Sean Couturier responds, Scott Laughton ends drought and other takeaways from Flyers’ win over Kraken

Standing at the podium in the Zack Hill Media Room on Saturday night, John Tortorella was content after the Flyers’ third straight win.

It was in stark contrast to just 48 hours prior, when he stood in the same spot and voiced his displeasure with his group in a 63-second media availability. In that game, the Flyers won 4-1 against the Winnipeg Jets but struggled over the final 40 minutes. That followed a Tuesday night contest where they came out flatter than flat against the Florida Panthers but played a fantastic second and third period for a 2-1 win.

“I thought we played a complete game,” Tortorella said following the Flyers’ 3-2 win against the Seattle Kraken. “I thought we had poise. I thought we stayed on our toes in the third period. Made some good puck plays when they tried to tie the game, so much better complete game.”

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The complete game included a pair of special team goals: one on the power play by Scott Laughton and a shorthanded marker by Ryan Poehling for the second straight game. It included the Kraken scoring twice to tie the game but the Flyers showing once again they’re a resilient bunch.

It showcased guys who have struggled to find their legs getting a jump-start, a team skating with four full lines (going with 12 forwards and six defensemen), and solid goaltending.

Here are three key guys from the Flyers’ win.

The last time Cal Petersen saw any time in an NHL game was two weeks ago in mop-up duty against the Boston Bruins when he allowed two goals on 14 shots. But the last time he started an NHL game was way back on Nov. 11 when he stymied his old buddies and handed the then red-hot Los Angeles Kings a 4-2 loss. That night he stopped 35.

He didn’t face as many shots on Saturday night — 19 total — but considering the up-and-down season he’s had it was enough to display his game.

“He was great; kept us in, made some big plays when we needed when we had breakdowns, and gave us a chance to stay in the lead most of the night,” Sean Couturier said. “Credit to him for sticking with it and being sharp and not always easy when you don’t play for a while, and I thought he did a great job.”

After starting 35 games in 2021-22 with the Kings, Petersen has started just 12 games since, including three with the Flyers since being acquired over the summer. His tenure this year in Lehigh Valley hasn’t been great either as he’s gone 5-8-2 with a 3.26 goals-against average and .890 save percentage.

But the guy in net at the Wells Fargo Center was laser-focused, moving and tracking the puck well, and consistently had the proper mechanics to make big-time saves. In the first period, he stopped Vince Dunn and Adam Larsson on back-to-back slap shots before stopping another slap shot by Dunn from the point with 4 minutes, 49 seconds left in the period.

“He was great, he was solid all night, made the saves when he had to [and] was good with the puck, I felt, handling it,” Laughton said. “Just a great guy that you want to play in front of. [He] has really fit in well with our group, even at the start of the year. So it’s been great to see him have a little bit of success here and keep it going. We’re going to need him.”

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The game was probably an audition for Petersen to be the backup to Sam Ersson and, as he said postgame, “It’s an opportunity I don’t want to let go to waste.” The goalie held his own. He made two quick saves, first on André Burakovsky followed by a blocker save on Kailer Yamamoto in the second period before stopping Jamie Oleksiak with 2:03 left in the period. This particular save showed just how dialed in Petersen was as he directed the point shot perfectly into the corner and away from the Kraken.

He only faced two shots in the final period, and one went in off the stick of Couturier. The other goal he allowed, in the opening frame, was on a shot by Tomas Tatar from the high slot through traffic.

“It’s been a challenging couple of years but, you know, I think it’s made me a lot stronger,” Petersen said. “A lot more of a passionate commitment to my craft and I think that’s just enjoying every opportunity that I get, enjoying the people around me, enjoying getting better every day and so that makes it easy when you wake up with a purpose.”

Speaking of Couturier, and up-and-down games, this one was just that for the forward — in a five-minute span in the third period.

Across the first two periods, Couturier struggled to get his game going. It’s something that has plagued him for a good stretch of the season. He’ll blame himself for the Tatar goal to tie things 1-1 as he attempted but missed a big hit into Matty Beniers in the corner; Beniers was the guy who ended up creating traffic in front of Petersen.

Just 36 seconds into the third period, with the Flyers up 2-1, he overskated a dump-in that caromed off the end boards and couldn’t handle the puck near the right faceoff circle. Seattle forward Jared McCann did and ended up scoring off the stick of Couturier.

That led to an earful from Tortorella on the bench, to which, when asked what the bench boss said, Couturier replied: “I don’t think you want to know.”

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But then, like clockwork, he ended up being the guy who scored the game-winner. Couturier won the faceoff back to Travis Konecny who sent it to his buddy Travis Sanheim at the point. The blue liner put the shot on goal and Couturier, who went to the net to create some traffic of his own after winning the faceoff, deflected the shot.

“Yeah, obviously it’s exciting, you want to score every game,” Couturier said. “But, yeah, it had been a while and I was just trying to do little things and keep myself involved, help the team in other ways, and just glad I could get that one back there.”

The goal was his 11th of the season and snapped an 11-game drought. He also stepped his game up after that and got key ice time as the Flyers were keeping the Kraken at bay with a 3-2 lead.

“I respect Coots, but I needed more out of him,” Tortorella said. “I was waiting most of the night for that to get going. He probably doesn’t need to hear it, but he probably will again if it happens that way.

“He’s a pro. He knows when things are going well, when he needs to do more. But it was frustrating for me because we needed him. … He’s a huge part to this team if we’re going to win, and he’s not allowed to have a bad night or take a night off. He’s not allowed. We just were not good enough for him to be average.”

And when Tortorella was asked about the reaction from Couturier after he scored:

“That was eff you to me,” Tortorella said with a gesture. “So be it. So be it. That’s part of it. That’s what I like about him though. He’s a crusty old pro. And he’s a huge part of this. I have a tremendous amount of respect for how he’s handled this year after taking two years off [due to a back injury]. But there’s no free passes, we need him terribly in games to be consistent.”

Another guy the Flyers need to get going is also a veteran in Scott Laughton. One of the best players on the ice for the Flyers on Saturday, especially in the first period, he ended a seven-game drought with a power-play goal to open the scoring.

“Hopefully that gets me going. Thought I was better five-on-five, moving my legs, and [it was] nice not to take a penalty tonight so that’s positive,” he said kind of tongue-in-cheek. “But, no, I felt good out there tonight … and when you score early in the game I think it kind of builds your confidence. Hopefully, this can kind of spring me into something here.”

Laughton’s game has certainly been inconsistent and mired in undisciplined penalties. In the last five games, he’s collected 12 penalty minutes. He already has 46 on the season, seven minutes shy of his career-high set in 2018-19.

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The centerman not only snapped a seven-goal goal drought but a seven-game point drought too. On and off the power play this season, Laughton finally notched his first with the man advantage after scoring five last year. It was also just his second power-play point since Nov. 30.

No wonder he let out a yell that probably echoed around Philadelphia.

“Just a long time coming, I think,” Laughton said. “Obviously, when you don’t score a whole ton, [I] get put on the power play tonight and get one, I was pretty fired up.”