McCann has 3 points, Kraken hold off Flyers

SEATTLE -- Jared McCann had a goal and two assists for the Seattle Kraken, who held off a late rally from the Philadelphia Flyers for a 6-4 win at Climate Pledge Arena on Thursday.

“They were pushing hard there [in the third period],” McCann said. “Obviously, they’re a team that doesn’t give up. You’ve got to give them credit. But it’s good to get the two points tonight.”

Shane Wright and Jordan Eberle each had a goal and an assist, and Andre Burakovsky had two assists for the Kraken (3-2-0), who defeated the Nashville Predators 7-3 on Tuesday. Philipp Grubauer made 21 saves.

“There’s no panic from us,” Wright said of the Flyers fighting back to within one goal in the third period after Seattle took a three-goal lead. “I think we knew we were playing the right way, we knew we were the better team up to that point. So we just wanted to keep playing the right way, keep playing solid defensively, not kind of cheating the game too much.”

Scott Laughton had two goals and an assist, and Garnet Hathaway and Ryan Poehling each had two assists for the Flyers (1-2-1), who closed out their season-opening four-game road trip with three straight losses (0-2-1). Ivan Fedotov allowed five goals on 24 shots before being replaced by Samuel Ersson, who made four saves on five shots in the third period.

“It wasn’t the whole second period [that cost us], it was just a few minutes here and there,” Flyers coach John Tortorella said. “I thought the first period was probably one of our better periods of the year. And we lost ourselves for a few minutes, the game got away from us, and we kept on fighting, tried to crawl back in.”

Laughton gave the Flyers a 1-0 lead at 4:21 of the first period, collecting Poehling’s shot that came back off the end boards and stuffing it in at the right post.

Brandon Montour tied it 1-1 at 18:15 with a slap shot from the right point that went between Fedotov’s pads. It was his first goal for the Kraken after signing a seven-year, $50 million contract ($7.14 million average annual value) on July 1.

“I’ve been getting some good looks, finding some good lanes,” Montour said. “So, it was nice to get that one early on.”

Laughton made it 2-1 at 18:58 with a wrist shot over Grubauer’s right shoulder from a sharp angle below the left circle.

“It’s a 60-minute game. It’s always about the next play,” Kraken coach Dan Bylsma said. “Things are going to happen and bumps are going to happen and you’ve just got to keep focused on the next play.”

McCann tied it 2-2 with a power-play goal at 3:06 of the second period, firing a snap shot from the top of the left circle that beat Fedotov five-hole.

“[Fedotov] is a monster,” McCann said. “You don’t see much mesh with that guy in net, so I feel like sometimes you’ve just got to get it off as quickly as you can, and I was able to find one tonight.”

Eeli Tolvanen gave the Kraken a 3-2 lead at 14:57 when he put in a rebound at the top of the crease.

Eberle pushed it to 4-2 at 17:44 with a tap-in at the right post off a seam pass from McCann. Wright then scored eight seconds later to make it 5-2, beating Fedotov with a snap shot from the slot.

“[Eberle’s] been chirping me a lot, because apparently I don’t pass to him enough,” McCann said. “But, yeah, he likes to drive the net, so I just tried to pull up there and find him.”

Cam York cut it to 5-3 with a wrist shot over Grubauer’s glove at 10:19 of the third period.

Jamie Drysdale scored a power-play goal with a wrist shot from the point at 12:32 to get the Flyers within 5-4, but Oliver Bjorkstrand scored on a breakaway at 14:52 for the 6-4 final.

“They scored three in a row there, bang, bang, bang, and you’re chasing the game,” Laughton said. “I thought we showed some resiliency coming back there and scoring a couple, but we’re selling the farm trying to score all the goals in one shift, and it’s just not going to happen. It’s too hard in this League.”

NOTES: Kraken defenseman Vince Dunn did not play in the third period. He went down the tunnel after his final shift of the first period at 14:46, returned to play the second period, but then exited the game. “He’s just a little banged up,” Bylsma said. “It was more precautionary than anything, not playing in the third period. We’ll evaluate where he’s at tomorrow.” … Eberle and Wright scored eight seconds apart, marking the fastest two goals by a team this season, as well as the fastest two goals in Kraken history. Seattle’s previous record was 10 seconds, set by Bjorkstrand and Daniel Sprong on Dec. 22, 2022. ... Kraken forward Chandler Stephenson played 20:22 in his 500th NHL game.