Monday afternoon might have been just a bit too early for the Seattle Kraken, as they visited the Philadelphia Flyers for the first time. The Kraken never quite got their rhythm and the home team ran away with the game very early on. This game quickly became the worst loss of the season and the short history of the franchise.
Flyers goaltender Carter Hart came out to play from the opening face-off in only the second game of this two-week-old season for Philadelphia. The Flyers outshot the Kraken 16–8 and put a three spot on the board before the road-weary visitors knew what hit them. The Kraken did have their chances from Joonas Donskoi, Ryan Donato and Jordan Eberle, however, Hart was able to hold them off long enough for the Flyers to get their offense rolling.
And rolling they went.
Goals by Claude Giroux, Travis Konecny and Derick Brassard in a five-minute span ended up being more than enough to send Dave Hakstol’s team out of Philly with a convincing loss against his former team. There were still 40-plus minutes remaining, but the results were not much better.
Flyers defensemen Ryan Ellis and Justin Braun jumped into the scoring, with goals just over a minute apart in the second period, to give the home team a commanding 5–0 lead before the Kraken showed any signs of life. Unfortunately for Philipp Grubauer, Braun’s goal chased the Seattle starter from the game, as Chris Driedger entered the chat and tried to control the bleeding.
The change in personnel helped, if only for a short time. Kraken defenseman Carson Soucy picked up his own rebound after a long shot from the blue line and beat Hart to spoil the shutout. Soucy became the first defenseman to score a goal for the franchise on the play.
That was where the Kraken’s good fortune ended.
The third period was a mere formality, but it turned into a yard sale with forward Nathan Bastian ringing up penalty minutes like a lunch order at Dalessandro’s.
The Flyers added a third-period goal from 21-year-old Joel Farabee to put the cherry on top of the win for Hart and company. Driedger ended the night with some positive numbers, stopping six of seven shots, with a couple more shots drawing iron.
Anchor points
⚓ Just looking at the final score does not fully tell the story of this game. The Kraken were in control early on, but Hart was sensational. Once Giroux opened the scoring, the game seemed to fall apart. Seattle actually led the final two periods in shots 16–11, but the damage was already done. The third goal was the backbreaker, going off Soucy’s skate and past Grubauer.
⚓ Bastian had 27 minutes in penalties (minor, fighting and two misconducts), while the entire Seattle team only had 19 penalty minutes in its first three games.
⚓ Captain Mark Giordano had a rough night with a -3 rating, but he was battling.
⚓ As you might imagine, possession numbers looked pretty paltry for the Kraken. They were out-chanced 58% to 42% (5-on-5 Corsi). Seattle actually played pretty well in the second and third periods, though. They racked up a 53% Corsi in those final periods.
⚓ The Kraken are back in action tonight against the New Jersey Devils. The puck drop is scheduled for 4 p.m. PDT.