The Flyers had a disconcerting finish to their season-opening road swing as they suffered a 6-4 loss Thursday night to the Kraken at Climate Pledge Arena in Seattle.
John Tortorella's club saw a 2-1 second-period lead get flipped into a 5-2 deficit by intermission.
Ivan Fedotov was pulled after two periods. The Flyers crept to within one in the final stanza but Oliver Bjorkstrand scored on a breakaway not even two and a half minutes later to restore order for Seattle.
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Scott Laughton recorded half of the Flyers' goals, both in the first period. Cam York and Jamie Drysdale netted the others while the team attempted its comeback.
The Flyers went 1-2-1 on their four-game trip and surrendered 4.50 goals per game. They don't see the Kraken (3-2-0) again until March 8 in Philadelphia.
• Making his second start of the season and the third of his NHL career, Fedotov allowed five goals on 24 shots.
The first two were from distance and appeared stoppable. The second came on a Seattle power play early in the middle frame.
Philadelphia Flyers
Later in the second period, the Kraken went off for three goals over a span of just 2:55 minutes. The Flyers didn't help Fedotov at all on the final two markers.
The 6-foot-7 Russian has had trouble working around traffic in front. He'll seem to make some difficult, acrobatic saves, but will then be hurt by a shot that he can stop.
Fedotov gave up 10 goals over his two outings on the trip. The Flyers don't need to overreact just yet; some patience should be had here. But Fedotov's propensity for the weak goal won't elicit much faith from Tortorella.
After all, the goaltending position was a concern for the head coach before the season even started.
• The Flyers were able to breathe a sigh of relief when Travis Konecny returned to the game about midway through the third period. The two-time All-Star was checked hard into the boards by Brandon Tanev at the end of the second period.
When Konecny came back, he had no problem reinserting himself as he dropped the gloves with Yanni Gourde.
A good sign for the Flyers was that they had much more fight in the third period.
• This wasn't an awful trip for the Flyers.
They beat a Canucks team that was 27-9-5 at home last season, they lost to a Flames team that is off to a 4-0-0 start and they had the defending Western Conference champion Oilers on the ropes before losing in overtime.
The Flyers' power play scored in every game and is off to a 5-for-19 start. Last season, it started 4 for 53 through the first 16 games.
The most troubling aspect of the trip was the number of goals the Flyers allowed. Their loss to Seattle was arguably the most concerning of the three defeats.
Samuel Ersson, who made four saves on five shots in relief, will be tasked with settling things down Saturday.
• The fourth line of Laughton, Ryan Poehling and Garnet Hathaway was excellent against the Kraken.
It created both of the Flyers' first-period goals as all three players finished with multi-point games. Laughton tallied an assist to go along with his two markers, while Poehling and Hathaway finished with two helpers apiece.
Seattle netminder Philipp Grubauer did enough to hold off the Flyers, stopping 21 of their 25 shots.
• Matvei Michkov had four points (two goals, two assists) on the trip and Bobby Brink registered a point in all four games (one goal, three assists).
• Nick Seeler did not play on the trip after taking a puck to the peroneal nerve in his right leg over two weeks ago. The second-pair defenseman is considered day to day.
• The Flyers return to Philadelphia for their home opener Saturday against the Canucks (7 p.m. ET/NBCSP).
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