5 THINGS: Flyers vs. Kraken

Playing the final game of a four-game homestand, John Tortorella's Philadelphia Flyers (22-22-10) are home on Sunday afternoon to take on Dave Hakstol's Seattle Kraken (29-18-5). Game time at the Wells Fargo Center is 1:00 p.m. ET.

GAME NOTES
The game will be televised on NBCSP. The radio broadcast is on 97.5 The Fanatic with an online simulcast on Flyers Radio 24/7.
This game, for the Flyers, is the front end of a home-and-home set. The scene will shift to Climate Pledge Arena in Seattle on Thursday to conclude the season between the inter-conference clubs.
Today, the Flyers are playing for the third time in less than an 85-hour span. On Thursday, the Flyers earned a 2-1 shootout win over the visiting Edmonton Oilers. On Saturday afternoon, the Flyers dropped a 2-1 overtime decision to the Nashville Predators.
In fact, all three games of the homestand to date, starting with Monday's loss to the New York Islanders, have been 2-1 final scores. The Flyers need a win against Seattle to achieve a 2-1-1 homestand. It will be the next-to-last home game of February for the Flyers. Other than a February 24 match at the Wells Fargo Center against Montreal, the Flyers will be on the road until March.
The Kraken are playing the fourth game of a five-game road trip. As with the Flyers, they are playing their fourth game in less than four nights. While this week's schedule works out as a home-and-home for the Flyers, the Kraken will play a road game against the Winnipeg Jets on Tuesday before returning home to Seattle to host the Flyers two nights later.
The Kraken are winless on the road trip to date. On Tuesday, they were blanked by the New York Islanders, 4-0. On Thursday, Hakstol's team dropped a 3-1 decision to the New Jersey Devils. On Friday, the New York Rangers doubled up the Kraken, 6-3, at Madison Square Garden.
Here are five things to watch in Sunday afternoon's tilt.
1. Can Flyers restart sputtering offense?
This point bears repeating from Saturday's "Five Things" preview of the game against Nashville: The Flyers' play on the current homestand has been a double-edged sword.
On the positive side, the Flyers have been checking very diligently and have received generally strong goaltending. On the negative end, Philly has only mustered a single non-shootout goal in each of the three games played to date.
The Flyers have generated two or fewer goals in regulation in eight of the last 11 games and no more than three goals in nine of the last 11 matches. That gives them precious little margin for error.
In the game against the Predators, the Flyers had three separate breakaways (two by Kevin Hayes, one by James van Riemsdyk). They also had a pair of 2-on-1 chances and three separate point-blank looks (one for Morgan Frost created by JVR, one for Owen Tippett set up by Hayes and a rebound chance for Travis Konecny in the low slot).
Only one of these Grade A chances resulted in a goal -- Hayes' second period blueline-in opportunity created by Joel Farabee -- and a couple didn't even produce a shot on goal due to extra passes going awry. This wasn't just a case of opposing goalie Juuse Saros making phenomenal saves, although he did make a few very challenging saves look easy.
Apart from the aforementioned chances, the Flyers generated little pressure. Open shots were passed up for lesser looks and the forecheck just was not winning enough battles. Too much of the game, especially in the third period, was spent in "bend but don't break" mode in the defensive zone.
On the flip side, Philly handled those situations by doing a strong job at containing most of the play to the perimeter. There's no quibbling with how well the Flyers have checked lately. But their offense, which surged for roughly a five-week period from mid-December to mid-January, has cratered.
Bottom line: Over their last 11 games, the Flyers rank 9th in the NHL with a team 2.73 goals against average. That will keep a team in the game far more often than not. In the same span, Philly ranks dead last in the NHL with a meager 2.09 goals per game. That makes it awfully tough to win with any consistency. The result has been a 4-4-3 record over the last 11 games.
