Postgame RAV4: Flyers Power Past Seattle

The Philadelphia Flyers defeated the Seattle Kraken, 5-2, at Xfinity Mobile Arena on Monday. Two goals apiece from Owen Tippett and Tysor Foerster led the way, along with three helpers from Cam York.

The Flyers have won back-to-back games and went 3-1-0 on their homestand. Seattle suffered its first regulation loss of the season.

The Flyers took a 2-1 lead to the first intermission. Jordan Eberle (1st) opened the scoring before Tippett (4th) and Foerster (PPG, 2nd) responded.

The Flyers scored twice in the early minutes of the second period: Travis Konecny (1st) and Foerster (PPG, 3rd). Jani Nyman (PPG, 3rd) narrowed the Philadelphia lead to 4-2. Tippett scored again (5th of the season) to restore a three-goal edge.

Dan Vladar stopped 20 of 22 shots to earn the win in net. He made several key momentum saves along the way. Joey Daccord started for Seattle, allowing five goals on 21 shots. Philipp Grubauer took over at the start of the third period and stopped all six shots he faced.

The Flyers went 2-for-4 on the power play. They were 5-for-6 on the penalty kill.

FIRST PERIOD SYNOPSIS

After a lengthy delayed call, the Flyers got the game's first power play at 4:40. Adam Larsson went off for hooking. The man advantage was brief. At 5:04, Cam York was called for tripping.

Subsequently, the teams traded off goals with two common denominators: 1) An initial puck-handling mistake by a goalie and 2) a deflection/redirect that found the net.

At 7:18, the Kraken took a 1-0 lead. After a Vladar turnover, the Kraken got the puck back to the point. Cale Fleury put the puck toward the net with traffic in front. The puck went off Eberle and deflected home. The second assist went to Berkly Catton.

The Flyers pulled even at 9:56. Sean Couturier pressured Daccord into a turnover. Couturier gathered the puck and passed back to Nick Seeler. Seeler found Tippett for the re-direct into the net. The streak-scoring Tippett has scored a goal in three straight games. Seeler and Couturier earned the assists.

Philly went back to the power play at 11:26 as Josh Mahura high-sticked Christian Dvorak. The power play was adventurous, including a shorthanded breakaway for Chandler Stephenson. However, the Flyers ultimately cashed in late on the power play on a sniper's goal by Foerster on an initially broken play. The assists went to Bobby Brink and York at 13:19.

Nikita Grebenkin took exception to a hit on Garnet Hathaway by Fleury. The Russian rookie drew an instigator penalty on top of the matching fighting major.

Shots: Flyers 10 - Kraken 8

Faceoffs: Flyers 12 - Kraken 8

Notables

• The Flyers set out to shoot the puck more willingly. The period included rookie Jett Luchanko's first shot on goal of the young season.
• Vladar deliberately made a save with his mask. It's happened a few times already this season, reminiscent of his late countryman, Roman Cechmanek.

SECOND PERIOD SYNOPSIS

At 4:59 of the second period, the Flyers built a 3-1 lead on a tic-tac-toe sequence with crisp puck plays all the way around: Matvei Michkov to Egor Zamula and Zamula to Konecny for a back-door tap-in.

John Hayden took a roughing penalty at 5:13. The Flyers stepped up for their second power play goal of the game at 5:32. Good puck movement and traffic at the net was the key. York shot from the point and Foerster tipped the puck into the net for a 4-1 edge. The assists went to York and Trevor Zegras.

Seattle went to the power play at 7:40 as Jamie Drysdale was called for hooking. After a scramble around the net Matty Beniers sent the puck to Nyman in the slot to fire home and score. Stephenson got the secondary assist at 8:33.

The Flyers struck back for a 5-2 lead at 15:40. Scoring his second goal of the game, Tippett banked a shot into the short side of the net off Daccord's hip. The assists went to Couturier (second helper of the game) and York (third assist).

Sanheim was called for a cross-checking minor at 18:39. Seattle took 39 seconds of carryover power play time into the third period.

Shots: Flyers 11 (21 overall) - Kraken 9 (17 overall)

Faceoffs: Flyers 15 (27 overall) - Kraken 8 (16 overall)

Notables

• Dvorak didn't get an assist but he made a good play to create room for Zamula on the Konecny goal sequence.
• Tippett set up Konecny for a scoring chance earlier in the same shift in which Konecny bagged his first goal of the season.
• Seattle called their timeout immediately after the fourth Flyers goal. It seemed to stabilize the game for the Kraken. Seattle reversed the momentum over the next five minutes or so.

THIRD PERIOD SYNOPSIS

The Flyers killed off the remainder of the Sanheim carryover penalty successfully.

Standing up for Tippett, Konecny dropped the gloves with Ryan Lindgren at 10:50. Lindgren got an instigator penalty in seeking revenge for a Tippett hit on Tye Kartye moments earlier. However, just four seconds later, Couturier was sent off for a tripping minor on Jamie Oleksiak in the circle/

Luchanko was called for a holding minor. The whistle blew at 14:41. Seattle had extensive attack zone time. Vladar and the PKers held the fort.

Shots: Flyers 6 (27 overall) - Kraken 5 (22 overall)

Faceoffs:Flyers 15 (36 overall) - Kraken 11 (27 overall)

Notables

• Foerster made a really nice backchecking play to thwart a Seattle rush.
• Vladar denied a pair of Seattle one-timers in the final period.

Flyers Starting Lineup

Owen Tippett – Sean Couturier – Travis Konecny

Trevor Zegras – Christian Dvorak– Owen TIppett
Tyson Foerster – Noah Cates – Bobby Brink
Nikita Grebenkin – Jett Luchanko – Garnet Hathaway

Cam York– Travis Sanheim
Nick Seeler – Jamie Drysdale
Egor Zamula – Noah Juulsen

Dan Vladar
[Samuel Ersson]

Postgame RAV4 (RAV4 Things Revisited)

1. Shot suppression.

Early in the game, the Flyers gave up better shot quality than they would have liked. Thereafter, Philly increasingly took control.

2. Michkov and Konecny.

Both wingers were in need of a positive offensive game, and both delivered for the home team. Konecny easily played his best game of the young season to date. Michkov also took a step forward overall.

3. Second and third defense pairs.

The Flyers enjoyed a step-up performance not just from the York-Sanheim pairing but from multiple spots on the blue line. Egor Zamula in particular needed a confidence booster like this performance.

4. Flyers Power Play.

Philly entered the game at 1-for-16 on the man advantage. They ended that spell on Monday.