The Philadelphia Flyers Swallowed Up By The Seattle Kraken 6-2: Highlights and Analysis

1. The Peculiar Power Play:

With the 31st ranked power play in the NHL, with a success rate of 16%, the Flyers have opted for a confusing new look of late.

The Flyers top unit consists of Morgan Frost - QB on the off wing wall, Kevin Hayes rotates high on his strong side, Tony DeAngelo at the top of the umbrella as the swing man, James Van Reimsdyk down low for the screen, and Travis Konecny in the bumper spot/slot.

Hayes is the Flyers leading PP goal scorer and the majority of his success and chances have come from the weak side one-timer; it has been eliminated by moving him to his strong side. Konecny is the Flyers leading goal scorer and he is a mere decoy in the slot and doesn't generate shots from this configuration. Owen Tippett arguably has to hardest shot on the Flyers, is third in goals and he receives limited minutes on the second unit.

Where is the scoring suppose to come from on the power play?! The Flyers are banking on DeAngelo or Hayes telegraphing shots from the point, hoping the puck has eyes or it can be tipped on its way through traffic. There is no deception. There is minimal movement. There is no puck movement down low. There is no one timer option. There are no bang-bang plays. There is just predictability and hope.

On the Flyers only power play opportunity they did not generate a shot, they struggled with possession on entries, and could not move the puck quick enough to take advantage of the Krakens aggressive kill; an aggression that land to a short handed goal.

2. The Standard 2 on 1:

A poor decision by Hayes at the point, led to Jared McCann picking his pocket and leading a 2 on 1 shorthanded break. Konecny appeared to have enough back pressure on Yanne Gourde to allow Deangelo to focus on the puck carrier, but DeAngelo conceded the uncontested shot to McCann.

McCann lead the Kraken in goals entering the contest with 25 and his counterpart on the rush, Yanne Gourde, had 6 entering the game. Situational awareness should dictate that you want the puck taken off of the 25 goal scorers stick and force him to move the puck to the guy with 6 goals, but DeAngelo did his dance on the 2 on 1 and in no way forced McCann to make a quick decision or alter his shot. Zero pressure on the puck carrier on a 2 on 1 is a common theme with the Flyers D, as they exclusively take away the pass regardless of the personnel on the rush.

McCann is an elite shooter and he beat Hart with a perfectly place shot three minutes into the game.

3. Padding The Krakens PP Stats:

Not technically a power play goal, Yanne Gourde tipped in a point shot with the extra skater on, awaiting a delayed penalty. The Kraken worked the puck well with a quick low to high shot that was deftly tipped in by Gourde.

With Scott Laughton, one of the Flyers top penalty killers in the box, the Kraken again worked the puck from the goal line to the point, where Justin Schultz was left completely open. Schultz had an unobstructed shooting lane and unleashed a post hugging shot that cleanly beat a screened Hart.

The Flyers passive penalty kill, which ranks 21st, allowed to much time and space on the play and didn't recognize where the shot was going to come from, in order to negate Schultz's heavy shot from the point.

Gourde Scored the Krakens second power play goal of the period on another low to high play, that drew in the Flyers defenders and mad them turn their backs to the threats behind them.

The Kraken entered the Flyers zone with relative ease, by splitting an unenthusiastic Konecny and Farabee, swung the puck wide and then pulled the Flyers down low by skating the puck behind the net. A quick tic-tac-toe passing play to a wide open Gourde gave Ersson no chance on the quick release shot

The Kraken were 2 for 3 on the man advantage and scored a third goal on a delayed call.

4. On A Positive Note:

If you could take one positive form the game, it was seeing Konecny regain his scoring touch after enduring a 13 game goalless streak. Never shy of generating chances, Konecny just wasn't finishing opportunities, but managed to pot a pair in the third period for the moral victory.

Off of the opening face-off of the the third period the Flyers regrouped and Provorov made an excellent seam pass to Konecny, who hit a streaking Noah Cates. Cates peeled back to relieve pressure and fired a purposeful wrist shot to the net. Konecny drove the paint and establish position to allow himself a an easy tip in goal.

Cates picked up his second assist of the night after his shot received a fortuitous bounce off of the end boards and landed on Konecny's stick.

The loss and the nature of the loss, should leave little doubt the Flyers will be sellers leading up to the trade deadline, as they trail five other teams battling to bounce Pittsburgh and Washington out of their wildcard spots.

The Flyers will continue their western trip with visits to Vancouver (Saturday), Calgary (Monday), and Edmonton (Tuesday).