch at least kept the Kraken from jumping back in front.
Overtime almost turned ugly, but the Flyers killed a penalty in the extra frame and forced a shootout. That was where the night ended, with another loss and no first win yet on the board. Even so, there was something there for Philadelphia to latch onto.
Zegras was right at the center of it. By far, this was his best game of the young season.
He looked nothing like the player who opened the year with seven quieter outings. His feet were moving, he was in battles, and he was playing with the kind of swagger he flashed last season.
Rick Tocchet said Zegras was “taking hits to make a play.” That showed up all over the ice.
He also made sure to give credit to Travis Sanheim, and it was deserved. Sanheim was all over the game at both ends, and after Zegras’ equalizer, he could be seen mouthing “That was all you” while pointing at the defenseman. Sanheim logged 31:04, added an assist, and finished with 3 shots and 3 hits.
Oliver Bonk was another bright spot. Playing on the top pair, he looked far more comfortable than he had on Sunday and got involved offensively, highlighted by a no-look assist on Christian Dvorak’s goal. It was a solid step forward for him.
Dan Vladar also looked much more like himself. After a shaky start to the season, he came up with several key stops and gave the Flyers a chance throughout the night. He stopped 29 of 31 shots, and Tocchet - in a view I agree with - has said the issues haven’t just fallen on the goaltenders.
The Flyers also brought a level of physical competitiveness that had been missing more often than not. Along the boards, this was their best work as a group. They won more puck battles, extended more possessions, and made life harder for Seattle in spots where Philadelphia has too often been pushed around this season.
That mattered because puck battles have quietly been a problem for this team. Too often this year, the Flyers have been outworked and out-toughed along the wall.
That wasn’t the story Tuesday. They had the edge there, and it wasn’t really close.
Just as important, they showed a different kind of resilience. This wasn’t the first time they had faced a multi-goal hole this season, and in recent games they’ve too often looked deflated once things started slipping away.
Not Tuesday. Even when the game seemed like it had tilted out of reach, Philadelphia kept grinding, tied it up, and gave itself a real chance to steal the night.
Still, the bigger cleanup remains. The Flyers are nowhere near a finished product, and the biggest item on the list is a clean 60 minutes.
They were sloppy against Seattle. The neutral zone was a mess at times, with Philadelphia struggling to move the puck from one blueline to the other.
Passes missed the mark, entries died early, and the Kraken were able to snuff out possessions before they ever became dangerous.
The same problems showed up coming out of the defensive zone. Breakouts were messy, turnovers were still too common, and those breakdowns continue to hang over this team.
The power play, too, still looked disconnected. Pucks were going to areas where no Flyers were ready for them, whether because of errant passing or because the puck was delivered to places where a teammate should have been but wasn’t.
So yes, the result was another loss. But Tuesday at least gave the Flyers a few real reasons to keep building.
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