Flyers complete the road trip in Seattle

The game: 10:00 p.m. ET, NBCSP, 93.3 WMMR

Our pain is almost over. No longer will we suffer in the morning trying to stay up late to watch the first few games of a new era of Philadelphia Flyers hockey. No more long nights drinking coffee around 9pm because we want to see Matvei Michkov take the ice cream and do some cool things. This will be the last time for a while.

The Flyers are in Seattle on Thursday night taking on the Kraken. It will be the last puck drop at 10pm ET until they are in Las Vegas on January 2nd. This Pacific Northwest rendezvous is the Flyers After Dark's penultimate matchup, and then we get to experience the serenity of a hockey game where our favorite team finishes before we usually hit the hay.

Now what should this game offer? It's the seventh time these two teams have met, and the Flyers have a 3-2-1 record against the Kraken – both of their regular season losses came in the 2022-23 season, and they've suffered seven of the other two seasons Campaigns get eight available points. Maybe, just maybe, the Flyers just happen to have the Kraken's number.

Most likely not much will change for the Flyers tonight. They fought hard on this road trip and may want to maintain the status quo heading into Saturday's home opener. But who knows, with this crazy bunch.

Players to watch

Owen Tippett

Tippett is an incredibly important player if the whole thing is to work out. His mix of speed and size is well documented, but the tricky thing is that it just doesn't feel like it's clicking yet. In 53 minutes of play so far this season, the 25-year-old winger has nine shots on goal, 21 shot attempts, 10 chances to score, but only one highly dangerous chance. He sticks with what was his biggest concern: border violations.

Tippett now just needs to use his body to get to the dirty areas of the ice and score some goals. So many of his chances are low danger and have little chance of going in unless there is crazy traffic in front of the net that distracts the goalie.

But we're staying positive and saying all it takes is a very good game to feel great about the player again and Tippett feels he's on the verge of scoring twice.

Matvei Mikkov

Speaking of two goals, Michkov should look to build on his brace in Edmonton. He has two goals and three points in the first three games of his NHL career and often appears to be the most talented player on the ice.

Can he do the same in Seattle? He's already played against two playoff teams in Vancouver and Edmonton and now he's playing against a team that was well outside of the postseason last year. Basically, just keep doing what you're doing, Matvei, and it'll be a joy to watch. Maybe he just has a permanent spot in that department for all 82 games.

Shane Wright

On the other side of the ice, Shane Wright might be one of the more interesting stories. As one of the top picks a few years ago, he found his career start to be slower than most expected. After a fairly successful season in the AHL Coachella Valley, Wright made the Kraken squad out of camp but is scoreless in the first four games. But he has earned a place at the top and should start producing some performance sooner rather than later. Let's just hope his breakthrough doesn't come against the Flyers.

Planned lineups

Philadelphia Flyers

Owen Tippett – Morgan Frost – Matvei Michkov
Joel Farabee – Jett Luchanko – Travis Konecny
Tyson Foerster – Sean Couturier – Bobby Brink
Noah Cates-Scott Laughton-Garnet Hathaway

Cam York-Travis Sanheim
Erik Johnson-Jamie Drysdale
Egor Zamula – Rasmus Ristolainen

Ivan Fedotov
(Sam Ersson)

Seattle Kraken

Jared McCann – Shane Wright – Jordan Eberle
Eeli Tolvanen – Matty Beniers – Andre Burakovsky
Jaden Schwartz – Chandler Stephenson – Oliver Bjorkstrand
Tye Kartye – Yanni Gourde – Brandon Tanev

Vince Dunn-Adam Larsson
Jamie Oleksiak – Brandon Montour
Ryker Evans – Will Borgen

Joey Daccord
(Philip Grubauer)