2. Vital game for Sandström
Both the Flyers and the AHL's Lehigh Valley Phantoms have had jam-packed schedules lately, and all of the goaltending chores for both the parent and the farm team have gone to their respective No. 1 goalies.
With Carter Hart having played on Thursday night against Edmonton and Saturday afternoon against Nashville, he's unavailable to start Sunday afternoon's tilt. In today's NHL, even the busiest of workhorse No. 1 goalies do not start three times in four nights especially if there's a back-to-back set of matinee games involved.
Meanwhile top goaltending prospect Samuel Ersson was in net for the Phantoms on the road against the Hartford Wolf Pack on Friday (33 saves in a 5-2 win) and on Saturday at home against the Bridgeport Islanders (a 15-save shutout in a 3-0 victory). While it's not unheard of at the AHL level for a No. 1 goalie to be asked to play every game of a three-in-three let alone a three-in-four, providing an off-day is the more prudent strategy. Do not expect a Sunday recall from Allentown for Esson.
As a result, the Flyers' likeliest course of action for Sunday is to tab Felix Sandström for the start against the Kraken.
Sandström, who spent a two-week conditioning stint with the Phantoms in January to shake off the accumulated rust from sparse NHL playing time, has only gotten into two NHL games since Nov. 26.
On Jan. 22, Sandström was given a start at home against the Winnipeg Jets with the Flyers having played in Detroit the previous night and being in their third game in four nights.
Through no fault of Sandström's, the Flyers found themselves in a 3-0 hole early in the period on various breakdowns that resulted in the types of goals that no netminder can prevent. To their credit, the Flyers righted the ship. They clawed back methodically to tie the game at 3-3. In the third period, Philly even killed off both ends of a lengthy 5-on-3 disadvantage. The Flyers had all the momentum.
Unfortunately, Sandström subsequently yielded a terrible goal -- a fumbled-away "shot" from a side angle that somehow dribbled between the pads and into the net -- and the Flyers went on to lose. Sandström, whom Tortorella had already publicly said needed to make saves at critical junctures, hasn't played a single minute of action since the Jets game: a 21-day span.
In fairness to Sandström (1-7-1, 3.45 GAA, .886 save percentage), the 26-year-old netminder has been put in tough spots all season. His starts have almost exclusively come in the second games of back-to-back sets. Moreover, the team in front of him has had some of its shakiest defensive and puck-management performances of the season in his nine starts and one relief appearance this season.
Nevertheless, it's vital for Sandström to make the most of his opportunity when he does get a chance to play. Ersson played very well overall in his NHL stint while Sandström was briefly out with an injury and then on his conditioning loan to Lehigh Valley. Since going back to the AHL, Ersson has continued to excel at that level.
Sandström can only manage what's within his control: his own play. It's vital for him to show he can step in to start a big game like Sunday's and give the Flyers a chance to win after a long period of inactivity. That's the life of a backup goalie.
3. Lycksell in the lineup
On Saturday morning, the Flyers recalled forward Olle Lycksell from the Phantoms. Lycksell leads the Phantoms in overall scoring this season with 34 points (9g, 25a) in 34 games played.
However, with the Phantoms playing in Hartford on Friday night (getting back to Allentown around 2 a.m.) and the Flyers having a 12:30 game in Philadelphia on Saturday afternoon, Tortorella did not feel it was the right time to press the Swedish rookie into action against the Predators.
The Flyers opted instead to go with 11 forwards and seven defensemen on Saturday, with veteran defenseman Justin Braun re-entering the lineup. Tortorella stated afterwards that Lycksell would play on Sunday against the Kraken.
4. Flyers line play
The Flyers started Saturday's game with the same line combinations they featured in the previous two games exiting the All-Star break. With the team struggling again for goals -- not just in Sunday's game but all week -- Tortorella reverted mid-game to something closer to the combos he'd used for an uninterrupted period of five-plus weeks in the latter portion of December through the start of the penultimate game before the All-Star break.
