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Rick Tocchet’s Philadelphia Flyers (19-10-7) are in the Pacific Northwest on Sunday to take on Lane Lambert’s Seattle Kraken (15-14-6). Game time at Climate Pledge Arena is 8:00 p.m. EST.
Philly last played on December 23: a 3-1 road win against the Chicago Blackhawks. Meanwhile, the Kraken earned a 3-2 road win over the Los Angeles Kings the same night.
On a league-wide basis, the Flyers rank 20th offensively (2.94 goals per game) and ninth with a 2.75 team goals against average. Seattle relies heavily on keeping the score down and scratching out offense via their power play. Offensively, only the St. Louis Blues (2.51) have scored fewer goals per game than the Kraken (2.54). However, the Seattle power play ranks 11th in the NHL at 21.0 percent efficiency.
Simultaneously, the Kraken have struggled on the penalty kill, ranking dead last in the NHL at 70.3 percent. Meanwhile, the Kraken do a pretty good job at limiting the opposition at 5-on-5. Consequently, the team’s 2.97 goals against average ranks in the top half of the league (13th) despite the PK difficulties.
Where to watch
Time and broadcast: 8:00 p.m. ET on NBCSP
Listen online: FlyersRadio 24/7
RAV4 keys to the game for Philadelphia: click here
In-game watch party (Maher Media): click here
Leading scorers: Flyers (through 36 games)
Trevor Zegras — 37 points (15g, 22a)
Travis Konecny — 33 points (11g, 22a)
Christian Dvorak — 24 points (8g, 16a)
Owen Tippett — 22 points (11g, 11a)
Sean Couturier — 21 points (5g, 16a)
Matvei Michkov — 20 points (9g, 11a)
Noah Cates — 20 points (9g, 11a)
Bobby Brink — 17 points (9g, 8a)
Jamie Drysdale — 17 points (3g, 14a)
Goaltender stats
Dan Vladar — 21 GP, 13-5-3, 2.39 GAA, .910 SV%
Samuel Ersson — 14 GP, 6-4-4, 2.96 GAA, .872 SV%
Injury report: Flyers
- Tyson Foerster (right arm surgery) is likely out for the rest of the season. He has a five-month timetable from December.
- Denver Barkey (upper body) left Tuesday’s game in the second period after taking a forearm to the back of his head from Chicago’s Wyatt Kaiser. Thankfully, Barkey has had no issues since then. He practiced in Seattle on Saturday and is expected to play on Sunday.
- Travis Sanheim (upper body) also exited Tuesday’s game in Chicago for evaluation from the league concussion spotter. His situation occurred in the third period. Fortunately, Sanheim also got the go-ahead to practice on Saturday. He, too, should be ready to play against the Kraken.
Projected Flyers Lineup
The Flyers practiced at Climate Pledge Arena on Saturday afternoon. The lineup was the same as the group that started the Chicago game prior to the Christmas break. Barring illness or game-day injury, the only expected change for Sunday is in goal. Look for Dan Vladar to return to the net.
Trevor Zegras- Christian Dvorak – Travis Konecny
Denver Barkey – Sean Couturier – Owen Tippett
Matvei Michkov – Noah Cates – Bobby Brink
Nikita Grebenkin – Rodrigo Abols – Carl Grundstrom
Cam York – Travis Sanheim
Emil Andrae – Jamie Drysdale
Nick Seeler – Rasmus Ristolainen
Dan Vladar
[Samuel Ersson]
PP1: York, Tippett, Dvorak, Michkov, Sanheim
PP2: Drysdale, Brink, Cates, Konecny, Zegras
Scratches: Nicolas Deslauriers (healthy), Garnet Hathaway (healthy), Noah Juulsen (healthy).
