Tolvanen gets 3 points, Kraken defeat Flyers for 4th straight win

SEATTLE -- Eeli Tolvanen scored twice and had an assist for the Seattle Kraken in a 4-1 victory against the Philadelphia Flyers at Climate Pledge Arena on Sunday.

Tolvanen has 10 points (three goals, seven assists) in a six-game streak.

Chandler Stephenson had a goal and an assist, and Jordan Eberle scored for the Kraken (16-14-6), who have won a season-best four straight games, and had lost 10 of their previous 11 (1-9-1) prior to the winning streak. Philipp Grubauer made 31 saves.

“The first game after the [holiday] break is always a little bit scrambly, but yeah, unbelievable job tonight [by the team],” Grubauer said. “You’ve got to keep building, keep doing the right things.”

On the trio of Tolvanen, Stephenson and Eberle, Seattle coach Lane Lambert said: “They’ve contributed and given us a chance to win. Certainly, we talked a little bit about offense over the last 15 games or whatever, but it’s nice to see [them producing], and it's nice to see for them. It makes them feel good, for sure.”

Carl Grundstrom scored for the Flyers (19-11-7), who had won their previous two. Dan Vladar made 16 saves.

“The one good thing I liked is I think we only gave them six or seven chances,” Philadelphia coach Rick Tocchet said. “Obviously, the ones we gave them were kind of 10-bellers. I didn’t think we went to the net well tonight. I thought we skated well… but we’ve got to get people in front of the net.”

Eberle made it 1-0 at 3:48 of the first period. Matty Beniers passed from behind the net to Kaapo Kakko in the right face-off circle. Kakko lifted a saucer pass to Eberle in the slot, where he one-timed it inside the right post for his fourth goal in three games.

“We’re just finding ways to score,” Eberle said. “I think on that goal, Matty did a good job, driving in and finding Kaapo, and then he did a great job finding me.”

Stephenson increased the lead to 2-0 at 5:49 of the third period. Tolvanen played the puck to himself off the back of the net before sending a pass to Stephenson, who placed a snap shot far side from the right circle.

“The biggest thing about the goal for me, and he’s been doing it all year long, is [Tolvanen] got in on the forecheck,” Lambert said. “He separated the puck from the man and made a heads-up play to Stephenson in the slot. But he’s moving his feet, and he’s heavy on the forecheck.”

Tolvanen pushed it to 3-0 with an empty-net goal at 17:31, and Grundstrom ended Grubauer’s shutout bid with a wrist shot under the bar from the left circle to make it 3-1 at 18:03.

“I thought we controlled most of the game and just couldn’t find a way to get one,” Philadelphia defenseman Travis Sanheim said. “We weren’t getting enough traffic. When a goalie’s seeing it that well, you’ve got to get in front of him and deliver pucks. We make a couple mistakes, and it’s unfortunate that we can’t come out with a win there.”

Tolvanen secured the 4-1 final with his second empty-net goal at 18:24.

NOTES: Stephenson recorded his 17th multipoint game since joining the Kraken in 2024-25, the most among all Seattle players over that span. … Tolvanen recorded his sixth multigoal game with Seattle and surpassed Oliver Bjorkstrand (five) for the fourth-most in franchise history. ... Kraken forward Jared McCann returned after missing the past seven games with a lower-body injury. He had two shots on goal in 13:27 of ice time. ... Defenseman Vince Dunn was plus-1 in 19:48 of ice time in his return to the Seattle lineup after missing one game with an upper-body injury.