Postgame 5: Flyers Suffer 7-3 Loss to LA

A four-goal explosion by the Los Angeles Kings in the third period sent the Philadelphia Flyers to a 7-3 loss on Thursday at Wells Fargo Center. The game was tied at 1-1 after the first period and 3-3 at the second intermission.

Philadelphia and Los Angeles traded off a goal apiece in the first period. The Flyers generated four of the game's first five shots on goal before LA had their first push. Overall, shots on goal were 11-9 in the Kings' favor in the opening 20 minutes.

A Travis Sanheim turnover on the offensive boards led to a breakaway goal for Kevin Fiala (11th of the season) in transition at 10:53. The lone assist went to Phillip Danault for the intercept and breakout pass to send Fiala past Jamie Drysdale.

Noah Cates (4th) made it goals in back-to-back games by scoring on a backhander near the net at 14:11. The assists went to Bobby Brink and Tyson Foerster. The play started by winning a battle in the neutral zone before Brink found Cates with a lane to the net.

The middle frame was a mirror image of the first. This time, LA had a very fast start then Philly took over as the period moved along. However, the Kings finished strong. The Flyers trailed 2-1, scoring the next two goals to grab a 3-2 lead before the Kings tied the game again in the final minute. Second period shots on goal were 15-7 Flyers (24-18 Flyers overall).

Philly turned the puck over in their end on the first shift of the second period, leading to heavy pressure by LA. Joel Farabee blocked a shot in close as the Kings had four shot attempts in the opening 39 seconds.

At 1:31, the Kings made it 2-1. The puck bounced off the end boards in front and went off Drysdale's skate in the blue paint. Tanner Jeannot (4th) jammed the puck past Aleksei Kolosov. The helpers went to Warren Foegele and Jordan Spence. The sequence started with Morgan Frost losing a defensive zone faceoff.

After a steal in the defensive zone, Bobby Brink soloed for a breakaway chance that was denied by Darcy Kuemper. Right near the seven-minute mark, Sean Couturier came a fraction of an inch from scoring on a deflection of a Travis Sanheim point shot.

LA went to the game's first power play at 9:16 on a Foerster high sticking minor against Fiala in the neutral zone. As the penalty expired, the Kings turned the puck over at the attacking blueline. At the other end after a hustling Scott Laughton created an initial chance, Foerster scored in front (7th) to tie the game at 2-2. The lone assist went to Laughton at 11:30.

The Flyers went to their first power play on a Jeannot tripping minor called at the 12:57 mark. Seven seconds after the power play expired -- following very heavy pressure by the second unit -- the Flyers scored to grab a 3-2 lead at 15:03. With Foerster parked in the low slot, Frost made a quick centering feed from behind the net that Foerster buried (8th) for his second goal of the period. The secondary assist went to Owen Tippett.

LA re-tied the game with 43.1 seconds remaining in the second period. As with their second goal, it started with LA (Anze Kopitar) winning an offensive zone faceoff. Kolosov was unable to reel in a slow-moving point shot and Kings captain Kopitar (9th) rammed home the puck in front at 19:16. The assists went to Alex Laferriere and Vladislav Gavrikov.

The wheels fell off the Flyers in the third period. Shots on goal were 8-2 Kings and tallies were 4-0.

At 1:42, with a defender caught out of position, Kolosov made a point-blank save on Quinton Byfield. The Kings won the ensuing faceoff and the puck was double-deflected into the net off Ryan Poehling and Warren Foegele (9th). The assists went to Spence and Jacob Moverare.

Moverare went to the penalty box for tripping at 6:02. This power play generated no pressure. It wasn't until nine-and-a-half minutes into the third period that the Flyers generated a shot on goal.

Kopitar (10th) tallied off a give-and-go with Alex Turcotte for his second goal of the game and a 5-3 lead at 10:39. Emil Andrae took himself out of position outside the dots, and the Flyers were left scrambling from there. The secondary assist went to Gavrikov.

With the Flyers attacking 6-on-5, Byfield poked the puck away from Drysdale at the right point and sped north to eventually score (5th) an unassisted empty net goal at 16:23. At 17:34, the Flyers were caught as spectators as Fiala (12th) had a slam dunk off a Laferriere pass. The secondary assist went to Brandt Clarke to open a 7-3 bulge.

Kolosov finished with 20 saves on 26 shots. Darcy Kuemper stopped 23 of 26 shots.

FLYERS STARTING LINEUP

86 Joel Farabee - 14 Sean Couturier - 11 Travis Konecny

74 Own Tippett - 48 Morgan Frost - 39 Matvei Michkov

71 Tyson Foerster - 27 Noah Cates- 10 Bobby Brink

21 Scott Laughton - 25 Ryan Poehling - 19 Garnet Hathaway

6 Travis Sanheim - 9 Jamie Drysdale

24 Nick Seeler - 55 Rasmus Ristolainen

36 Emil Andrae - 5 Egor Zamula

35 Aleksei Kolosov

[33 Samuel Ersson]

PP1: Drysdale, Brink, Couturier, Konecny, Michkov
PP2: Zamula, Tippett, Frost, Farabee, Foerster

Scratches: 8 Cam York healthy), 77 Erik Johnson (healthy), 44 Nicolas Deslauriers (IR), 82 Ivan Fedotov (healthy).

TURNING POINT

The goal in the final minute of the second period gave the Kings a big boost heading into the final stanza. The rest of the game was all LA.

POSTGAME 5 ("5 Things" Revisited)

1. Koly the Goalie: Just as Wednesday's game in Detroit was a rough one for Samuel Ersson after a solid first period, Kolosov couldn't stop the bleeding in this match. The Kopitar goal late in the second period opened the floodgates for the Kings.

2. Flyers puck management: For the second straight game, the Flyers had too many turnovers and scrambled coverages to pull out a winnable hockey game.

3. Line combinations and defense pairs: After being benched for the duration of the third period on Wednesday in Detroit, Cam York was a DND against the Kings on Thursday. Emil Andrae (a healthy scratch the three previous games) re-entered the lineup. Up front, the personnel remained the same as Wednesday.

4. Flyers special teams: Philly went 0-for-2 on the power play and 1-for-1 on the penalty kill. Although both of Foerster's goals in the second period were 5-on-5 tallies, they came just a few seconds after strong finishes to a penalty kill and a power play. Philadelphia's second power play of the game was a negative momentum segment, however.

5. Behind enemy lines: Kopitar: The Kings captain, a likely future Hockey Hall of Famer, did not have his usual dominating night on faceoffs (10-for-25) but was otherwise Mr. Everything for his team in the game.