Flyers Opponent: Seattle Kraken
Leading scorers (through 35 games)
Jordan Eberle — 23 points (13g, 10a)
Chandler Stephenson — 22 points (9g, 13a)
Eeli Tolvanen — 22 points (5g, 17a)
Marty Beniers — 20 points (4g, 16a)
Vince Dunn — 19 points (5g, 14a, -15)
Brandon Montour — 16 points (6g, 10a in 27 games)
Jaden Schwartz — 15 points (8g, 7a, +6 in 23 games)
Goaltender stats
Joey Daccord — 23 GP, 10-9-4, 2.82 GAA, .904 SV%
Philipp Grubauer — 11 GP, 5-3-1, 2.59 GAA, .811 SV%
Matt Murray — 5 GP, 0-2-1, 2.21 GAA, .922 SV%
Injury report: Kraken
- Jaden Schwartz is on IR with a lower-body injury suffered in late November. The Kraken announced a six-week timetable on Nov. 28.
- Jaren McCann suffered a lower-body injury on Dec. 11 against Florida. He was placed on a three-week timetable. Consequently, McCann will miss Sunday’s game against the Flyers.
- Veteran goaltender Matt Murray is on IR with a lower-body injury. He’s been out since leaving the team’s Nov. 16 game against San Jose.
- Offensive-minded defenseman Vince Dunn missed the Dec. 23 game against LA with an unspecified injury. He is considered day-to-day.
- Veteran defenseman Brandon Montour underwent hand surgery for an injury suffered on Dec. 16. He’s expected to be out until mid-to-late January.
Seattle Lineup: Last game (Dec. 23)
Eeli Tolvanen – Chandler Stephenson – Frederick Gaudreau
Kaapo Kakko – Matty Beniers – Jordan Eberle
Berkly Catton – Shane Wright – Ryan Winterton
Tye Kartye – Ben Meyers – Jacob Melanson
Ryan Lindgren – Cale Fleury
Ryker Evans – Adam Larsson
Jamie Oleksiak – Joshua Mahura
Joey Daccord
[Philipp Grubauer]
PP1: Evans, Stephenson, Beniers, Eberle, Tolvanen
PP2: Fleury, Kakko, Wright, Gaudreau, Catton
Note: If Dunn is available, he’ll see power play time.
World Junior Championships: Flyers Prospect Updates
- Day Two of the 2025-26 World Juniors saw two extremely tight games. Team Canada (Porter Martone, Jett Luchanko) needed an overtime power play goal to squeak past scrappy Latvia, 2-1. Neither Martone nor Luchanko figured in the scoring. However, Luchanko won a late regulation power play faceoff. Martone had a couple of scoring chances and good plays in the offensive zone.
- Team USA earned a 2-1 regulation win over Switzerland on Day Two as Will Zellers stepped to the forefront once again. Flyers 2025 second-round pick Shane Vansaghi was scratched from the American’s lineup in favor of Ryker Lee. Vansaghi played sparingly as the 13th Team USA forward in the opener. In Saturday’s other games, Slovakia earned a 4-1 win over Germany and Czechia overpowered Denmark in a 7-2 blowout.
- Sunday (Day Three) has a fairly light schedule but some Flyers-related intrigue. Junior Crowns captain Jack Berglund and the rest of Team Sweden takes on Switzerland. The Swedes were idle on Saturday. in the other Day 3 game, Team Finland (Heikki Ruohonen and Max Westergard) opposes Latvia. Team Canada survived a major scare from the Latvians on Saturday. Meanwhile, Ruohoen and Westergard chipped in an assist apiece in Friday’s 6-2 opening game win over Denmark. Likewise, Berglund had a Day One assist in Sweden’s 3-2 win against Slovakia.
Phantoms Game Postponed
Saturday’s game in Allentown between the Lehigh Valley Phantoms and Charlotte Checkers was postponed. Weather-related travel issues for the Checkers necessitated the postponement. The game will be made up on Monday, Dec. 29, at 7:05 p.m. ET.
The Phantoms return to action on Sunday, December 28 at 3:05 p.m. against the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins. The match features a postgame autograph session with the Phantoms players, sponsored by NJM Insurance.
Meanwhile, it looks like the Reading Royals and the rest of the ECHL will avoid a work stoppage. The league and the players have reached a tentative agreement to avert a stoppage. Shortly prior to the news of the ECHL agreement to avoid game cancellations, the Phantoms made two recalls from the Royals to the AHL roster. Lehigh Valley recalled goaltender Yaniv Perets and forward Hunter Johannes from the Royals.
