Postgame 5: Laughton strikes twice in 6-4 loss to Kraken

The Flyers wrapped up their season-opening road trip with a 6-4 loss to the Seattle Kraken at Climate Pledge Arena on Thursday evening. In a losing cause, Scott Laughton had a three-point game (2g-1a). Philadelphia finished the four-game trip with a 1-2-1 record.

The sixth multi-goal game of Laughton's NHL career enabled the Flyers to take first period leads of 1-0 and 2-1. In the final two minutes of the first, the Flyers gave up a tying goal and then quickly regained the advantage.

Laughton (1st goal of the season) came out from behind the net and scored on a semi-wraparound at 4:21 of the opening stanza. Ryan Poehling and Garnet Hathaway earned the assists.

At 18:15, a Brandon Montour point shot along the ice (1st goal of the season) found its way through Ivan Fedotov's pads. The assists went to Chandler Stephenson and Ryker Evans for a 1-1 deadlock.

However, just 43 seconds later, the Flyers grabbed a 2-1 lead. Laughton (second goal of the period and the season) caught goaltender Philipp Grubauer cheating off the near side post and chipped a shot over the netminder's shoulder. The assists went to Hathaway and Poehling at 18:58.

The second period saw a huge momentum shift. By the second intermission, the Flyers were faced with a three-goal deficit.

Another shot from distance, this time on the power play, re-tied the score at 2-2 at the 3:06 mark of the second period. Jared McCann (PP, 3rd) scored the 5-on-4 tally, assisted by Andre Burakovsky and Vince Dunn.

Seattle took their first lead at 14:57. Fedotov was unable to control the rebound of a Burakovsky shot and Eeli Tolvanen (2nd of the year) collected the loose change. The Finnish forward then stashed it home for a 3-2 advantage. The assists went to Burakovsky and Wright.

A turnover on attempted entry became a transition attack and a Jordan Eberle (4th) tap-in at the back door. The assists went to McCann and Yanni Gourde. Right off the next center ice faceoff, the Flyers turned over the puck again and Wright (1st) scored. The assists went to Eberle and McCann.

In the third period, the Flyers made a run at a comeback. They fell short.

Laughton set up Cam York with his second goal of the season. A top-shelf rip by York at 10:19 cut the gap to 5-3. Laughton and Bobby Brink got the assists.

A power play goal by Jamie Drysdale (1st) briefly drew the Flyers within 5-4 at 12:32. Drysdale moved against the grain across the blue line, and fired a point shot home to the far side.The assist went to Matvei Michkov as the Flyers briefly drew within 5-4.

A breakaway goal by Oliver Bjorkstrand (2nd) provided some insurance for the Kraken at 14:52 of the third period. The assists went to Jaden Schwartz and Adam Larsson.

Fedotov played the first 40 minutes of the game before being pulled. Three of the Seattle goals were ones he'd have liked back. He stopped 19 of 24 shots. Samuel Ersson came in for the third period. He made four saves on five shots.

Grubauer rode his hefty goal support to victory for Seattle. He stopped 19 of 23 shots.

The Flyers went 1-for-4 on the power play. They were 4-for-5 on the penalty kill but yielded their first opposing 5-on-4 goal of the season.

FLYERS STARTING LINEUP

74 Owen Tippett - 48 Morgan Frost - 39 Matvei Michkov
86 Joel Farabee - 17 Jett Luchanko - 11 Travis Konecny
71 Tyson Foerster - 14 Sean Couturier - 10 Bobby Brink
21 Scott Laughton - 25 Ryan Poehling - 19 Garnet Hathaway

8 Cam York - 6 Travis Sanheim
77 Erik Johnson - 9 Jamie Drysdale
5 Egor Zamula - 55 Rasmus Ristolainen

82 Ivan Fedotov
[33 Samuel Ersson]

PP1: Drysdale, Tippett, Frost, Konecny, Michkov
PP2: Zamula, Foerster, Luchanko, Farabee, Brink

Scratches: 27 Noah Cates (healthy), 44 Nicolas Deslauriers (healthy), 36 Emil Andrae (healthy), 24 Nick Seeler (IR, knee).

TURNING POINT

The second period was one the Flyers would like to have back. It was still a 2-2 game until Seattle struck for three goals including the two that were spaced a mere eight seconds apart. The deficit proved too much from which to come all the way back in the third period.

POSTGAME 5

1) The Flyers generated three of the game's first four shots on goal, including Laughton's tally. Oddly enough, the fourth line got hemmed in the defensive zone on the game's first shift. They scored on their second shift and then again late in the opening period.

2) A delay of game penalty on Frost for putting the puck over the glass from the defensive zone gave the Kraken the game's first power play. The Flyers had two unsuccessful power plays in the first period. At 5-on-5, Tippett buzzed around the net a couple of times. Poehling nearly scored on a wraparound but put the puck through the crease. First period shots on goal were 11-9 Flyers.

3) Michkov took a heavy body check from Montour at 4:18 of the second period. He got up slowly but skated off and was fine. Meanwhile, the tide of play turned heavily in Seattle's favor. At one point, the Kraken led 10-2 in shots in the middle stanza. Ultimately, the Kraken held a 15-6 edge in shots and a 4-0 goal difference in the disastrous second period.

4) Through two periods, Tippett had 10 shot attempts but only two reached the net (six were blocked). The Flyers' most notable positive play came shorthanded on a great individual rush by Konecny. He broke through the defense and came within a whisker of a goal.

5) Konecny received a hard but clean hit along the wall in the attack zone late in the second period. He did not return for the start of the third period but came out midway through the final stanza, Later, after a waved-off goal in which Gourde kicked the puck into the net, a multi-player scrum ensued. Konecny ended up fighting Gourde.