Tonight, the Philadelphia Flyers (2-2-1) host the Seattle Kraken (3-0-2) at the Xfinity Mobile Arena. The opening faceoff is scheduled for 7pm/ET.
On Saturday, the Flyers returned to the win column on home ice. They defeated the Minnesota Wild, 2-1. Theatrics were required in overtime, and Noah Cates went back to a familiar look he had against Jesper Wallstedt throughout regulation.
“[It] just felt like I had that shot two or three times, hit his [Jesper Wallstedt] knob once, [then] low blocker the other time, so I just stuck with it.” – Noah Cates; 10/18/2025
To send Philadelphia into overtime, Owen Tippett had to tie the game. His backhanded effort from behind Wallstedt crossed the goal line. Tippett created something out of nothing with his energy on the ice. Rick Tocchet gave him his flowers following the win:
“He’s [Owen Tippett] been our most dynamic drive play guy. I don’t know what he played tonight, but it seems like when I moved them around, he helped whoever he was playing with.” – Rick Tocchet; 10/18/2025
Early in the 2025-2026 NHL Regular Season, the Kraken (7th) are well ahead of the Flyers (21st) in the NHL Standings. Seattle is the more efficient team on offense (16GF; 3.20GF/GP) and defense (13GA; 2.6GA/GP). The same could be said for their power play (28.6%) and average shot totals (27.2SOG/GP). Philadelphia does take the upper hand on the penalty kill (85.7%) and at the faceoff dot (51.3%). Yesterday, Tocchet fidgeted with the forward lines, looking for an opportunity to get Matvei Michkov buzzing.
“Offense is willing to do certain things, right? You [have] got to get play [into] the inside. You can’t have four guys always up. The defense [has] got to find lanes to get shots through. We’re having a lot of movement. From this year, I’ve seen a lot more movement, the guys are telling me, than last year. They like the movement part, but not it’s the execution. The execution is something where we got to keep working on with this team. The execution of a ten-foot pass, and then shooting the puck with somebody there. That’s offense, to me. We’re kind of mis-clicking some stuff on the offensive part.” – Rick Tocchet; 10/19/2025
The Flyers are looking for consecutive wins while simultaneously delivering the Kraken their first regulation loss of the 2025-2026 NHL Regular Season.
Injury Report: Philadelphia Flyers
Injury Report: Seattle Kraken
- Ryker Evans (upper body)
- Frederick Gaudreau (upper body)
- Kaapo Kakko (hand)
- Brandon Montour (personal)
Where: Xfinity Mobile Arena; Philadelphia, PA
When: 7pm/ET
Last Game PHI: 10/18/25; 2-1 OTW; vs. Minnesota Wild
Last Game SEA: 10/18/25; 4-3 OTW; at Toronto Maple Leafs
Philadelphia Flyers
Tocchet feels highly enough about Tippett to move him onto the first line with Travis Konecny and Sean Couturier. He’s made that loud and clear, declaring him the most dynamic offensive play-driving forward in his lineup.
Michkov will reunite with Trevor Zegras and Christian Dvorak. Throughout the 2025 NHL Preseason, Michkov and Zegras developed chemistry, and then the forward lines were changed. Tocchet is well aware of how people react to his reduction in minutes on the ice, but Michkov has some accountability to own up to. He’s not entirely in shape, and in terms of Tocchet’s system, he’s openly looking for his forward lines to play together in sync. Overall, the top line, featuring Michkov, didn’t pace in scoring chances, and Tocchet sees more energy and flow from Tippett after five games.
“I know that he’s [Matvei Michkov] the lightning rod for everybody around here. [He’s] just got to relax. He’s got to get himself into shape. He’s got to be in team positions. You can’t just leave the zone. It’s okay, and I think he’s gotten better at it. There’s times when you just [have] got to make decisions. I thought against Minnesota [Wild], at that time, for us to win the game, I went with the nine [forwards], and we did flip the switch. He’s been working hard, supporting the puck. No offense, that’s not just him, but that line, they’ve been getting outchanced. That’s why I had to make the switch. That’s just the rule. But, we have to keep developing.” – Rick Tocchet; 10/19/2025
Travis Sanheim tops the NHL in average minutes played per game (27:16TOI/GP). Zach Werenski (26:39TOI/GP) and Quinn Hughes (26:21TOI/GP) are the only two defensemen in the NHL who trail Sanheim by fewer than one minute. Adam Larsson (23:02TOI/GP) is the closest in comparison for Seattle. Tocchet doesn’t want to run Sanheim into the ground, making it a point to stretch more minutes out of the rest of his defensive group.
“We [have] got to get more minutes [out] of the other guys, one-hundred percent. We can’t run these guys out on fumes. We’ve got to be careful. We’ve played some really quality opponents; situational stuff. You got Scheifele [Mark Scheifele], Kaprizov [Kirill Kaprizov], Bennett [Sam Bennett], and Marchand [Brad Marchand]. Carolina [Hurricanes] have Aho [Sebastian Aho]; those talented guys. Those guys get the work, but we can’t run those guys out that much because, first of all, you get hurt, and second of all, you can just wear your players out. But, we need some guys to step up in those roles.” – Rick Tocchet; 10/19/2025
Egor Zamula and Adam Ginning are the defensemen available to pair with Noah Juulsen. Zamula will remain in the lineup with Juulsen. Between the two who would fill the 3LD role, Zamula is the more trusted NHL hand.
Dan Vladař remains the hot hand, and will make his first consecutive starts of the 2025-2026 NHL Regular Season.
Lineup: Philadelphia Flyers
Konecny-Couturier-Tippett
Zegras-Dvorak-Michkov
Forster-Cates-Brink
Grebenkin-Luchanko-Hathaway
York-Sanheim
Seeler-Drysdale
Zamula-Juulsen
Vladař
(Ersson)
Lineup: Seattle Kraken
McCann-Beniers-Eberle
Schwartz-Stephenson-Tolvanen
Marchment-Wright-Winterton
Kartye-Hayden-Nyman
Dunn-Larsson
Oleksiak-Fleury
Mahura-Ottavainen
Daccord
(Murray)
