5 THINGS: Flyers @ Kraken

Opening a four game western road trip, John Tortorella's Philadelphia Flyers (22-23-10) are in Washington State on Thursday to take on Dave Hakstol's Seattle Kraken (30-18-5). Game time at Climate Pledge Arena is 10:00 p.m. ET.
4-3 setback

GAME NOTES
The game will be televised on NBCSP. The radio broadcast is on 97.5 The Fanatic with an online simulcast on Flyers Radio 24/7.
This is the second and final meeting between the teams this season, and the lone game in Seattle. This past Sunday at the Wells Fargo Center, the Kraken dealt the Flyers a
4-3 setback.
An Owen Tippett power play goal (15th goal of the season) at 2:11 of the first period gave the Flyers a 1-0 lead. The Kraken answered with goals by Jordan Eberle (11th) and Eeli Tolvanen (11th) to take a 2-1 edge to intermission.
The Flyers tied the game at 1-1 just 3:33 into the second period on a double-deflection play by James van Riemsdyk (9th goal of the season). The score held until there was 1:01 left in the second period. Jaden Schwartz (11th) restored a 2-1 lead for Seattle.
In the third period, Schwartz (12th) scored again at 1:03 to open a 4-2 lead. A Patrick Brown shorhanded goal (2nd) gave the Flyers a ray of hope. Philly mounted a heavy late push but couldn't muster an equalizer.
Felix Sandström dropped to 1-8-1 on the season. He stopped 17 of 21 shots. At the other end of the ice, Philipp Grubauer denied 16 of 19 Philadelphia shots.
Here are five things to watch in Thursday's game.
1. Taking care of the puck.
Tortorella noted after Sunday's game that the Kraken were faster-thinking than the Flyers. The Flyers had an awful game in terms of reading and reacting to puck pressure. The Flyers were, officially, guilty of 24 turnovers in the game: 14 credited takeaways by Seattle players and 10 charged giveaways.
After leading in shots on goal, 4-0, through the first 3:35 of the first period, the Flyers were outshot by an 11-0 margin over the remaining 16:25. Through the game's first 40 minutes, Philly had only 10 shots on goal and 20 shot attempts.
That's no going to win many hockey games. The Flyers didn't give up a high volume of shots or scoring chances, either, but the Kraken were patient and opportunistic with their puck possession advantage.
For the Flyers to flip the script in Thursday's rematch, it starts with making quicker, smarter decisions with the puck.
2. 5-on-5 Play
The Flyers found out the hard way on Sunday why the Kraken have statistically been the NHL's No. 1 team this season in 5-on-5 goal differential. They're tenacious in their puck pursuit, quick in turning defense to offense in a flash and there is balance across the lineup.
The Kraken, as a team, are plus-40 in their five-on-five goal differential this season: 139 goals scored vs. 99 goals allowed. Seattle has scored more 5-on-5 goals than any other team in the NHL. The Flyers, by comparison are minus-eight (99 scored, 107 allowed).
On Sunday, the Flyers won the special teams battle, 2-0, with Tippett's power play marker and Brown's shorthanded goal. Normally, that's good enough to win a game. However, when you get outscored at 5-on-5 by a 4-1 margin, all it does is make the game sound closer than it actually was.
3. Konecny and Farabee
Travis Konecny's recent slump has gotten to the point where he seems to be frustrated and starting to press. He's been held without a shot on goal in two of the last four games. In part, this is because Konecny has been passing up some open shots and also because he's not getting as often to the prime shooting areas. Previously, he went from Oct. 26 to Dec 22 and then from Dec 22 to Feb. 6 between games where he did not generate at least one shot on the net.
Overall, Konecny is pointless in his last eight games and goalless (three assists) in his last 13 games ever since his 10-game, 20-point (10g, 10a) explosion culminated in a hat trick against Washington on Jan. 11. For the season, Konecny still leads the Flyers with 49 points (24g, 25a) in 49 games played. He had been extremely consistent until the current slump. Even when no one else -- or no one but Konecny and Kevin Hayes -- was scoring with any regularity, the team could count on regular production from TK.
There have been a few recent games in which Konecny was starting to once again generate high-end scoring chances. However, the last game against Seattle was a backward step. Hayes also finished without a shot on goal in Sunday's game against the Kraken, so credit should also go Seattle's way for the checking job they did. For the Flyers to break out of their renewed scoring doldrums in the last 11 games. getting Konecny going again is a must.
