The Philadelphia Flyers have finally snapped their 13 game winless streak, got their first win in 2022, their first win since December 29th, and their first home win since December 18th. It was an uphill battle for most of the game as the Los Angeles Kings really gave it to the Flyers, but Cam Atkinson’s 2 goals and game-winning assist, as well as Carter Hart’s sensational showing in net helped propel the Flyers to a much needed 4-3 win.
FIRST PERIOD
Perhaps it was the pre-game ceremony for Keith Yandle’s iron man streak, but the Flyers came out flying and that’s noteworthy considering how many times and how many games they’ve started slow and with an uneventful pace. 25 seconds into the game, Scott Laughton and Travis Konecny played give-and-go but Konecny was robbed in front by Jonathan Quick. The Kings matched their pace and chances and an Andreas Anthanasiou shot from the slot hit the post and Alex Iafallo, who found himself all alone in the slot on the power play, was robbed by Carter Hart.
After taking a very unnecessary penalty in the neutral zone, Gerry Mayhew paid back the favour in the form of a goal. The play all started with Zack MacEwen winning a puck battle at the blue line the defensive zone. He got the puck to Morgan Frost who made his way into the offensive zone, he stopped at the blue line, waited a little until he found Rasmus Ristolainen trailing into the zone. Ristolainen with a full head of steam maneuvered a fantastic move on Quinton Byfield, passed it to Gerry Mayhew at the side of the net and he made no mistake to give the Flyers an early 1-0 lead.
Losing 13 straight games and 24 of their last 29, the Flyers should’ve been pretty happy with their first 20 minutes. It was a fast paced period, several chances and dangerous ones at that, a very physical game to boot, and Carter Hart was sneaky good stopping all 11 shots thrown his way.
SECOND PERIOD
The first 10 minutes of the second period belonged to the Los Angeles Kings but unfortunately for them and their efforts, Hart wasn’t budging. The Flyers opened the period with a power play that was drawn by a penalty taken with 3 seconds left in the first period. The Kings had the first 2 scoring chances, one with a bouncing shot towards Hart by Phillip Danault, the second being the more dangerous rebound opportunity.
The Kings got a power play of their own shortly after and even though they had a few chances, most of them were kept to the outside or were blocked away. The pace didn’t change all that much after the kill for the Flyers but they got a fortuitous bounce from a designed play by Claude Giroux. He sent a bouncing puck towards Jonathan Quick who wasn’t quick enough to read the bounce. Cam Atkinson, who followed the play the whole way, was right in the slot and slammed home the rebound and the Flyers all of a sudden had a 2-0 lead.
The Scott Laughton – Travis Konecny – James van Riemsdyk line have had several chances throughout but have been clearly snakebitten. In the offensive zone once again, jamming away at the loose puck, it ended up on Konecny’s stick but he turned it over to Trevor Moore. Entering the offensive zone, he dropped the puck to Danault who was working in close quarters with Cam York.
Unbeknownst to York, Yandle and Moore were tied up together behind him. For whatever reason Yandle stuck to the same side of the ice as York, while the other half was completely open. Upon losing his edge with Moore, Danault had no problem finding Sean Durzi wide open who then made a fake-shot-pass move in front of Hart to a wide open Viktor Arvidsson on the side. He cut the deficit to one and scored his 3rd goal in 2 games against the Flyers this season. The Kings gained all the momentum imaginable that period but the Flyers were lucky enough to escape the 2nd frame still up on the scoreboard.
THIRD PERIOD
An almost identical start from the second period, the third period was all LA as they really started to take control of the game. A failed Flyers power play, only their 3rd opportunity in their last 3 games, didn’t help the cause either. Couldn’t win the face-offs, couldn’t enter the zone, and couldn’t set up. The Kings, once the penalty was killed off, hemmed the Flyers in their own zone several times but Carter Hart kept things shut.
After the Flyers were called for a penalty, one that was a little questionable, the Kings coughed up the puck after they won the face-off. A failed bank pass to Drew Doughty after the face-off men were tied up, the puck exited the zone and Cam Atkinson beat out Doughty for the race. He made on move on Quick who stopped the first shot with his glove but Atkinson remained persistent and banked in the rebound.
However, it only took the Kings 45 seconds to cancel out Atkinson’s goal and cut the deficit back to one. After quickly setting up in the offensive zone, Sean Durzi’s point shot banked off the boards right to Arthur Kaliyev. He took a quick shot himself, noticing the bodies in front of the net and luckily for him it hit the shin pad of Arvidsson, as he picked up his second goal of the game and 4th against the Flyers this season.
With 37.4 seconds left in regulation and with the goalie being pulled with 2:24 remaining, the Kings’ relentless pressure finally paid off as Anze Kopitar tied things up. The Flyers had a few chances to score an empty net goal, especially with their active sticks, but Sean Durzi won all footraces to the puck. Drew Doughty’s blast was stopped by Hart with the rebound going to Trevor Moore in the slot. His shot was blocked by Ristolainen who’s clearing attempt bounced off of Giroux and landed right to Kopitar. Hart was on his pants so he didn’t really have the best chance to stop the puck as the Kings found a way to tie the game and send it to overtime.
OVERTIME
Some very nifty passing from Scott Laughton, Ivan Provorov, and Cam Atkinson proved to be the kill-shot in overtime as the Flyers finally won a game in 2022. As Provorov entered the zone he passed it to Laughton who made a move on Adrian Kempe. He dropped the puck to Cam Atkinson who took the shot, it was stopped by Quick but Laughton raced to the net and deposited the rebound.
Carter Hart stopped 37 shots, Cam Atkinson scored 2 goals and recorded an assist, Gerry Mayhew and Scott Laughton scored the remaining goals, with Claude Giroux, Morgan Frost, Rasmus Ristolainen, and Ivan Provorov picking up assists.
UP NEXT
Up next for the Flyers is their last game before the All-Star break as they face off against the Winnipeg Jets on Tuesday at home.