Tortorella said after Saturday's game against Nashville that he was undecided whether to carry the mid-game switches over into Sunday's game or come back with the same combos that started against the Islanders, Oilers and Predators.
However, the coach noted that the reunited trio of van Riemsdyk, Frost and Tippett did create some of the team's better scoring chances against Nashville. On a couple third period shifts, the 25-48-74 line got hemmed in the defensive zone, albeit keeping most of the play to the perimeter.
On the lengthiest such shift, a failed -- and initially uncontested -- clearing opportunity for JVR resulted in about 30 additional seconds spent in the D zone. Additionally, a couple of cleanly lost faceoffs by Frost (who had a rough day on draws but played decently otherwise) resulted in instant puck possession for Nashville.
Nevertheless, the underlying numbers showed this: the line produced three bonafide scoring chances while on the ice together while yielding only one.
The Flyers did not have a power play opportunity against the Predators. They've been recently sputtering again on the man advantage, anyway, continuing a season-long pattern of prolonged dry spells interspersed with brief upticks for a few games.
There are two sets of 5-on-5 line combinations below. The first set is based on Saturday's starting lines. The latter is based upon the lines that were together from shortly before the Christmas break until the tail end of January. It's also quite possible that the Flyers start Sunday with a hybrid of the two.
Scenario 1: Flyers use Saturday's starting combos (but go 12F/6D)
25 James van Riemsdyk - 49 Noah Cates - 11 Travis Konecny
13 Kevin Hayes - 21 Scott Laughton - 74 Owen Tippett
86 Joel Farabee - 48 Morgan Frost - 57 Wade Allison
44 Nicolas Deslauriers - 38 Patrick Brown - 62 Olle Lycksell
9 Ivan Provorov - 45 Cam York
6 Travis Sanheim - 55 Rasmus Ristolainen
24 Nick Seeler - 77 Tony DeAngelo
32 Felix Sandström
[79 Carter Hart]
PP1: JVR, Laughton, Konecny, Hayes, DeAngelo
PP2: Tippett, Frost, Cates, Farabee, York
Scenario 2: Saturday mid-game combos carry into Sunday.
13 Kevin Hayes - 21 Scott Laughton - 11 Travis Konecny
25 James van Riemsdyk - 48 Morgan Frost - 74 Owen Tippett
86 Joel Farabee - 49 Noah Cates - 57 Wade Allison
44 Nicolas Deslauriers - 38 Patrick Brown - 62 Olle Lycksell
9 Ivan Provorov - 45 Cam York
6 Travis Sanheim - 55 Rasmus Ristolainen
24 Nick Seeler - 77 Tony DeAngelo
32 Felix Sandström
[79 Carter Hart]
5. Behind enemy lines: Seattle Kraken
The Kraken were perhaps the NHL's best under-the-radar story throughout the pre All-Star break portion of the 2022-23. They played with outstanding 5-man-unit cohesion, displayed relentless competitiveness and rarely beat themselves.
However, the sledding has gotten much tougher lately. The team is 3-6-1 in its last 10 games. Even before dropping each of the first three games of the current road trip, goals have been almost as hard for the Kraken to come by in recent weeks as for the Flyers.
Over their last 10 games, the Kraken have scored an average 2.30 goals per game. In that span, only the Minnesota Wild (2.20 GPG) and Flyers (2.07 GPG) have had a tougher time putting pucks in the net. The team GAA has also trended the wrong way for the Kraken in that span (3.30, ranked 22nd).
For the season on the whole, however, Seattle has been one of the NHL's most effective offense-by-committee clubs. Eleven players have scored double-digit goals, led by Jared McCann's 24 tallies. Six players have posted 30-plus points, led by Andre Burakovsky's 39 points (13g, 26a). Ten players have produced at least 25 points.
