Three Takeaways From Flyers Loss vs. Kraken

The Philadelphia Flyers ended their four-game season-opening road trip on Thursday against the Seattle Kraken, where goals from Scott Laughton, Cam York, and Jamie Drysdale weren’t enough to save them from a 6-4 defeat.

The catastrophizing has commenced for some people, and while the first stretch of games has raised the alarm in several areas, it’s important to keep in mind that it has, in fact, only been four games (although with four 10 p.m. starts in six days for East Coast viewers, it certainly has felt like a lot more).

Defensive Woes Abound

There were already concerns for Ivan Fedotov going into the game against Seattle, but things quickly went from bad to worse as the Kraken put four goals past him in the second period, forcing head coach John Tortorella to replace Fedotov with Sam Ersson in the third period.

However, Fedotov wasn’t the only one struggling. Travis Sanheim didn’t have his best night, which is a bit of a concerning addition to a string of fairly mediocre performances, while the pairing of Egor Zamula and Rasmus Ristolainen once again failed to have a positive impact.

It’s abundantly clear that Zamula would benefit more from a partnership with veteran Erik Johnson, but Johnson has been filling in on a pair with Jamie Drysdale as Nick Seeler continues to recover from a lower-body injury sustained in preseason. The defense is feeling the hauntingly familiar tribulations of having to shuffle around to accommodate absences, and just like last season, it’s putting them in a harsh and unforgiving position to be blamed for the Flyers’ missteps.

Everyone Look At The Powerplay!

If you told a Flyers fan last season that the powerplay would be a bright spot so far, they’d probably laugh in your face. But this team has four PP goals in as many games, and has looked dangerous even when they don’t score.

It’s not a complete 180-degree turnaround, and there’s still a whole season left to play, but you have to give credit where it’s due—the man advantage has been a glaring issue across multiple seasons, and it’s clear that they’ve worked hard to address it.

Country Roads, Take Me Home

Starting off the season with four West Coast games was…certainly a choice! But the Flyers will thankfully be headed back to Philadelphia for their home opener against the Vancouver Canucks on Oct. 19, where they won’t leave the East Coast for over a month until a trip out to Nashville to play the Predators on Nov. 27.

It’ll be better to really evaluate their play when they’re not dogged with a taxing travel schedule right out of preseason, and getting a significant period of time before having to travel across the country again in December will give them more time and a more comfortable environment to take a minute and reset before falling into too big of a slump to start out.