POSTGAME 5: Year-Ending Win in LA, 4-2

The Philadelphia Flyers closed out the 2022 calendar year with a 4-2 win over the Los Angeles Kings at Crypto.com Arena on Saturday afternoon. Philadelphia came back from deficits of 1-0 and 2-0 to forge ahead in the third period.

Owen Tippett had an outstanding game, with a goal, an assist, a couple of excellent defensive plays and strong forechecking work. A seeing-eye shorthanded goal by Noah Cates (1g. 1a) midway through the third period proved to be the game winner. The Flyers also got a first-period power play goal by Scott Laughton and a strong game in goal by Samuel Ersson.
Overall, it was a strong team-wide effort from the Flyers up and down the lineup. The team got itself in early penalty trouble, yielded an early 5-on-3 goal, and then went on to win the special teams battle on the day.
For the Flyers (13-17-7), it marks their first back-to-back wins since Nov 5 in Ottawa and Nov. 8 at home against St. Louis. Cates' shorthanded goal was the Flyers' seventh of the season, tying them for the most in the NHL. The loss by LA (21-13-6) ended the Kings' home winning streak. The shorthanded goal they allowed was the sixth the Kings have allowed in 2022-23.
In the first period, a 5-on-3 power play goal by Adrian Kempe (14th) was answered by a 5-on-4 power play marker by Laughton (8th). Less than a minute after the Laughton goal, LA went ahead again on a transition goal by Phillip Danault (12th).
While the first period was filled with penalties and special teams play, the second period was tighter-checking and faster moving. Tippett (12th) forged a 2-2 tie at 9:02.
At 13:01 of the third period, a seeing-eye shorthanded goal by Cates (4th) put the Flyers ahead, 3-2. Travis Konecny (18th) added a shorthanded goal.
Samuel Ersson got better and better as the game went along. In earning the win, he stopped 27 of 29 shots.Ersson stopped each of the final 20 shots he faced including several tough chances. Jonathan Quick, whose last win was on Dec. 1, stopped 19 of 22 shots in taking the loss.
The Flyers went 1-for-3 on the power play. The Kings were 1-for-5 but the Flyers killed off each of the final four and got the vital shorthanded goal that proved to be the game-winner.
FLYERS STARTING LINEUP
86 Joel Farabee - 49 Noah Cates - 11 Travis Konecny
25 James van Riemsdyk - 48 Morgan Frost - 74 Owen Tippett
13 Kevin Hayes - 21 Scott Laughton - 57 Wade Allison
44 Nicolas Deslauriers - 38 Patrick Brown - 17 Zack MacEwen
9 Ivan Provorov - 45 Cam York
6 Travis Sanheim - 77 Tony DeAngelo
24 Nick Seeler - 55 Rasmus Ristolainen
33 Samuel Ersson
[32 Felix Sandström]
TURNING POINT
Cates' shorthanded goal was the one that swung a 2-2 deadlock in their favor after Philly had not led at all in the first 53 minutes of the game. That has to be the pick for the pivotal play of the game.
However, don't overlook the importance of the Tippett goal -- created through some outstanding puckhandling work and an even better shot -- to tie the game at 2-2. The second period was one without a lot of prime scoring chances and this play enabled Philly to win the period on the scoreboard.
MELTZER'S TAKE
1) The Cates line started the game with a lengthy possession shift in the LA end. Two shifts later, after a Wade Allison turnover in the neutral zone, Matt Roy fired the first shot on Ersson's net. On the next shift, the Kings' fourth line hemmed in the Patrick Brown line.
At 3:29. Ersson stopped a pinching Dought on the doorstep; the game's first high-danger scoring chance. At 4:35, Hayes knocked the puck free from Sean Wakjer and Allison had a swipe in front of the net. Shots on goal were 3-3 at this point.
Philly registered seven of the game's first eight credited hits: two by Konecny and five others with one apiece.
Hayes and Allison collided and fell down in the LA zone -- the third time a Flyers player went down in that area of the ice without being hit -- and the Kings had a transition chance the other way. LA had six of the first 10 shots overall. Allison went down the tunnel briefly and soon returned.
Cam York was called for tripping Kevin Fiala at 8:41, halting a potential 3-on-2 rush and putting the Kings on the game's first power play. Just eight seconds later, the Kings went on a 1:52 length two-man advantage as Konecny was called on a very marginal tripping penalty on Alex Iafallo.
Ristolainen blocked a shot early on the 3-on-5. Laughton won a puck battle and got a clear. The Kings got set up halfway through the York penalty. Kempe received a Doughty pass at the bottom of the right circle and he snapped a shot under Ersson's arm at 9:46. The goalie got a piece of the puck but not enough..Fiala got the secondary assist.
On the ensuing 5-on-4, the Kings got the benefit of a missed hand-pass call on a puck that went off Sean Durzi to Laughton. The faceoff was moved to center ice after a quick conference by the officials. The final three seconds were wiped out by an interference penalty on Grundström against Cates off a faceoff in the Flyers' zone.
The Flyers went to the power play. On three separate well-orchestrated plays, Konecny, Hayes and then JVR had scoring chances. With PP2 on the ice, Laughton tied the game at 12:15. Tippett won a puck down low and sent it out to York at the point, York teed up a one-timer for Laughton, who drilled it home from the right circle. The assists went to York and Tippett.
Danault untied the game at 13:12. DeAngelo pinched in but didn't come up with the puck along the right side boards. With DeAngelo trapped above the puck, Danault skated up ice. Arvidsson passed ahead back to Danault, beating the defensive support attempt by Cates. From the deep left slot, Danault fired a shot that beat Ersson low to the glove side Not an easy save -- it had a lot of movement and Danault had a good release -- but it was also not unstoppable.