Earlier this past week, Burakovsky had to leave the game against the Islanders after a single 21-second shift due to a lower-body injury. He was placed on IR on Thursday. Although the Kraken are very much a scoring-by-committee club, Burakovsky's absence is a significant loss. He brings a key element of breakaway speed and puck-possession ability as well as adding some creativity to the mix when he's in the lineup.
The Kraken have also received significant contributions from the blueline this season. Offensive minded defenseman Vince Dunn leads the club with 30 assists and is tied with Burakovsky for the overall point lead with 39. Justin Schultz and Adam Larsson have chipped in 24 points respectively (5 goals and 19 assists apiece). Larsson also leads the team with 141 credited hits and 107 blocked shots while averaging 24:07 of ice time.
Jamie Oleksiak, a frequent nemesis for the Flyers during his stints in Dallas and Pittsburgh, has five goals among his 11 points, 92 credited hits and 57 blocks in 45 games played (19:07 TOI). The hulking defenseman has had four fights against Flyers players in his career; the most he's had against any club. The 6-foot-7, 257-pound defenseman last chipped in a goal this season on Dec. 28 against Calgary. He's not there to score but is not devoid of puck skills. Positional awareness has often been Oleksiak's biggest challenge at the NHL level.
Claimed off waivers from Nashville earlier this season, Eeli Tolvanen has produced 11 points (8g, 3a) in his first 18 games with the Kraken. He took a three-game goal streak into the All-Star break but has been fairly quiet during the current road trip.
In net, former Flyers goalie Martin Jones has appeared in 37 games after backing up Hart in Philadelphia last season. To date this season, Jones has posted a 23-9-3 record, 2.92 GAA, .891 save percentage and three shutouts. Philipp Grubauer, himself an experienced 1B or backup option, has played in 18 games to date (5-9-2 record, 2.97 GAA, .898 save percentage).
Hakstol, like Tortorella, is not among the roughly half of today's NHL head coaches willing to divulge his next-game starting goalie ahead of game day. However, it's been speculated that Grubauer will get the nod after played very well in a losing cause against the Devils. He's played quite well in each of his last four starts while Jones had some issues against both the Islanders and Rangers on the current trip.
Have the Kraken done it with smoke and mirrors to produce 63 points overall and a 16-8-2 road record (even with the three straight regulation losses to start the current road trip)? Hard work is a better descriptor. There may not be big-name star power on the second-year expansion club, but there's good depth and solid cohesion in finding ways to win.
The Kraken have scored a whole lot of 5-on-5 goals this season overall on the way to ranking fifth leaguewide offensively at 3.48 goals per game. Seattle ranks No. 1 in the NHL with 134 goals scored. Despite the recent scoring drought, the team's ability to move the puck up the ice and capitalize on chances should never be underestimated.
The Kraken, a club with strong overall team speed and a worker-bee mentality, are the NHL's 6th-ranked team from a 5-on-5 puck possession standpoint and middle of the pack (17th) in expected goal share at 51 percent. That's an indication of good process and good execution: not mere "good luck".
Seattle's special teams are nothing spectacular. They rank 23rd on the power play at 19.7 percent. The PK has struggled, especially of late, coming into Sunday's game ranked next-to-last (31st) in the NHL at 71.2 percent success. However, the Kraken typically don't take many penalties. They ranked 10th in the NHL for the fewest times shorthanded per game played (the Flyers are 9th).
Projected lineup (subject to change)
19 Jared McCann - 10 Matthew Beniers - 7 Jordan Eberle
17 Jaden Schwartz - 21 Alexander Wennberg - 9 Ryan Donato
20 Eeli Tolvanen - 37 Yanni Gourde - 22 Oliver Bjorkstrand
13 Brandon Tanev - 67 Morgan Geekie - 91 Daniel Sprong
29 Vince Dunn - 6 Adam Larsson
24 Jamie Oleksiak - 3 William Borgen
4 Justin Schultz- 28 Carsen Soucy
31 Philipp Grubauer
30 Martin Jones