Flyers battle back to force a shootout, but lose eighth straight game in 3-2 defeat vs. Kraken

During the second period, The Black Crowes’ “Hard to Handle” blared from the speakers. “Actions speak louder than words,” Chris Robinson sang.

Indeed.

The Flyers have said all the right words during the seven game winless streak, but on Tuesday, despite losing 3-2 in a shootout on a goal by Bobby McMann, they took action and battled back to get a loser point.

They still do not have a win, and Philly is now 0-5-3 on the season.

» READ MORE: Flyers say their winless start hasn’t fractured the locker room ‘one ounce’: ‘We’re all in this together’

Down 2-0 in the middle frame, the Flyers showed more fight than they had all season, and the crowd appreciated it as they pressured the Kraken and controlled play shift-after-shift.

Then Trevor Zegras became a catalyst. In his best game of the season, the forward had his legs all night and got under the skin of Kraken goalie Philipp Grubauer.

During the second period, Zegras went to the net and jabbed at the puck after tipping a shot by Sean Couturier — his center in the game. Grubauer, who had the puck, took offense and went after Zegras, leading to a scrum. The Flyers forward was the only one handed a penalty.

The Flyers went down two men when Noah Cates was called for tripping, but the Orange and Black killed the penalties off. Zegras came out of the box, got the puck immediately, and got a shot on goal that Grubauer stopped before dropping the puck after the whistle. Zegras went to the net and flicked the loose puck back at Grubauer, leading to another encounter that saw each get a penalty.

Philadelphia Flyers right wing Owen Tippett shoots during the first period.Read moreMonica Herndon / Staff Photographer

It seemed to spark the hometown team — and maybe got the German netminder off his game — and in the third period, the Flyers broke through.

Christian Dvorak scored for the second straight game to cut into the lead. Defenseman Oliver Bonk, skating in his second game of the season, had the puck deep in the Flyers’ end and reversed when Seattle forward Ryan Winterton came at him. As Bonk’s jersey fluttered behind him, he carried the puck behind his own net and up the ice as Winterton tried to chase him down.

Bonk stumbled in the neutral zone but stayed with it down the left boards before sending a no-look backhand pass that made it through bodies and all the way across to Dvorak, who shot it off the pass, causing the building to erupt.

Seventy-three seconds later, they got even louder as Zegras tied the game 2-2.

Skating four-on-four, Owen Tippett got the puck in the neutral zone and chipped it over to Travis Sanheim as he was picking up steam behind him. The defenseman squeezed past Vince Dunn, stopped at the right post, and hit Zegras as he charged down the middle.

Suiting up for his first NHL game since March 28 with the Florida Panthers, Jack Studnicka took a tripping penalty in the neutral zone during his second shift. The Flyers’ penalty kill has been somewhat of a bright spot at 80.8%, but on the ensuing power play, McMann sent the puck past goalie Dan Vladař to give Seattle a 1-0 lead in the first period.

» READ MORE: How does the Flyers' franchise-worst winless start compare to some of the city's other pro sports teams?

The goal came on a broken play as Kraken’s Jordan Eberle tried to walk out and the puck popped up off the stick of Simon Benoit. Noel Acciari tried to knock it out of the air, but it dropped and bounced to McMann, who found some daylight on a quick strike from the right circle.

In the second period, with it still 1-0 Seattle, Vladař came up with the biggest save of this season. The Kraken regrouped in their own end as the Flyers changed shifts, giving Adam Larsson time and space to hit a wide-open Eberle on a stretch pass that put him ahead of the defense.

The former New York Islander skated in and was slashed on the hands by Jamie Drysdale but still got a shot on goal that Vladař kicked out. Eberle was awarded a penalty shot but was shut down by Vladař with a mini-scorpion-like save after he tried to poke check the puck as the forward cut across the crease.

That’s the kind of save that gets a team going, and the line of Cates, Matvei Michkov, and Porter Martone had a strong shift, with Benoit putting a blast on net, but less than three minutes after the penalty shot, the Kraken doubled their lead. Ville Ottavainen’s point shot got through as Matthew Beniers and Benoit screened Vladař.

Vladař had the secondary assist on Dvorak’s goal for his first point as a Flyer. … Michkov undressed and went five-hole to beat Grubauer to tie the shootout before McMann scored in the fifth round. … The Flyers killed off a too man men penalty in overtime.

The Flyers head to Hockeytown to take on the Detroit Red Wings on Thursday (7:30 p.m., ESPN+, Hulu).