Philadelphia Flyers

Flyers-Kraken Preview: How to Watch (Before Super Bowl)

Published

1 year ago

February 12, 2023

Jamie Oleksiak, Nick Seeler, Philadelphia Flyers

Seattle's Jamie Oleksiak (left) and the Flyers' Nick Seeler in a scrap last season. The teams meet Sunday in Philly. Photo: AP.

Seattle Kraken coach Dave Hakstol won’t be in the best of moods Sunday afternoon when he returns to the Wells Fargo Center to face his former team. the Philadelphia Flyers.

The Kraken have dropped the first three games of a five-game road trip, getting outscored by a combined 13-4 in losses to the Islanders, 4-0; New Jersey, 3-1; and the Rangers, 6-3.

“It’s something we’ve got to figure out,” Seattle right winger Oliver Bjorkstrand said after Thursday’s loss to the Rangers.

He said the game against the Philadelphia Flyers was a “must-win in my opinion. You just can’t lose too many games in a row. It’s not good for the team.”

Seattle (29-18-5) is in third place in the Pacific Division, three points behind first-place Vegas.

The Flyers (22-22-10) will be at a disadvantage because they are playing on back-to-back days. They dropped a 2-1 overtime decision Saturday to Nashville. Philly is just 2-7 in the second end of back-to-back games.

Despite Saturday’s loss, the Philadelphia Flyers are on a 7-2-3 run. They will undoubtedly hear lots of Eagles chants today as the Birds play Kansas City in tonight’s Super Bowl.

Carter Hart has started six straight games, and Felix Sandstrom is expected to make just his third NHL start since late November — and his first since Jan. 22.

Flyers’ expected lines

Hayes-Laughton-Tippett

JVR-Cates-Konecny

Farabee-Frost-Allison

Deslauriers-Brown-Lycksell

Defense

Provorov-York

Sanheim-Ristolainen

Seeler-DeAngelo

Goalie

Sandstrom (1-7-1, 3.45 GAA, .886 SP)

Kraken’s expected lineup

McCann-Beniers-Eberle

Schwartz-Wennberg-Donato

Tolvanen-Gourde-Bjorkstrand

Tanev-Geekie-Sprong

Defense

Dunn-Larsson

Oleksiak-Borgen

Schultz-Soucy

Goalie

Grubauer (5-9-2, 2.97, .898)

Breakaways

The Flyers are trying to go over “hockey .500” for the first time since mid-November, when they were 7-6-2. … Seattle is 16-8-2 on the road; the Flyers are 11-13-3 at home. … Rasmus Ristolainen has four points and a plus-4 rating over his last six games. … Bjorkstrand has six points in his last six games. … The Flyers have played three straight 2-1 games, going 1-1-1 in that span. … Seattle has the league’s sixth-best offense (3.48 goals per game), while the Flyers are 27th (2.68 per game). … Philly’s power play is 0 for 13 over its last six games; their PP has dropped to 31st in the NHL, connecting on just 15.5% of its chances. … Ryan Donato will play in his 300th career game for the Kraken. … The teams will meet again Thursday, this time in Seattle. … Former Flyers goalie Martin Jones, 33, has been a workhorse for the Kraken; he has benefitted from lots of goal scoring from his teammates. Jones is 23-9-3, and has a 2.92 GAA and just an .891 save percentage.