Looking to earn their first win of the 2026-27 season, Rick Tocchet's Philadelphia Flyers (0-5-2) are home on Tuesday to take on Lane Lambert's Seattle Kraken (4-2-0). It's the Flyers' fourth game in six nights. Seattle plays their third-game on an Eastern Conference road trip.
Game time at Xfinity Mobile Arena is 7:00 p.m. EDT. The game will be broadcast on NBCSP.
The Flyers enter this game coming off losses in Boston (5-1) and at home (4-1) against the defending Stanley Cup champion Carolina Hurricanes.
Sunday's match against Carolina was almost two games in one: scoreless for 30 minutes and then a barrage of goals. Unfortunately, the only one for Philly was a Christian Dvorak deflection tally (1st of the season).
Since the Kraken entered the NHL, the Flyers are 4-5-1 in 10 games against the Western Conference team. Last season, the clubs split their two games.
The Flyers hope to start getting some healthy defensemen back in the lineup in upcoming days. Cam York missed both games over the weekend, while Rasmus Ristolainen has missed the last four. On Sunday against Carolina, Oliver Bonk was thrust into the 1st pair right defense spot. David Jiricek has started five of seven games to date.
Meanwhile, the injured Travis Konecny still leads the team in scoring with three points (0g, 3a) despite missing the past two games. Matvei Michkov (2g, 0a) is the only Philadelphia player with more than one goal. Michkov and Porter Martone (1g, 0a) are the only Philly players with a power play goal to date.
On Monday, the Flyers made a roster move. Veteran winger Carl Grundstrom was sent to the AHL's Lehigh Valley Phantoms. Fellow vet Jack Studnicka took his place on the NHL roster. Recently signed veteran Michael Bunting is poised to play his third game for the Flyers.
On the Seattle side, nine players have compiled five or more points through their first six games. Jared McCann (2g, 5a) tops the early leaderboard in points. Frederick Gaudreau has four goals and five points including three tallies in his last two games.
Here are the RAV4 Things to watch on Tuesday evening.
1. Shot Selection
Seattle's team identity in its still-young history relies on frustrating opponents and then making them pay with quick counterattacks. It's no secret that the Flyers have had trouble generating shots and chances so far.
Philly needs to be more connected as five-man units moving up ice and then better at getting pucks and traffic to the net once they get there. The Kraken block a lot of shots.
So far this early season, Lambert's team leads the entire NHL in blocked shots per game at 17.83 (107 total blocks through 6 games). The shooting and passing lanes disappear in a hurry against this club.
2. Puck Management
The Flyers have been plagued by turnovers so far this season: 40 giveaways over the last two games alone. In the six games all-time that Philly has lost to the Kraken, turnovers have usually been the main culprit: giveaways charged to Philly, takeaways credited to Seattle, and turnovers off failed breakouts/clears where Seattle regains possession.
In the early going of the current season,the Kraken are tied for 2nd place in total takeaways with 22 takeaways to date. The Flyers have to be smarter and quicker in how they manage the puck, which has been a major problem over the first seven games.
3. Discipline
The Flyers' PK has had an uptick in recent games after quickly giving up five opposing power play goals through five matches. They held the previously scorching-hot Bruins off the board on the power play Saturday. Just as important, the Flyers took just two penalties that left them shorthanded. On Sunday, Philly went 4-for-4 against Carolina.
Over the first seven games as a whole, the Flyers rank in the middle of the pack in terms of times shorthanded (26 times, 15th overall). The team wants to show itself to be more competitive physically. The Flyers need something that galvanizes the bench. Scoring first against Seattle would be the number one way, but a bit more pugnacity would help if the situation calls for it.
The Kraken are not an especially physical team overall. Defensemen Adam Larsson and Brandon Montour share the team lead with five credited hits apiece. The forward core ranks in the lower end of that category. It's not a big, bruising team on the whole. The Kraken rank 30th in average height (6'1") and 28th in average weight (196 pounds). Take the monstrous Curtis Douglas (6-foot-9, 242 pounds) out of the equation and Seattle is the NHL's smallest team on average. Most of Seattle's top-nine scoring forwards—such as Matty Beniers, Jordan Eberle, and Berkly Catton—are lighter, skill-oriented,
Surprisingly, the Kraken as a team have accumulated 88 penalty minutes so far. Among Seattle forwards, penalty minutes are relatively low, with a few players who account for the majority of the forward group's PIMs. Within the team, defensemen Brandon Montour (27 PIM) and Ryan Lindgren (7 PIM) take up top spots along with forward Ben Meyers (17 PIM to go along with five points). Meanwhile, fourth-liner Douglas' role is to throw his weight around and serve as a physical deterrent in limited ice time. However, he has dressed in just two of the team's six games.
4. Owen Tippett
It's no secret that Owen Tippett, for better or worse, is a streak scorer. When he gets hot, he can score in bunches for stretches of about six to nine games at a time. He has only one goal for the season to date. However, Tippett drew iron on laser-like shots in each of the last two games: a hint that one of his hot streaks might be right around the corner. It's certainly needed by the team. The team also needs to get Tyson Foerster (1g) producing to his capabilities, just to name two key players.
Entering 2026-27 after being sidelined during the playoffs due to injury, the speedy Tippett has been skating just fine. It's more a matter of finding the mark and to keep shooting. Tippett leads the club with 19 shots on goal to date.
