Photo: Rob Windfelder | Flyers Nitty Gritty
The Flyers 8th straight loss was different mostly because they did not go down without a fight. They played with heart, they battled back, they were competitive the entire contest.
Sure they are still building on the longest losing streak to begin a season in franchise history and nobody’s in the mood to hear “at least they tried” but that is exactly happened.
Aside from a Kraken power-play goal in the 1st period this tilt was pretty even. The Flyers were keeping pace and matching shots throughout the opening 20 minutes. The Flyers looked tentative at times, soft passes, lots of dump ins, but they were holding their own.
Dan Vladar
6:21 into the 2nd period Jamie Drysdale was penalized for slashing Jordan Eberle who was going in all alone on a breakaway. Vladar made the save but Eberle was awarded a penalty shot for the infraction.
Flyers Vladar missed on a poke check as Eberle cut from left to right, forehand to backhand. Vladar recovered, slid backwards with his pads outstretched, and made the save.
Moments later the Seattle was successful with a wrister through traffic from the slot increasing their lead to 2-0. At that point Vladar shut the door. He looked sharp and made several challenging saves throughout the remainder of the contest.
He was making pad saves on rebounds and second attempts that looked like the Dan Vladar we had all gotten used to seeing. This was his best showing so far this season. This was one of the key differences.
Turning Point
During this epic fail of a start one thing that has absolutely been lacking is intensity from the players. Games get away from them and they finish out their time on the ice going through the motions. Not sticking up for themselves or each other. It’s been referred to as “a lack of compete”.
That was also different tonight and it all started out with a confrontation between Trevor Zegras and Kraken netminder Philipp Grubauer 14 minutes into the 2nd period.
Grubauer made a standing save and the puck appeared to be somewhere in his equipment but there was no whistle. Zegras went looking for the puck and of course the Kraken were not happy about that. There was lots of pushing and shoving and Zegras ended up getting called for slashing.
It’s important to note that the shots on goal were tied at 15-15 when this all started. The Flyers were 1:22 into the penalty kill when Noah Cates was called for a blatant trip in the Flyers zone. This gave Seattle a 5-on-3 advantage for 38 seconds.
The Flyers killed off both penalties and when they were back to even strength the shots on goal were 17-16 in favor of the Kraken. This was another big difference in this game. The Flyers have routinely been getting their shot totals doubled by the opposition.
As soon as the second penalty expired the puck went to Zegras right out of the box. He skated in and fired a shot that was gloved by Grubauer. Grubauer tossed the puck in Zegras’s direction after the whistle. Zegras knocked it back and started yapping at the Seattle goaltender. Grubauer threw both his hands into Zegras’s face and of course all heck broke loose. Zegras went right back to the box but the goalie was also penalized.
There are some who might say this was all frivolous nonsense. However after the way things have gone so far this season this was such a welcome change. Don’t take my word for it, the crowd was going nuts.
The place was finally showing signs of life. Nobody wants to sit there and watch their team get steamrolled. The fans have been waiting to see somebody do something …anything. Everyone was on their feet, the noise level was awesome, the energy was contagious. The Flyers were hitting everything that moved. They out-hit the Kraken 31-13 on the night. They had the crowd on their side.
Battling Back
Another big difference. They Flyers were down 2-0 going into the final period. Not out of character. Since the pre-season we’ve seen games still within reach going into the 3rd only to see the opposing team running up the score for the final twenty minutes.
In this game the Flyers managed to hold the Kraken scoreless for the remainder of regulation. Oliver Bonk went coast to coast with the puck before feeding it to Christian Devorak who beat Grubauer with a snap shot 6:07 into the period. Dan Vladar picked up the secondary assist.
Next it was Travis Sanheim with possession and patience in the Seattle zone. He waited till Zegras was streaking up the slot to hit him with a perfect pass and Zegras snapped it high blocker side to tie the game at two. The Flyers lasted through the overtime and eventually logged loss number eight in the shootout. Matvei Michkov was the only Flyers to score a shootout goal.
Key
While the Flyers were battling back in the third something very different was happening on the bench. Something we honestly haven’t see enough of so far this season, communication …a lot of it.
Next Up: The Flyers will be in Detroit to face the Red Wings Thursday night at 7:30.
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