Flyers Look to Crack the Kraken

If you got nothing to do before the Eagles are in the Super Bowl, head on over to the Wells Fargo Center to cheer your Flyers on. A few years ago, the NHL welcomed the Vegas Golden Knights into the league. The Knights surprised everyone by going to the Stanley Cup Finals that season.

Last year, the Seattle Kraken entered the league and reminded everyone what an expansion franchise should be. However, this year is different. The Kraken are a legitimate playoff contender. Despite how well Seattle has played this year, this could easily be a game that the Flyers steal away.

Philadelphia Flyers

Record: 22-22-10 (54 points, 7th in Metro)

Welp, it happened again. The Flyers lost another overtime game. Carter Hart had yet another stellar game in net, but the offense, outside of Kevin Hayes, couldn’t bail him out.

And that is an interesting issue with the team right now. Hayes scored his 17th goal of the year against the Predators on Saturday. It is his second goal in as many games. In contrast, Travis Konency has now gone 12 games without a goal. The last time he scored was when he had a hat-trick a month ago against the Capitals.

Before the All-Star break, the Flyers had found their scoring touch. A big part of that was Konecny himself was on a hot scoring streak. Since returning from the break, they have scored just three goals in three games. Coach John Tortorella insists it is not “rust” from being off for over a week. Whatever it is, needs to get fixed now.

In other news, Kieffer Bellows has been sent down to Lehigh Valley again. Olle Lycksell is taking his place on the roster for right now.

Flyers Projected Lineup

Kevin Hayes — Scott Laughton — Owen Tippett

James van Riemsdyk — Noah Cates — Travis Konecny

Joel Farabee — Morgan Frost — Wade Allison

Nicolas Deslauriers — Patrick Brown — Olle Lycksell

Ivan Provorov — Cam York

Travis Sanheim — Rasmus Ristolainen

Nick Seeler — Tony DeAngelo

Felix Sandstrom

Seattle Kraken

Record: 29-18-5 (63 points, 3rd in Pacific)

Seattle has rebounded after a poor first season. For much of this season, they have been near the top of the Pacific Division standings. Even now, they are only three points away from first place. However, the team is mired in a horrific three game losing streak on their Metro Division road trip. They have lost to the Islanders, Devils, and Rangers by a combined score of 13-4. This comes after the team went on an eight game winning streak to start 2023.

Former Flyers goalie Martin Jones is having a great comeback year in Seattle. He is 23-9-3 with three shutouts, a GAA of 2.92, and a save percentage of .891.

Jared McCann leads the Kraken with 24 goals. Andre Burakovsky and Vince Dunn are tied for the team lead in points with 39.  However, the one player everyone is talking about is rookie sensation Matty Beniers. Beniers, the second overall pick in 2021, has scored17 goals with 19 assists and was Seattle’s representative at the All-Star game. The kid is going to be a star and is a leading contender for the Calder Trophy.

Seattle is sixth overall in goals scored. While they don’t boast a lot of firepower, like a team like the Edmonton Oilers or Boston Bruins do, their scoring is spread out. Ten players, which is roughly half of the team, have over 10 goals. In comparison, the Flyers have five.

While Seattle’s numbers don’t jump out at you, they are sneaky good. However, they’ve been really cold lately. This is a team that if the Flyers jump on early, they can take advantage of. Then, as the Flyers fly out west next week, they can carry this over into the rematch  between these two teams on Thursday.

Projected Lineup

Jared McCann — Matthew Beniers — Jordan Eberle

Jaden Schwartz — Alexander Wennberg — Brandon Tanev

Eeli Tolvanen — Yanni Gourde — Oliver Bjorkstrand

Ryan Donato — Morgan Geekie — John Hayden

Vince Dunn — Adam Larsson

Jamie Oleksiak — William Borgen

Carsen Soucy — Justin Schultz

Martin Jones

Where, When, and How to Watch/Listen

Time:  1:00 PM

Where: Wells Fargo Center

Watch: NBC Sports Philadelphia, ESPN+

Radio: 97.5 FM

Live Stream: FuboTV

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