The woes continue for the Philadelphia Flyers as they dropped their third straight contest, second in as many nights, and sixth in their last eight games after dropping another one on Thursday against the Los Angeles Kings by a score of 7-3.
It was a back and forth affair until the midway mark of the third period as we saw several lead changes through the first 42 minutes. Kevin Fiala started the scoring in the first period before Noah Cates tied things up. Tanner Jeannot regained the lead before Tyson Foerster scored twice to tie it and then give the Flyers their first advantage of the night.
Anže Kopitar scored the first of two goals with just 43 seconds left in the second to tie things up before Warren Foegele reclaimed the Kings’ 1-goal lead early in the third. Kopitar would add another midway through the third to strengthen their lead.
Qunton Byfield scored into an empty netter before Fiala scored his second of the night 69 seconds apart to finish off the game in style.
Aleksei Kolosov allowed 6 goals on 26 shots while Darcy Kuemper earned the win after allowing 3 goals on 26 shots.
Looking to reverse their fortunes in short order, the Flyers returned home to welcome the Kings in their second leg of a back-to-back after being taken down 6-4 on Wednesday in Detroit.
The Flyers made a few changes from Wednesday’s lineup with the obvious one being in goal as Aleksei Kolosov earned the start. The more surprising (but not really) move was Cam York sitting out for Emil Andrae after the former was benched for the last 27 minutes of last night’s contest after an egregious turnover cost the Flyers dearly. The latter returned to the lineup after a 3-game hiatus in the press box.
While the lines were juggled in the third period, John Tortorella went back to how things started in Detroit – and the previous two weeks.
As for the Kings, they entered Thursday’s contest with an 18-9-4 record and had won 7 of their previous 8 games before losing to the Pittsburgh Penguins in overtime their last time out on Tuesday night. Darcy Kuemper earned his 3 straight start in goal and 5th over his last 6 games as he looked to improve on his 7-2-4 record, 2.32 GAA, and .912 SV%. As for the offense, they were paced by Anže Kopitar and his 27 assists and 35 points in 31 games, Adrian Kempe with his 16 goals and 31 points, and Alex Laferriere and his 12 goals and 22 points.
FIRST PERIOD
In a rather fast paced first period, the Los Angeles Kings made the first noticeable play of the period at the 10:53 mark after Kevin Fiala finished off his breakaway attempt with a nice backhand deke past Aleksei Kolosov. Fiala was set up perfectly by a stretch pass from Philip Danault after Travis Sanheim’s failed dump-in was blocked just inside the Kings’ blue-line.
Noah Cates tied the game up 3:18 later after a nifty move of his own in tight on Darcy Kuemper. Tyson Foerster pushed the puck into the offensive zone, where Bobby Brink did the rest with a fantastic play along the boards to set up the goal. Cates has now scored in back to back games, it was his 3rd goal in 5 games, and it was the Flyers’ first shot in over 8 minutes.
The period came to a close with both teams tied at 1-apiece and the Kings up on the shot clock 11-9.
SECOND PERIOD
91 seconds into the middle frame, the Kings retook the lead after Tanner Jeannot whacked a loose puck while in the blue paint through the wickets of Kolosov for his 4th of the season. The initial wrap-around attempt from Warren Foegele hit off of Jamie Drysdale’s skate, which caused a little bit of confusion in tight.
With 10:44 remaining, Foerster was called for the game’s first penalty with a high-sticking minor against Fiala. Seconds after killing off the penalty, the Flyers tied the game once again after Foerster jumped out of the box and finished off a bang-bang play in front of the net.
Foerster and Scott Laughton forced a turnover at the blue-line, raced down before Laughton fired a slap shot from deep, he followed his own rebound and redirected his wrap-around attempt that Foerster was able to find and slam home for the finish at the 11:30 mark.
With 7:03 left to play, Jeannot was sent to the box for a tripping minor. While they weren’t able to chip in on the man advantage, Foerster notched his second goal of the period after finishing off a play in front of the net just 7 seconds after the expiration of the minor.
It was set up by a fantastic pass from Morgan Frost behind the net who out-waited a couple defenders before finding Foerster for his 8th of the season.
After a fantastic second period, the Flyers let the Kings back into the game after Anže Kopitar took advantage of a fortuitous bounce and snuck a puck past Kolosov with just 43 seconds left. The Belarusian goaltender lunged towards a puck coming his way but failed to secure it, which allowed Kopitar to get behind the goaltender and slide the loose puck in tight.
The period came to a close with both teams tied once again, this time at 3-apiece. The Flyers were rolling for most of the middle frame and had a 15-7 edge in shots but the Kings came right back with a momentum killing goal in the final minute.
THIRD PERIOD
1:54 into the final frame, Foegele reclaimed the Kings’ 1-goal lead after a nifty deflection from a point shot that was assuredly going well wide of the net. The Kings did get some help from the Flyers as the puck initially hit Ryan Poehling’s stick, which redirected it towards Foegele.
At the 6:01 mark of the period, Jacob Moverare was called for a tripping minor against Brink behind his own net. it was certainly a good opportunity for the Flyers to get their first shot of the period, however it was as dysfunctional as ever as they created nothing and ended up just wasting 2 minutes off the clock.
The Kings then doubled their lead midway through the period after Alex Turcotte took advantage of some sleepy defenders as he showed off some of his explosive speed dashing through the defense before feeding Kopitar for his second of the night.
Quinton Byfield and Fiala scored 69 seconds apart, the former scoring into an empty net and the latter scoring with a goaltender in net to secure the massive victory for the Kings.
UP NEXT
The Flyers take on the Columbus Blue Jackets on Saturday night (7:00pm; NBCSP) at Wells Fargo Center.
You must be logged in to post a comment Login