MacEwen had a chance from the slot at 15:05. Later in the shift, Blake Lizotte took exception to a neutral zone hit by Deslauriers, and retaliated with a cross-check. No penalties were called.
At 16:03, the Kings went back to the power play for the third time. Farabee was called for slashing Vilardi's hand up high in the Flyers' zone. On a shorthanded attempt, a Konecny shot caught Quick just under his mask. The goaltender was momentarily shaken up but OK.
There was a delayed penalty on Seeler in the waning seconds of the Farabee penalty. The puck was touched up at 18:06 The Kings went on a 5-on-4 power play; their fourth power play of the opening period. Farabee had a semi-breakaway bid after getting past Kempe. The Kings took six seconds of carryover power play time into the second period.
2) Considering all the time they spent killing penalties, getting out of the first period down by a goal wasn't too bad of an outcome for the Flyers. First period shots on goal were 11-10 Kings. Shot attempts were 22-17. Scoring chances were 9-8 Kings (5-3 high-danger edge to LA). The Kings won 20 of 26 faceoffs in the first period with Danault winning nine of 10. Credited hits ended up 11-9 in the Flyers favor (Konecny led with three) after Philly had seven of the first eight. The Flyers blocked nine shots, led by two apiece by Ristolainen and York.
3) Cates lost the open faceoff of the second period. By the time LA gained the Flyers' zone, the Seeler penalty was over. Ersson stopped a routine point shot.
At 1:03, the Flyers went to their second power play. Anderson-Dolan was called for cross-checking Konecny. The Flyers had extensive possession but only one look at the net (Frost from the left circle with JVR screening in front, which van Riemsdyk tipped just wide).
Frost shot the puck directly off a left circle faceoff in the LA zone. Quick fought it off. A few shifts later, Farabee and Konecny had a 2-on-1 opportunity. The pass across to TK missed connections.
At 9:02, the Flyers knotted the game at 2-2. This goal was the product of slick stickhandling by Tippett to maneuver himself into open space in the attack zone. From the right dot, Tippett roofed a shot under the crossbar. Assists went to DeAngelo and van Riemsdyk because they had puck touches and made good little plays in the sequence but it was Tippett who turned it from a routine play into a scoring chance and then finished it.
At 10:23, the top Flyers line and the top D pair were beaten in coverage by the Anze Kopitar line. Ersson made a good stop on Quinton Byfield.
In the waning seconds of the period, Konecny took Kempe off the puck in the neutral zone with a hit that the Kings didn't like. There was some chirping but nothing further as the period expired.
4) The second period was pretty tight-checking and had some extended stretches of whistle-free hockey. Most importantly, Philly got the lone goal. Shots on net were 7-5 Kings (Shots attempts were 16-10 LA). Scoring chances were 5-3 LA (1-1 high-danger). Faceoffs were 7-5 Flyers (20-7 Kings through two periods).
5) At 1:54, Allison took a short pass from Hayes. From the top of the left circle, Allison hit the crossbar on a snap shot. On the next shift the Cates line had a three-attempt flurry near the net.
Iafallo was stopped at the doorstep by Ersson at 2:34. On the next shift, Brown made a good defensive stop along the wall and the Flyers ended up with an offensive zone faceoff from it. The Kings won the draw. At the other end, Kopitar outmuscled Frost for a puck but defensive support from Tippett ended a developing scoring chance. On the next shift, York backed up Laughton to break up a play.
The Kings kept pressing. Ersson made saves on Arvidsson, Doughty and Iafallo in quick succession. Two shifts later, after an active forechecking shift by the Brown line, Provorov fell down and a routine play started to turn dangerous until Tippett made an excellent backchecking play. A Laughton turnover in the defensive zone was erased moments later. Shots on goal in the period were 7-2 LA through 7:28.
JVR had a golden scoring chance off a Tippett forecheck and a tape-to-tape pass from Frost into the slot. Quick made the save. At the other end, Ersson absorbed a challenging rising shot from Kopitar to keep the game tied at 2-2 at 10:18.
Provorov turned a puck over at 12:16 and grazed Kempe with his stick. A penalty was called for high-sticking. DeAngelo made an early clear.
At 13:01, Cates' 20-game goal drought ended on a shot from the point through a Brown screen. It was the Flyers' seventh shorthanded goal of the season. The goal was assisted by Seeler and Ristolainen. With the Kings' power play resuming. Ristolainen blocked two shots in the latter part of the kill. In between, he delivered a board-rattling hit on Kopitar behind the net. It was his fourth hit and fourth and fifth blocked shots of the game on the way to six blocks.
With time ticking below 5:00 left, TIppett took a tip-pass from van Riemsdyk and put a dangerous looking shot at the net.
DeAngelo was hooked down in the neutral zone by Vilardi with 3:36 left on the clock. The Flyers went to the PP with a chance for an insurance goal. A potential shorthanded 2-on-1 for LA missed connections. At the other end, a developing chance for Tippett wasn't completed.
The Kings pulled Quick with 1:14 left on the clock for a 6-on-5. With 26.6 second left, Konecny scored an empty-net wraparound after Laughton chipped the puck around as he was knocked down on the boards. The secondary assist went to Cates.
Third period shots on goal were 11-8 Los Angeles. Shot attempts were 24-14 Kings. Scoring chances were 12-10 in LA's favor (5-4 high-danger edge). Final faceoffs were 35-22 LA.