Flyers Fall to Kings After Blowing Third Period Lead

This game had its positives but ended on a rough note.

The Flyers fell to the Los Angeles Kings for the second time in the last five games tonight. The 5-4 loss was certainly not as bad as the 7-3 beatdown they took in Philly a little over a week ago, but it’s a loss just the same. Again they showed promise, but just can’t seem to play 60 minutes of solid hockey right now. Flyers goalie Aleksei Kolosov was subpar, only facing 20 shots but still letting in five goals, while the offense seemed to finally wake up a bit. Noah Cates’ goal streak unfortunately came to a close, but another player’s goal drought also ended, as we’ll see later.

The Kings got on the board early in this one. Kevin Fiala ripped a slapshot past Kolosov, who was unable to get to the left side of the net in time after losing track of the puck behind him. Alex Laferriere quickly swung it around to Fiala, who beat Kolosov over his left shoulder.

Tyson Foerster didn’t take long to tie the game back up at 1-1 when he shot a wrister through the five hole of Kings goalie David Rittich during a 4 on 4. This marks 10 goals on the year for Foerster, who has gone a bit unnoticed of late but is putting together a very strong sophomore season. Much of this is due to the fact that everyone is currently talking about his linemate, Cates, and his goal streak. Foerster has been a massive part of Cates’ success recently and has six points throughout his teammate’s goal streak for his efforts.

Flyers fans everywhere collectively had a sigh of relief a few minutes later when, on a Scott Laughton goal, Matvei Michkov finally snapped his point drought. Michkov attempted to bounce the puck off the back of Rittich, which almost worked, but when it leaked out Laughton was there to clean up the rebound, giving Michkov a much-needed assist. This assist gave Michkov 28 points on the year, which still leads all rookies despite his seven-game drought.

LA would get the last laugh of the period, however, when Adrian Kempe tied the game at 2-2. It was at this score that the offensive-heavy first period would close.

The second period was just as high-energy as the first. Not content to just break his point drought, Michkov ended his goal drought too. After an unsuccessful attempt at scoring from behind the goal, the rookie tried it again, and this time it worked. The 20-year-old’s creativity when he has the puck on his stick is truly something to behold at such a young age.

After scoring the game-sealing empty netter in last night’s game, Joel Farabee would score one the hard way to pad the Flyers lead to 4-2. When I say the hard way I really mean the hard way, too, as Farabee was literally thrown into the net after scoring, knocking it out of its position but not before lighting the buzzer.

Again though, the Kings would get the final laugh of the period. Warren Foegele jumped on a mishandled puck by Travis Konecny and took it the length of the ice for a 1 on 1 with Kolosov. Kolosov was able to make the initial save, but couldn’t secure the puck. Foegele got his own rebound and didn’t miss the second time around, ending the period at 4-3.

LA would keep this momentum and carry it all the way through to the rest of the game. Anže Kopitar would score two goals in the third period. The longtime Kings captain would tie the game with an even-strength goal and then give them a 5-4 lead on the power play. The Flyers would get an extended power play of their own but continue to be one of the worst teams in the league when on the man advantage, failing to score.

As the clock winded down Kolosov was pulled but it never really felt like the Flyers had any sense of control when trying to tie the game, barely maintaining possession and not really setting up any kind of threatening scoring opportunities. Eventually, the final horn sounded and the Flyers would exit the ice with their fifth loss in seven games.

The Flyers’ next game will be in San Jose against the Sharks at 8:00 pm EST. The game can be watched on NBC Sports Philadelphia.

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