Preview: Get Kraken

The Game : 10:00 p.m. EST on NBCSports Philadelphia, ESPN+/Hulu, and 93.3 WMMR

With last night\'s victory over the Vancouver Canucks, the Flyers are back in the win column and tied for second in the Metropolitan Division with the Carolina Hurricanes. There were some scary moments, like watching Sam Ersson leave the ice shortly after allowing the only Canucks goal of the night and, not long after that, seeing Travis Konecny clutching his stomach and returning to the locker room.

All is well, though: Ersson left due to dehydration, and TK appears to have caught the stomach bug that\'s been making its way around the Flyers locker room.

It was a big win for John Tortorella, too: his 723rd, moving him into tenth all-time.

https://twitter.com/NHLFlyers/status/1740621151435641174?s=20

Nice to see him in a better mood after his reaction to that Canucks goal.

https://twitter.com/BroadStHockey/status/1740599652389732558?s=20

Ok, one more Tweet from last night, because apparently everyone was sitting on gold during the off days for Christmas:

https://twitter.com/charlieo_conn/status/1740607360585068630?s=20

Anyhoo! On to tonight\'s opponent: Dave Hakstol\'s Seattle Kraken.

The Kraken were a pleasant surprise last season, making the playoffs in only their second year as a team and then unseating the reigning Stanley Cup Champions, the Colorado Avalanche, in the first round of the playoffs. It was quite a turn around from their abysmal first year, so they could only continue their upward trajectory.

Oh, how the pendulum doth swing.

Seattle has struggled mightily this season and hold a 13-14-9 record, and 5-2-3 in their last 10. Some regression was expected, given their unsustainable shooting percentage in 2022-23 and their ability to roll four scoring lines. They lost some of their key depth contributors in the off season (Daniel Sprong, Morgan Geekie, Carson Soucy), and their Calder winning 1C, Matty Beniers, has 18 points in 36 games. Beniers will be fine, though: his underlying numbers are solid, and his shooting percentage is creeping back into respectability. However, like many playoff hopefuls this season, bad goaltending has caused a number of their problems, as well as injuries to key contributors Jaden Schwartz and Andre Burakovsky.

The Kraken might be putting it all back together now, though: they enter tonight\'s contest on a three-game win streak. Seattle\'s also holding down fourth in a stunningly weak Pacific Division, although the Edmonton Oilers are quickly catching up and have four games in hand over the Kraken. Neither team, however, looks poised to make the playoffs: Seattle\'s 35 standings points would put them seventh (7th!) in the Central Division, and they\'re currently out of a wildcard spot.

The Flyers are at the disadvantage in this one, as it\'s the second half of a back-to-back, and Carter Hart isn\'t fully \"fresh\" since he relieved Ersson last night. It\'s possible Philadelphia\'s without Konecny, too, depending on how his illness shakes out. If that\'s the case, we may see Rhett Gardner step into the lineup, or we may see the 11F/7D that Torts has run with before.

Players to Watch

Owen Tippett

Tippett may\'ve only ended last night with one assist, but it was gorgeous: a falling backhand pass to a speeding Sean Walker for a goal off the rush. That may\'ve been the only time Tippett got on the scoresheet, but he was everywhere: crashing the net, using his speed, registering five shots on goal. Look for him to carry that momentum into tonight\'s game and put one in the back of the net.

Egor Zamula

It remains to be seen how the roster rotation shakes out, but Zamula certainly earned another game in the lineup with his stellar play last night. He got some time on the power play, and capitalized with a goal--his second of the season and, funnily enough, his first was also against Vancouver. Zamula got 15:46 of ice time, and in his minutes put up a 50.00 CF%--which doesn\'t sound that impressive, but was fourth on the team. It would be a good sign if he gets similar ice time tonight and stays on the PP unit, and at the very least breaks even again with the fancy stats.

Vince Dunn

Dunn is, once again, having a pretty solid season, with 29 points in 36 games. He\'s also doing this again:

https://twitter.com/AlisonL/status/1740213990226333851?s=20

The Flyers are really going to have to clog up the neutral zone when Dunn\'s on the ice, because he will burn them for it if they\'re not careful.

Projected Lineups

Philadelphia Flyers

Owen Tippett – Sean Couturier – Travis Konecny* Tyson Foerster – Morgan Frost – Cam Atkinson Joel Farabee – Ryan Poehling – Bobby Brink Nic Deslauriers – Scott Laughton – Garnet Hathaway

Cam York – Travis Sanheim Nick Seeler – Sean Walker Egor Zamula – Rasmus Ristolainen

Carter Hart Sam Ersson*

*Gametime decision

Seattle Kraken

Tomas Tatar - Matty Beniers - Jordan Eberle Jared McCann - Alex Wennberg - Brandon Tanev Eeli Tolvanen - Yanni Gourde - Oliver Bjorkstrand Tye Kartye - Devin Shore - Kailer Yamamoto

Vince Dunn - Adam Larsson Jamie Oleksiak - Will Borgen Justin Schultz - Ryker Evans

Joey Daccord Chris Driedger

Gameday Tunes

Hijinx Festival is this weekend in Philly to ring in the New Year. Can I get a, \"wub wub wub wub wub?\"

https://open.spotify.com/track/6NRvZuFXn2ixp8YdzUvG5n?si=3d07a4c2ed434353

Stats via Natural Stat Trick

Talking Points