Flyers Fall to Kraken in OT

Photo Credit: FNG’s Rob Windfelder

The Philadelphia Flyers at 19-11-4 were on the second game of a back to back after stunning the league best Vancouver Canucks and handing them a surprise butt woopin’. Tonight was Flyers coach John Tortorella’s 1500th game as an NHL head coach. Tortz is the 1st U.S. born bench boss to reach that milestone. The Seattle Kraken were 13-14-9 coming into tonight’s contest under former Flyers coach Dave Hakstol. The Flyers and Kraken are 2-2-0 all time making this a “rubber match” so to speak

Philly vs Seattle

Sean Couturier registered the first great chance of the game Kraken netminder Joey Daccord notched the first great save. The Flyers got their first power-play opportunity when Tyson Foerster took a high stick from Justin Schultz. The Kraken have been on a roll on the PK killing 39 of 44 as of late. The Flyers were attempting wrist shots from the outside with no traffic in front making it easier for Seattle to pad that stat.

Seattle Kraken Kailer Yamamotto had just kindly missed a wide open net when Joel Farabee turned a crafty steal into a wide open breakaway only to be stoned by Daccord. Farabee was looking to go five-hole but Daccord dropped the blocker and left no useful rebound to work with.

The Power Kill

We got a look at the Flyers PK when Joel Farabee took a minor penalty for high-sticking at 15:59 of the 1st period. As soon as the man advantage started Philadelphia did what they do and Scott Laughton broke up the ice short-handed in what quickly turned into a 2 on 1 with Travis Konecny. Laughton hit Konecny with the pass, Daccord went down and over commited. T.K. tucked the puck behind him and off a Kraken skate to give the Flyers a one nothing lead at 16:21. It was Konecny’s 17th goal and the Flyers 9th short-handed goal of the season. Konecny missed most of the 3rd period last night in Vancouver due to illness but looks as if he’s feeling much better tonight.

Bright spots

Carter Hart looked confident and aggressive during the scoreless 2nd period. Hart is still working his way back into regular rotation after missing some extended time due to illness. Bobby Brink continues to shine at both ends of the ice. Throwing pucks at the net during the power-play, always making clean passes, and showing up with keen defensive play at just the right times.

Brilliant

The Kraken took an interesting penalty with just a few minutes left in the 2nd period. Tomas Tatar could not resist touching the puck with his stick while he was still sitting on the boards waiting for one of his teammates to reach the bench. This is the kind of indiscretion that you might try to get away with in your beer league but at the NHL level how can you not realize that somebody is probably going to notice?

Kraken find the net

The ensuing Flyers power-play was again unremarkable looking quite similar to their 1st opportunity.
The Flyers carried their one nothing lead into the 3rd period. Seattle kicked up the offense and were absolutely buzzing in the Flyers zone. Carter Hart was called on to make several key saves and he did just that. The Flyers found themselves short-handed with 14:34 remaining in the 3rd. Vince Dunn beat Hart with a slapper from the point to tie the game at one. The Kraken were not letting up and the Flyers were looking a little bit back on their heels.

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Biting nails

The Flyers had a 3rd power-play opportunity and it came and went just like the first two. The 3rd period was probably really exciting for Kraken fans to watch. Their team was buzzing and swarming all twenty minutes. Flyers Fans sat on the edge of their seats as their team somehow found a way to keep themselves locked in a tie till the end of regulation. If the Flyers had been able to capitalize on even one of their power-play opportunities this game would not be headed to overtime.

O.T. Oh No

The overtime period saw more of the same coming the Flyers way. The Kraken kept the pressure on till the Flyers, in need of a line change, gave up the winning goal. Justin Schultz deflected a pass between the legs of Carter Hart to end the game midway through the extra stanza. The Kraken celebrated the win like they had just won the Nobel Peace Prize or something.

The Flyers were playing their second game in two nights but the Kraken did earn that extra point. They worked as hard as was necessary to get the job done. On the bright side the Flyers are two games into this Western swing with 3 points to show for it so far.

Next up: New Year’s Eve in Calgary 8PM