PHILADELPHIA — Philadelphia Flyers' winless start stretched to eight matches as Seattle Kraken claimed a 3-2 shootout victory at Xfinity Mobile Arena on Tuesday, leaving the hosts still searching for their first win of the season at 0-5-3. The defeat, decided in a five-round shootout, had a different complexion to many of their earlier setbacks.
Philadelphia rallied from 2-0 down on third-period goals from Christian Dvorak and Trevor Zegras to force overtime, but Philipp Grubauer's terrific goaltending prevented a regulation winner for the Flyers. Dan Vladar stopped 29 shots and was strong for Philadelphia, yet Bobby McMann beat him in the shootout to seal it for Seattle after the Flyers had killed an ill-timed too-many-men penalty late in overtime. "The energy was there. I saw a lot of guys digging a little bit harder," coach Rick Tocchet said after the match. "It's got to come natural to this team. It's got to be part of your DNA. It can't be once in a while."
Tocchet again mixed his lines, with Noah Cates centring Porter Martone and Matvei Michkov on the top unit, while Zegras netted his first goal of the season alongside Sean Couturier and Owen Tippett. Philadelphia were more aggressive on the attack, outhitting Seattle 31-13 and winning 55.4 percent of faceoffs, though they retreated into a familiar defensive shell for the final 10 minutes. A flashpoint late in the second period ignited the crowd when Grubauer made a glove save on Zegras and held out his glove for effect, the pair jawing and shoving before both took penalties. "When stuff happens like that on the ice, the fans get into a little more and the guys respond from that," defenceman Travis Sanheim said. "I think we need just a little more of that from our team moving forward." Zegras added: "Our execution was a better tonight. We had a little bit different game plan."
There were still familiar concerns. Philadelphia's power play remains tied for last in the NHL at 8.3 percent after going 0-for-3, and they are averaging a league-worst 1.25 goals per game. They also went the final 10-plus minutes of regulation without a shot on net. Sanheim logged a staggering 31:04 of ice time and offered cautious optimism. "I liked the way we played tonight," Zegras said. "We played hard, got pucks to the net, bodies to the net. It's just unfortunate we couldn't get it done in the shootout."
The Flyers have not won since defenceman Cam York heaved his stick into the stands following his series-clinching overtime goal in last spring's playoffs, 167 days ago. They know the pattern too well, having followed a strong 2-1 loss in Ottawa against the Senators last week with a 5-1 defeat to Boston. With a fixture against the lowly Red Wings on Thursday, they cannot afford a repeat. "I thought from a game aspect, tonight was kind of our best in the sense of how we want to play and the energy," Sanheim said. "I know we didn't score until the third, but there was some other good stuff that went on through the first two periods and we're just trying to build off that."