The Philadelphia Flyers are now winners of back-to-back games after they defeated the Los Angeles Kings by a score of 4-2. It was a game where the Kings were very dominant in pockets but the Flyers were able to flex their muscles and pounce on their opportunities.
The Kings fired 37 shots towards Cal Petersen, who made 35 saves for his first win as a member of the Flyers. Owen Tippett opened the scoring on a breakaway in the first period before Morgan Frost scored 2 goals in the second to give the Flyers a 3-0 lead.
Carl Grundström would cut the deficit to 2 before Cam Atkinson scored a backbreaker midway through the third period. Adrian Kempe responded in quick order but the Flyers hung on for their 7th win of the season. Sean Walker added 2 helpers, Nick Seeler, Travis Konecny, and Sean Couturier each had an assist apiece, and Travis Sanheim once again paced the club with 26:46 TOI.
The Flyers power play went 0-4 but it was their play without the extra man that was the focus tonight as they entered the game with the 6th most goals while playing on even strength.
The Flyers were looking for blood yet again as they were given another opportunity to exact revenge on a California team that made them look silly on home less than a week ago. The Kings defeated the Flyers 5-0 at the Wells Fargo Center the last time they played but after defeating the Anaheim Ducks 6-3, there was a rare opportunity for the club to secure a winning record on the dreaded California road trip.
Carter Hart who was set to start last night’s game in Anaheim was after missing time with a mid-body injury fell ill and Samuel Ersson filled in admirably. Hart, who was originally confirmed to start tonight, was ruled out with an illness again and made way for Cal Petersen. The Flyers also decided to sit Bobby Brink and Egor Zamula in lieu of Ryan Poehling and Victor Mete – with the latter making his Flyers debut.
Tyson Foerster remained on the top line with Sean Couturier and Cam Atkinson, Morgan Frost was in between Travis Konecny and Owen Tippett, Ryan Poehling was centering Scott Laughton and Joel Farabee, and Noah Cates was demoted to the fourth line with Nicolas Deslauriers and Garnet Hathaway. Victor Mete, who replaced Zamula, was paired up with Sean Walker.
The 8-2-3 Kings on the other hand held the 4th-best record in the NHL coming into the tonight’s game and once again possessed one of the most balanced attacks. Adrian Kempe paced the club with 15 points, Kevin Fiala and Anže Kopitar had 14 apiece, and Quinton Byfield and Trevor Moore had 12 points each. Cam Talbot, who shut out the Flyers in their last meeting, came into tonight’s contest with a 7-2-1 record, 2.02 GAA, and .930 SV%.
FIRST PERIOD
The big, bad Los Angeles Kings, who entered tonight on an 8-game point streak (6-0-2), started out the game with all the momentum, offensive zone pressure, and everything in between. Just a little over 2 minutes into the game, Blake Lizotte ripped a shot from the slot that was stopped by Cal Petersen but had squeaked through and rolled onto the blue paint – fortunately Petersen was able to recover before the Black and Silver jerseys swarmed. As we entered the first commercial break, the Kings had a 3-0 shot advantage through 8 minutes.
The Flyers who had not much going for them offensively jumped to the races to nab a 1-0 lead with 5 minutes left to play in the first period, courtesy of Owen Tippett.
Sean Walker blocked an Andreas Englund slap-shot and in effect was able to push the puck ahead to Tippett, who found himself on a breakaway before beating Cam Talbot through his seven-hole as the puck just trickled in through his arm. Tippett’s goal was his 5th of the season and 3rd in the last 2 periods of game action.
With just 23 seconds left, Sean Walker was called for a hooking minor, sending the Kings and their 17th-ranked power play onto the ice. The period ended with the Flyers up 1-0, the Kings up 9-8 on the shot-clock (29-12 in shot attempts) and 12-6 on the face-off dot. Credit to the Flyers who bounced back after a sluggish start and took control of the back half of the period.
SECOND PERIOD
After the Kings had several dangerous scoring chances on the power play, the Flyers were able to counter with their strong even-strength play. The Flyers scored the 6th-most even-strength goals this season coming into tonight, which only proves how fatal their powerless power play has been.
Nevertheless, the Flyers continued to come in waves after the Scott Laughton, Ryan Poehling, and Joel Farabee line got things cooking in the period. A few minutes later, Morgan Frost scored his first goal of the season after using his speed to confound Talbot.
The play started in the defensive zone with none other than Sean Walker, whose outlet pass to Owen Tippett was one touched to Frost as he entered the zone with speed. He forced Talbot out of his crease and ended up whipping his wrap-around attempt off Jordan Spence and into the open cage 6:26 into the middle frame.
With 7:35 remaining in the period, Nick Seeler was high-sticked by Kevin Fiala, sending the struggling unit onto the ice looking to snap their 0-for-21 funk. They fired one shot on goal but still remained discombobulated with the extra man.
Once again the even-strength play came to the forefront after the Flyers staked a 3-0 lead with 3:30 remaining in the period. After Travis Konecny entered the zone and avoided a check along the boards, he went around the net before setting up Nick Seeler’s bomb from the point that was deflected in front by Frost for his 2nd of the period.
1:36 later, the Los Angeles Kings cut the deficit back to 2 goals after Carl Grundström netted his 6th of the season past a bewildered Petersen. It looked like a very harmless play as the Kings were transitioning from defense to offense but as Grundström entered the zone he quickly released the puck from the point through 2 defenders which handcuffed Petersen as it went through his arm and in.
The Flyers entered the 2nd intermission with a 3-1 lead but the Kings had a 20-7 shot advantage in the period and 29-15 (66-27 shot attempts) through 40 minutes.
THIRD PERIOD
1:33 into the final period of regulation, Sean Walker skied a rolling a puck over the glass for a delay of game minor. The Flyers survived with another strong penalty kill, keeping the score at 3-1.
After Tyson Foerster forced a turnover behind the Kings’ net on Vladislav Gavrikov, he tried to slam home the puck but it hit the side of the net. He corralled the rebound and fed the puck to Sean Couturier on the other side, who found Cam Atkinson streaking into the slot for a one-time finish to give the Flyers a 4-1 lead with 12:57 left to play.
With 10:10 remaining, the Kings cut the deficit back to 2 – again – as Adrian Kempe added to his team lead in points. The Flyers tried reversing the puck out of the zone as Couturier’s attempt reached Atkinson but bounced over his stick which allowed the Kings to set up again. Gavrikov received the puck and sent a pass to Quinton Byfield, who deftly tipped it towards the net to Kempe for the easy finish.
8:55 left to play in regulation and the Kings were guilty of a too many men on the ice minor after coming within inches of making it a one-goal game. The top unit set up for the first half of the power play and were zipping passes around but were hesitant on taking shots.
As the second unit came on, Travis Konecny took a slashing penalty with 20 seconds remaining to mitigate the man advantage. The Kings had their chances but Petersen’s strong night continued as he made the stops without allowing the rebounds.
With 4:45 left to play in regulation, Trevor Moore was sent to the penalty box for a double minor high sticking infraction. The first minute was horrid as Travis Sanheim broke his stick right away they won the face-off on his one-time attempt. It took them over 2 and a half minutes to set back up but it became evident midway through that they changed their tactics to play more conservative and defensively with not much time left.
In the end, the Flyers were able to stick with their guns and exacted revenge on back to back nights, defeating the Kings on home ice, something L.A. has now experienced for the 6th time in 7 games this season.
UP NEXT
The Flyers are off until Wednesday night when they head out to Raleigh, North Carolina to face the Carolina Hurricanes (7:30pm ET, NBCSP) as they look to finish the road trip on an even higher note.
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