Kraken Game Facts
This Evening: Seattle Kraken at Philadelphia Flyers
Where: Wells Fargo Center
When: 4 pm pacific
TV/Radio: ESPN+ / FM 93.3
Key Factors:
Expected starting goalies: Joey Daccord vs. Cal Petersen
The Kraken are back at it on Saturday night in Philadelphia. Seattle fans hope to see a resumption of the play they witnessed when the club reeled off nine straight wins in January.
The key is health and the Kraken have it. Their 13-game streak without a loss in regulation came with all of the forward lines clicking. They then skidded to four straight losses after injury and illness hit the team; proof the high-end talent is limited and they’re simply not that deep offensively.
Defenseman Justin Schultz is away from the team for personal reasons. That means Ryker Evans will play on the left side of the 3rd pair with Brian Dumoulin moving to the right.
For Philadelphia, Rasmus Ristolainen is healthy and will return to the blueline while Egor Zamula will apparently sit.
The Kraken are looking for their 4th straight win over the Flyers and a two-game season sweep, having defeated Philly 2-1 in overtime at the end of December in Seattle
Who’s Hot? And Not?
We reset the “hot and not” meter for the Kraken, having not played for ten days.
As for carryover, NHL All-Star Oliver Bjorkstrand leads the team in scoring coming out of the break with 40 points while Jared McCann had 13 points over his previous ten games.
For Philly, NHL All-Star Travis Konecny has two goals and an assist coming out of the break with the Flyers picking up consecutive wins. They beat the Florida Panthers 2-1 on Tuesday and the Winnipeg Jets 4-1 on Thursday.
Ryan Poehling and Morgan Frost both had a goal and an assist in the latter game.
Special Teams
The power play and penalty kill for the Kraken gets a fresh start on Saturday. Their season percentages coming out of the long break: PP, a solid 21.7%, good for 15th best in the NHL, and the PK, a sub-standard 78.8%, good for 20th best.
The Flyers are next-to-last in the league on the PP with a pathetic 12.7% success rate. Their penalty kill is just the opposite, 2nd best in the NHL at 85.7%. Following suit on Thursday against the Jets, Philly went 0-for-4 with the man advantage while killing off all three Winnipeg chances.
Coming In:
Kraken: 21-19-and-10, in 6th place in the Pacific Division with 52 points. Seattle last played on January 30th when they lost 2-0 to the Sharks in San Jose.
Flyers: 27-19-and-6, in 3rd place in the Metropolitan Division with 60 points, after their 4-1 victory at home over the Winnipeg Jets on Thursday.
Recent Kraken:
— Kraken NHL Friday; 2 Seattle Skates; Bruins Win Canucks Showdown