Joel Farabee ended a 10-game pointless drought in Saturday afternoon's 2-1 overtime loss to Nashville, making a nice play in the neutral zone to send Hayes in one-on-one with Juuse Saros. The desperately needed notch in the scoring column seemed to give Farabee a little more pep in his step the rest of the game. Farabee also had some good shifts last game against Seattle, although he did not record a point. Farabee was not credited with an assist on Tippett's goal but, at minimum, Farabee helped give Rasmus Ristolainen a boost in being able to get the puck over to Tippett.
Overall, Farabee has just one point (0g, 1a) in his last 12 games after he seemed to be turning the corner with seven points (3g, 3a) in six games between Jan. 2 and Jan.14. It has been since Jan. 9 in Buffalo that Farabee last scored a goal.
Farabee has long had a bit of a feisty streak about him, so it was not a surprise when he dropped the gloves on Saturday to stand up for teammate Noah Cates after he was shoved from behind near the boards. On Sunday against the Kraken, there was an odd sequence in which Farabee dropped his gloves and stick only for Seattle defenseman Vince Dunn to decline the fight challenge. Ordinarily, this would bring about a nearly automatic unsportsmanlike conduct penalty on Farabee. In that instance, however, play simply continued and Farabee went to the bench with his stick and gloves laying on the ice near the Seattle blueline.
4. Flyers line play
After calling up forward Olle Lycksell on Saturday, the Flyers recalled winger Kieffer Bellows and goalie Samuel Ersson before traveling to Seattle to start the road trip. Tortorella indicated that, as of now, Ersson is number two on the Flyers' goalie depth chart. Sunday's starter, Sandström, is No. 3. Ersson figures to get at least one start on the road trip.
Patrick Brown missed Wednesday's practice at Climate Pledge Arena due to illness. His availability for Thursday's game is uncertain as of this writing. If Brown is unable to go, the Flyers may dress both Lycksell and Bellows (rotating double-shifts for centers Cates, Scott Laughton, Morgan Frost, and/or center/left wing Kevin Hayes). Alternatively, the Flyer could with 11 forwards and seven defensemen (Justin Braun being the seventh) as they did against Nashville on Saturday.
The Flyers did not have a power play in Saturday's game. On Sunday, they made a power play personnel arrangement changes between the first and second units.
Potential lineup (subject to change)
86 Joel Farabee - 49 Noah Cates - 11 Travis Konecny
25 James van Riemsdyk - 48 Morgan Frost - 74 Owen Tippett
13 Kevin Hayes - 21 Scott Laughton - 57 Wade Allison
44 Nicolas Deslauriers - 38 Patrick Brown (?) - 62 Olle Lycksell
9 Ivan Provorov - 45 Cam York
6 Travis Sanheim - 55 Rasmus Ristolainen
24 Nick Seeler - 77 Tony DeAngelo
79 Carter Hart
[33 Samuel Ersson]
Available to play: 20 KIeffer Bellows (healthy), 61 Justin Braun (healthy), 32 Felix Sandström (healthy)
PP1: JVR, Frost, Konecny, Hayes, DeAngelo
PP2: Tippett, Laughton, Farabee, Ristolainen, York
5. Behind Enemy Lines: Seattle Kraken
The Kraken's 4-3 win in Philadelphia on Sunday was the highlight of an otherwise disappointing five-game road trip that saw the team go 1-3-1. While Thursday's game against the Flyers is a home-and-home from Philly's perspective (since they haven't played any other teams in between), the Kraken had a road game on Tuesday, losing via shootout, 3-2 (2-0). to the Winnipeg Jets.
The Kraken's first period against the Jets was scoreless. Winnipeg trailed in the second period, 1-0, before they received goals by John Hayden (2nd) and Jared McCann (PPG, 25th) to take a 2-1 lead to intermission. In the third period, Pierre-Luc Dubois forged a 2-2 deadlock midway through the frame. After a scoreless overtime, Winnipeg's Mark Scheiele and Dubois converted their attempts while neither Ryan Donato nor Eberle were able to score. Despite coming out on the losing end of the shootout, Seattle goalie Grubauer took first-star honors for making 38 saves in regulation and OT before going 1-for-3 in the shootout. Winnipeg's David Rittich stopped 27 of 29 shots during the hockey game before going 2-for-2 in the shootout.
Projected lineup (based on Tuesday)
19 Jared McCann - 10 Matthew Beniers - 7 Jordan Eberle
17 Jaden Schwartz - 21 Alexander Wennberg - 13 Brandon Tanev
20 Eeli Tolvanen - 37 Yanni Gourde - 22 Oliver Bjorkstrand
9 Ryan Donato - 67 Morgan Geekie - 15 John Hayden
29 Vince Dunn - 6 Adam Larsson
24 Jamie Oleksiak - 3 William Borgen
28 Carsen Soucy - 4 Justin Schultz
31 Philipp Grubauer
30 Martin Jones