Kraken lose in big in Hakstol’s return to Philadelphia

By Dan Gelston / Associated Press

PHILADELPHIA — Claude Giroux and Travis Konecny scored, former Everett Silvertip Carter Hart stopped 24 shots and the Flyers spoiled former coach Dave Hakstol’s return to Philadelphia with a 6-1 win over the Seattle Kraken on Monday night.

Joel Farabee, Derick Brassard, Ryan Ellis and Justin Braun also scored for the Flyers.

Carson Soucy scored the first goal in four games for a Kraken defenseman in team history.

Hakstol was hired by the Flyers in 2015 right out of a college job at North Dakota and fired in December 2018 after he went 134-101-42, coaching the third-most games in franchise history behind Fred Shero and Mike Keenan — and the most for the Flyers without winning a playoff series.

He couldn’t win in his return with Seattle, either.

The Flyers scored three times in the first period and treated the Kraken like a run-of-the-mill expansion franchise, not as an instant contender, such as the Vegas Golden Knights.

Hakstol caught up with some of his former players at the morning skate and had brief conversations before moving on to prep his current team. Only three years later, just nine players remain from his final game in Philly.

“It’s different seeing him on a different team when you had him for so long,” Konecny said. “It’s pretty cool for him to have that job now and step in as a head coach again. Hopefully, it goes well for him, just not tonight.”

Giroux scored a one-timer off a give-and-go for his second goal of the season and Konecny buried one from the slot. Brassard scored his first goal as a Flyer off his own rebound, and soon the only thing expanding in Seattle was its deficit.

Ellis added his first goal as a Flyer on a shot that not even Shawn Kemp could block and it was 4-0 in the second. Braun made it 5-0 and chased Kraken goalie Philipp Grubauer with 11:11 left in the second.

Hakstol was never more welcome in Philly.

“We’ve got a lot of a lot of great memories here and good friends, and obviously as you get to get to this time of day it kind of flips right to the competition of the game tonight,” Hakstol said before the game.

Hakstol moved to Toronto as an assistant and is now tasked with trying to move the needle in Seattle. The 53-year-old Hakstol was a surprise choice as Seattle’s first coach, at least to those outside the front office.

Hakstol always said he wanted to coach again, and the Kraken are counting on him to have the success he failed to find in Philly. He worked with Flyers coach Alain Vigneault at the 2019 World Championships

“He loves a good martini, I know that,” Hakstol said. “Everybody has their own way. He’s extremely well prepared, he’s very set in his core beliefs, and he communicates that really well. For me, those things stand out.”