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In one of their most complete games of the young season, the Flyers closed out a four-game homestand with a 5-2 win against a Seattle Kraken team that had yet to lose in regulation this season. It upped the Orange and Black’s record to 3-2-1. Here are three things that keyed the victory: » READ MORE: Owen Tippett fuels the Flyers’ offensive explosion in 5-2 win over Kraken Powered up Entering Monday night, the Flyers’ power play was in a familiar spot — last in the NHL at 6.7%. But after going 2-for-4 against the Kraken, it is now up to 15.8% and tied for 21st with the New York Islanders, who visit Xfinity Mobile Arena on Saturday (12:30 p.m., NBCSP). Tyson Foerster scored the first one after he and Bobby Brink got to work on the boards, transferring the connectivity that they have at five-on-five over to the power play.The play saw Foerster track down an errant pass in the corner and find a supporting Brink, who drew two Kraken defenders in before slipping it back to his linemate. The nifty give-and-go gave Foerster a ton of space in the left faceoff circle to pick the top corner. “Yeah, a little surprised cause I thought [Trevor] Zegras was open too,” Foerster said of all the time he had to shoot. “So it was either pick Zegras or shoot so I decided to shoot.” Foerster, whose goal came with seven seconds left on the power play, also gave props to his goalie, Dan Vladař, who stopped a two-on-one and a breakaway right before the Flyers got on the board. “Well, we wanted to give them a couple of breakaways and a two-on-one to loosen them up and then we started to go,” coach Rick Tocchet said sarcastically when asked if there was a change in strategy for Monday or just better execution. “No, obviously, it was a little hairy there. We weren’t too happy with it early.” Tocchet liked the movement of the power play overall, but wanted to see more. According to York, who got the primary assist on the Noah Cates tip-in goal 19 seconds into a second-period power play, the credit goes to the coaches. “I should have done it in the first period too, on Tyson’s first goal,” he said of putting the point shot on goal with traffic in front. “Didn’t [and] we watched it on video, and in the second period was able to capitalize on it. I’ve said it from the start, coaches have done a great job of making us look good out there, and I’ll give the credit to them on that one.” But Tocchet credited Trevor Zegras for paying attention to the pre-scout and using the information to set up York by drawing Kraken penalty killer Tye Kartye to him in the right faceoff circle. “That’s high-level play, is making a back pass through the top down,” said Tocchet, noting how the Kraken structure their penalty kill. “That’s a hard play and if you beat that play, you’re going to get that guy in the middle with all day for a shot. So, that’s the skill of Trevor, he can make that backhand pass to the middle guy.” Zegras has an assist in five straight games. Supporting Matvei There’s been a lot of questions about Matvei Michkov’s reads as of late but on Monday, not only did he read and react properly, it led to Travis Konecny’s first goal of the season. Owen Tippett, who remained red-hot with a pair of goals, skated a hard 34 seconds and got off the ice. It allowed Michkov to be out there with Konecny and Sean Couturier, until Couturier changed as the puck went back into the Flyers zone. » READ MORE: Here’s why Matvei Michkov found himself on the bench late in the Flyers’ latest victory What was not shown on the broadcast is that Michkov clearly processed that the center was changing and went back to the defensive zone to provide puck support. He swung low and turned up the right wing as two Kraken went to play the defenseman, who flipped the puck up in the air. It dropped and died in the neutral zone, allowing Michkov, who was skating north — another thing Tocchet has stressed to him — to pick up the puck. From there Michkov got to work, finding a trailing Egor Zamula before the defenseman, who used his patience to outwait a Kraken defender, found Konecny at the back post. “I did. Listen, he’s chipping away in his game, and that’s all we can ask for. We’re looking at inches for players, that’s another inch for him. ... So, yeah, he made some nice plays. He started to skate a little bit more north and stuff like that. But he makes a high-level play to Zamula. ... You skate, you make everyone drive [to you], and then you make the play. It’s when you don’t move the structure that he throws it in the middle and I think there’s a difference, and I think he’s starting to learn the difference.” ‘We are a family’ It’s been 23 years since Tocchet last played for the Flyers and his name is still atop the team’s record for most career penalty minutes. And despite being a guy with 172 career NHL fights (regular season and playoffs), according to hockeyhights.com, Tocchet swears, “We’re not preaching fighting.” What he is doing is “trying to create a culture and sticking together.” » READ MORE: The Flyers brought in a UFC fighter and a bare-knuckles boxer to teach them how to fight. Are the Bullies back? They definitely do that because after Nic Deslauriers dropped the gloves against Minnesota, and Matvei Michkov got a minor for going at Carolina Hurricanes forward William Carrier, who nailed Travis Konecny, and before Konecny got his own fighting major Monday after Kraken defenseman Ryan Lindgren cross-checked Couturier from behind, Nikita Grebenkin entered the chat. “It was awesome. Didn’t see it coming,” York said, summing it up perfectly. “But, he’s a feisty guy, I think, and anytime one of our guys gets hit like that, you want to stick up for him. It’s who we are here, we’re a family, and just part of what we do.” Playing in just his fourth game as a Flyer, Grebenkin made his presence known. After Garnet Hathaway was hit awkwardly, he instigated a fight with Cale Fleury and body slammed him to the ice. Grebenkin played just 7 minutes, 38 seconds -- he earned 17 minutes worth of penalty time for his fight -- but got his money’s worth as he endeared himself to his teammates and also made several nice plays, especially in the third period.
