Kraken vs. Flyers: Bobby McMann's Shootout Winner Pushes Philadelphia's Winless Start to Eight Games

Early in the third period on Tuesday night, the Philadelphia Flyers finally looked like a team ready to end the drought. They erased a two-goal deficit in 73 seconds, and Trevor Zegras was playing like a man on a mission. Then Bobby McMann did his homework.

McMann scored on the power play in the first period and beat Dan Vladar in the fifth round of the shootout, and the Seattle Kraken edged the Flyers 3-2 at Xfinity Mobile Arena. Philadelphia fell to 0-5-3, extending its franchise record for a winless start to a season to eight games.

Seattle Takes Control

The Kraken struck first on the power play after Jack Studnicka was called for tripping. Jordan Eberle drove the net from the goal line, Simon Benoit knocked the puck off his stick, and the loose puck bounced to McMann in the right circle. He snapped it over Vladar's shoulder on the short side at 7:57 for his third goal of the season.

Seattle nearly doubled the lead early in the second. Jamie Drysdale slashed Eberle on a breakaway, and the Kraken captain was awarded a penalty shot at 6:23. Eberle dodged Vladar's poke check on his way across the crease, only for the goalie to scramble back and get a right pad on it.

The second goal came anyway. At 8:54, after an icing call against David Jiricek trapped tired Flyers on the ice, rookie defenseman Ville Ottavainen let a shot go from between the tops of the circles. It sailed through a Matty Beniers screen for his first NHL goal, in his fourth game of the season.

The Grubauer and Zegras Show

The middle period also produced a running feud. Zegras was called for slashing Philipp Grubauer at 14:00, and the AP reported that Grubauer responded with a cross-check. After Zegras came out of the box, Grubauer fired a puck at him, Zegras fired it back after the whistle, and the two tangled again. Grubauer got a roughing minor, served by Jared McCann, and Zegras was called for unsportsmanlike conduct at 16:08.

The Flyers got their revenge on the scoreboard. Philadelphia pushed hard in the third, and at 6:07 Oliver Bonk skated the puck the length of the ice before sending a cross-ice backhand to Christian Dvorak, who snapped it home to make it 2-1. Vladar picked up an assist, his first point since Nov. 1, 2024, when he was with Calgary.

With the teams playing 4-on-4 after minors to Drysdale and McMann, Travis Sanheim carried the puck in, pulled up near the post and found Zegras jumping into the play. Zegras one-timed it from the slot at 7:20, and it was 2-2. NHL.com noted it was Philadelphia's first multigoal period of the season.

"It's the best I've seen Trevor play," Flyers coach Rick Tocchet said. "This is what we need from Trevor, this type of game where he wanted the puck."

The Turning Point: Seattle Slams the Brakes

The Flyers had all the momentum, and then they barely touched the puck. From the moment Zegras tied it, Seattle held Philadelphia to two shots over the final 17:40 of regulation and overtime. That stretch was the game. It turned a potential collapse into a coin flip that Seattle liked its chances in.

Kraken coach Lane Lambert was honest about his team's first 47 minutes. "I didn't like our play until the score was 2-2 in the third period," he said. What he did like was the response: "I liked our response after that and how we played from there on in."

In the shootout, Grubauer stoned Zegras on Philadelphia's first attempt, a fitting final word on their evening. Beniers scored for Seattle and Matvei Michkov answered for the Flyers. Then the goalies took over, with Grubauer stopping Tyson Foerster, Porter Martone and Denver Barkey, and Vladar turning away Berkly Catton, Freddy Gaudreau and Mackie Samoskevich.

In the fifth round, McMann cut through the crease and fired back against the grain, over Vladar's blocker. He had been studying all night. "Watching (Vladar's) footwork, watching what he does as guys change their speed," McMann said. "All those things are little cues that we pick up on."

Star Watch

Bobby McMann: A power-play goal and the shootout winner. NHL.com noted it was his 13th goal in his 25th game with Seattle, the most by any Kraken player through his first 25 games with the franchise, passing Eberle and McCann.

Philipp Grubauer: 24 saves on 26 shots through overtime and four stops on five shootout attempts, with the Zegras save as the cherry on top.

Ville Ottavainen: His first NHL goal in 9:33 of ice time.

Trevor Zegras: A goal, four penalty minutes and 21:43 of mostly excellent hockey.

Travis Sanheim: An assist in a massive 31:04 of ice time. "Throughout the whole game, I thought we had better energy," he said.

Dan Vladar: 29 saves on 31 shots, three stops on five shootout attempts and an assist.

Stats That Matter

• 0-5-3: Philadelphia's record. NHL.com noted it is the longest season-opening skid by an NHL team since San Jose lost its first nine games, at 0-7-2, to start 2024-25.
• 2: Flyers shots over the final 17:40 of regulation and overtime.
• 10: Goals scored by Philadelphia in eight games, per NHL.com.
• 31-13: Philadelphia's edge in hits. Physical, yes. Winning, no.
• 1 for 5: Seattle's power play, which provided the opening goal. The Flyers went 0 for 3.

What It Means

Seattle improves to 5-2-0 with 10 points and 4-1-0 on the road. The Kraken have won three straight road games, all to open a five-game trip that continues Thursday in Tampa Bay.

Philadelphia drops to 0-5-3 with three points and 0-2-2 at home. The skid is the franchise's longest since a run of eight straight losses from March 24 to April 9, 2024, per NHL.com. The Flyers visit Detroit on Thursday, and Sanheim sounded like a player clinging to the positives. "Would have been nice to finish it off in the shootout," he said.

Closing Take

The Flyers are living their own version of Groundhog Day: wake up, compete, lose in some new and creative way, repeat. Fittingly, the movie was set in Pennsylvania. Tuesday's version had a better soundtrack than most, with real energy and Zegras at his best. But until somebody in orange finishes the job, the alarm clock keeps going off at the same time. Seattle, meanwhile, has a forward who studies goaltenders like a final exam, and on this night he aced it.

Stats from the official box score via ESPN. Game details from the Associated Press; postgame quotes and notes as reported by NHL.com.