The Philadelphia Flyers weren’t the only Philly team to suffer a narrow loss last night, but this recap will be solely about the orange and black. A 4-3 loss leaves the Flyers with a 22-23-10 record on the season as the season continues to dwindle.
The Flyers drew first blood
Against, Nashville the Flyers didn’t draw one single minor penalty in the game. Today? 34 seconds in. Seattle’s Vince Dunn goes to the Bad Boy Box for a two-minute minor for tripping Travis Konecny. First power play of the game for Philadelphia.
And what a healthy look for this power play unit! Owen Tippett sneaks it past Phillipp Grubauer and the Flyers capitalized on the power play making this a 1-0 game early. Rasmus Ristolainen and Scott Laughton with the assist. It becomes the 15th goal of the season for Tippett.
Seattle found themselves back on the penalty kill, this time thanks to Will Morgan. He decided it was a good idea to nail Patrick Brown in the face and off to the box he went for elbowing. Second power play of the period for Philadelphia. Seattle handled this one better, effectively doing a better job of killing it.
An early attempt off the pads of Felix Sandstrom in the 11th minute and thankfully, the Philadelphia defense came in for coverage. A little bit of a scuffle after a save at 10:45 by Sandstrom. Yanni Gourde had his wrist shot saved and got a little rough behind the net.
Seattle scored on a breakaway at 7:07 left in the first period by Jordan Eberle, assisted by Jared McCann, and that made his 11th of the season. Tied the game at one goal each. Nick Seeler tried to make it a 2-1 battle but Eberle with the snapshot anyway.
Sandstrom gets beat again at the three-minute mark. A snapshot from Eeli Tolvanen for his ninth of the season. Oliver Bjorkstrand with the assist. Seattle heads to the first intermission with a 2-1 lead over Philadelphia. Slightly better puck control here and faceoffs won, sitting at 46 percent.
Even stevens in the second period
Seattle already showing they can apply pressure on Sandy. They came into the second period with 10 shots on goal to the Flyers’ five.
Philadelphia drew this one even thanks to a chipped-in goal from James van Riemsdyk. He got the rebound out of the air, oh it was his shot initially by the way, with the killer hand-eye coordination. Tippett and Morgan Frost with the assists.
Flyers defense got the memo to be the support- not Swiss cheese- that Sandstrom needed in this frame. Solid minute of sustained action and he was able to get out unscathed in the sixth minute.
Long shifts here in the second for Risto here at almost 12 minutes. Ivan Provorov and Cam York coming with 14 minutes on the ice.
Seattle, with a minute left in the third, scored and Philly fans made it CRYSTAL clear they did not like it. Kraken’s Jaden Schwartz with his 11th goal of the season, a snapper past Sandstrom. He was assisted here by Eberle and Alex Wennberg.
Despite the goal, a more even contested period here in the middle stanza. Seattle led in shots taken at 18 to the Flyers’ 10 but Philadelphia was the more tough team on the ice with a nice 25-hit count.
3-2 Seattle as we headed to the second intermission.
Until you lose hope, keep trying
The Kraken keep cracking with goals in this one, putting on those the blocker side of Sandstrom to make it a 4-2 game. Schwartz with his second goal of the game and 12th goal of the season. He was assisted in this one by Wennberg and Will Borgan. It seemed to be typical or at least routine that the Flyers’ defensive lines show holes once we get to the final 20 minutes of play.
Low effort offensively for Philadelphia all around. After strong showings in the first 40 minutes of play, few Grade A scoring chances completed here.
Scuffle in front of Seattle’s net as an attempt from Tippett knocked into Grubauer. A couple of defenders take offense and it’s very quickly broken up.
Joel Farabee once again to be “sneaky tough” and drop gloves against ____ but he’s recalled back to the bench by Torts.
Philadelphia’s Travis Konecny drew a two-minute penalty for delay of game with less than four minutes left to play.
But Philadelphia manages to sneak one shorthanded past Grubauer. A snapshot from Brown goes right through his legs. It made it his second goal of the season and Provorov notched the assist.
But a late goal isn’t enough as the Flyers fall 4-3 in regulation to drop below .500.
After the match, head coach John Tortorella admitted this wasn’t the game he wanted and Seattle just outplayed them from the start:
They were quicker. I thought they were quicker thinking. I just thought after the first few minutes of the first period, we were a step behind the whole night. Until the second half of the third period.
John Tortorella, 2/12/23
He also addressed how it seemed defensively that they took two steps back:
I’m not so sure that’s where it is. I think we gave up 20 shots in a 60 minute hockey game. The part of the game where I thought they were better in the netural zone with the 50/50 pucks, they stripped us and it cost us a goal. Just a quickness to the puck we didn’t have.
John Tortorella, 2/12/23
Gina’s Gem of the Game
Today, I’m actually giving the Gem to Tortorella. As a head coach, a contested head coach at that, he held his cool and rationally explained why the team struggled tonight. Media knows he can be very hot and cold but he explained that there’s more room for improvement. We don’t have to name him a diamond. Maybe obsidian.
Next Game
Philadelphia travels to Seattle for a rematch on Thursday at 10pm EST.
AP Photo/Derik Hamilton
