Flyers vs. Kraken: Homestand ends with just 6 goals and 1-2-1 record
With arguably their worst performance of a four-game home swing, the Flyers stumbled to the Kraken, 4-3, Sunday afternoon.
Late in the third period, fans at the Wells Fargo Center turned their focus to the Super Bowl by turning to the exits.
Patrick Brown took Seattle by surprise with a late shorthanded goal. But the Flyers’ desperate push came up short.
John Tortorella’s club went 1-2-1 on its four-game homestand with just six goals.
Owen Tippett had a multi-point game (one goal, one assist) for the Flyers (22-23-10), who are once again having a nightmarish time trying to generate offense.
They entered Sunday scoring the NHL’s sixth-fewest goals per game (2.69) and with the 31st-ranked power play (15.5 percent).
James van Riemsdyk drew the Flyers even at 2-2 early in the second period. However, they couldn’t find a go-ahead goal.
What’s just as troubling is the Flyers took a step back defensively on Sunday.
The Dave Hakstol-led Kraken (30-18-5) came to Philadelphia holding the Western Conference’s first wild-card spot and snapped a three-game losing streak.
The Flyers are 2-1-0 against Seattle since the expansion club’s inaugural season.
After the Kraken cushioned their lead to 4-2 just 1:03 minutes the third period, the Flyers were in trouble.
Their lack of high-end scoring talent is rearing its ugly head again.
Felix Sandstrom made his second start in the year of 2023. He didn’t get much help as the Flyers were sloppy with the puck and had some breakdowns.
The 26-year-old converted 17 saves.
Seattle backup Philipp Grubauer didn’t have a real tough night. He faced only 10 shots through the first two periods and finished with 15 saves.
During the back half of the first period, Tony DeAngelo turned the puck over on an aggressive and risky play in the offensive zone
It led to Jordan Eberle’s game-tying goal after Tippett staked the Flyers to an early 1-0 lead with a power play marker.
A little over four minutes later, van Riemsdyk was stripped of the puck in an attempt to exit the defensive zone. The Kraken turned it into a 2-1 lead at first intermission.
Jaden Schwartz scored Seattle’s third and fourth goals.
DeAngelo had a rough game defensively, finishing as a minus-3. If DeAngelo isn’t creating offense, he has to hold his own defensively. Too often he has not done that.
“It is our job as a coaching staff to try to help him become better defensively,” Tortorella said Thursday. “We need him to become better defensively without hampering one of the biggest strengths he has for us getting us out of our end zone, just some plays that people wouldn’t even try that he succeeds at.”
With Olle Lycksell entering the lineup, Tortorella made some tweaks to his combinations up front.
Van Riemsdyk was reunited with Tippett and Morgan Frost.
Lycksell, AHL affiliate Lehigh Valley’s leading scorer (34 points in 34 games), opened the game on the second line with Scott Laughton and Kevin Hayes. During the second period, Lycksell slid to the fourth line as Wade Allison moved up in his place.
Travis Konecny, whose goal drought has grown to 13 straight games, joined Noah Cates and Joel Farabee on the third line.
The maneuvering didn’t lead to more offensive chances.
Hayes, who had two of the Flyers’ five goals on the homestand, went scoreless, as did Konecny and Farabee.
“Go Birds” fever permeated the Wells Fargo Center.
The Eagles take on the Chiefs tonight in Super Bowl LVII.
Following their homestand, the Flyers now head on a four-game road trip, which starts Thursday with a rematch against the Kraken (10 p.m. ET/NBCSP).
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