The free-falling Philadelphia Flyers are mired in a franchise-record losing streak to start a season, but they took some semblance of a positive feeling from their latest outing.
Fresh off rallying from a two-goal third-period deficit to force a shootout, the Flyers will look for that elusive first win on Thursday night when they visit the Detroit Red Wings.
“This is something to build on,” Philadelphia coach Rick Tocchet said after his team’s 3-2 shootout loss to the visiting Seattle Kraken on Tuesday. “I know it’s the moral victory thing, but it is, it’s something to build on.”
Christian Dvorak and Trevor Zegras scored during a 73-second span in the third period to provide a rare spark inside Xfinity Mobile Arena.
“Throughout the whole game, I thought we had better energy,” said Flyers defenseman Travis Sanheim, who notched an assist on Zegras’ goal.
“Just seemed like we had some more jump, playing more of the style that we need to play to win in this league, and it was nice to get rewarded in the third. Would have been nice to finish it off in the shootout.”
Such is life for the Flyers, who have mustered just 10 goals during their first eight games of the season (0-5-3). Philadelphia’s eight-game winless skid is its longest since it dropped eight straight decisions from March 24-April 9, 2024.
While the Flyers are one of two teams without a win this season, along with the Los Angeles Kings, Detroit isn’t exactly sitting pretty either. The Red Wings have dropped three in a row (0-1-2) since their lone win of the season on Oct. 6, a 5-3 decision against the Ottawa Senators.
Alex DeBrincat agreed to a seven-year, $91 million contract extension on Tuesday, then celebrated by collecting two goals and an assist in Detroit’s 5-4 overtime loss to the visiting New Jersey Devils that night. DeBrincat’s linemates, Michael Brandsegg-Nygard and Emmitt Finnie, each had a goal and an assist.
“We have a lot of speed and those guys work so hard,” DeBrincat said of Brandsegg-Nygard and Finnie. “They are both playing the body, so we get a lot of pucks back and we’re able to create in the offensive zone.”
Each member of the line finished with a plus-4 rating vs. the Devils.
“They were hands down, by a country mile, our best line (Tuesday),” Red Wings coach Todd McLellan said. “Finnie has great speed and has adapted well to play center, and then he’s got two shooters in (Brandsegg-Nygard and DeBrincat).”
DeBrincat leads the Red Wings in goals (four), points (eight) and rating (plus-7). He scored four goals in three games against the Flyers last season, helping Detroit win two of those contests.
Then-Red Wings captain Dylan Larkin collected three goals and an assist in Detroit’s 6-3 victory over Philadelphia on April 9. Larkin, however, has been held off the scoresheet in each of his last three games.
Dvorak scored in that game on April 9 for the Flyers. He joins Matvei Michkov in leading the team with two goals apiece this season.