1 of 24
LOS ANGELES — The Kings trailed by four different counts but ultimately prevailed, 5-4, over the Philadelphia Flyers at Crypto.com Arena on Sunday night, concluding a perfect weekend at home after beating archrival Edmonton in overtime just 29 hours earlier.
As in that game, the Kings trailed heading into the third period but secured a victory anyway. They also beat the Flyers on Dec. 19 in Philadelphia, turning a 3-3 game through 40 minutes into a 7-3 thumping.
Anže Kopitar scored two goals in the third period to swing the game in the Kings’ favor. His running mate Adrian Kempe added a goal and an assist. Kevin Fiala and Warren Foegele also lit the lamp. David Rittich stopped 17 shots in what could be described paradoxically as a low-event, high-scoring game.
Matvei Michkov and Scott Laughton assisted on each other’s goals for Philadelphia, which also got tallies from Tyson Foerster and Joel Farabee. Aleksei Kolosov came up with just 15 of 20 saves.
It was an unusual low-event, high-scoring game, and one in which the Kings capitalized on yet another opportunity in their own building, where they moved to 12-2-1 this season.
“Tonight, the power play was the difference. Yesterday, (Quinton Byfield’s) line was huge. So, we’re doing it in different ways, which is very encouraging, especially on home ice,” Kopitar said.
The Kings seized control during the third period, producing nine of the game’s 10 shot attempts through an early stretch to tie the score and then converting on a power play to earn their first edge since they led 1-0.
Kopitar scored both goals, eking Byfield’s rebound across the line after the Kings sustained heavy pressure at 6:44 and then deflecting Kempe’s shot home 2:11 later and just five seconds after Travis Sanheim took a hooking penalty.
“(Kopitar) played against (Connor) McDavid last night, back-to-back [games], that’s a lot of hockey for anybody,” Kings coach Jim Hiller said. “I didn’t think he had great legs in the first two periods, but it doesn’t matter. He is who he is, so you get him out there, and good things happen.”
Philadelphia had scored consecutive goals for the second time in the game, at the 11:03 and 13:42 marks of the second period, but the Kings would recoup a critical goal before the intermission.
Michkov’s resourcefulness came into play on two scoring plays, the second of which was his heady shot from below the goal line that banked in off of Rittich’s skate. Michkov had gone pointless in his prior seven games –– including being benched in Anaheim on Saturday –– but still led all rookies in scoring before adding two more points on Sunday. Michkov met with Flyers coach John Tortorella after the win over the Ducks and before the clash with the Kings.
“(Tortorella) said, ‘you need to work, and the scoring will come,’” Michkov said.
A failed keep-in at the blue line by Joel Edmundson and an alert pass by Ryan Poehling created a two-on-one rush, during which Garnet Hathaway found Farabee, who had driven hard to the back post to beat Brandt Clarke for position and a goal.
Finally, Foegele sensed sloppiness in Philly’s passing game and devoured Travis Konecny’s blind, between-the-legs pass at the blue line, dashing off on a breakaway so clean that he was able to shoot, recover his rebound and score with no defender within 10 feet of him. Tortorella called the goal “a kick in the teeth.”
“The biggest change of the game was being up 4-2 and we gave them one for free,” Tortorella said. “It’s a tough, tough thing for (Kolosov) because he makes a great save on a breakaway, it comes right back to (Foegele) with the rebound. He made a great save when we were jammed up and running around on Kopitar’s first goal, then it hit Kopitar [and went in].”
The Kings entered the contest having allowed the fewest first-period goals in the NHL while having scored the third fewest, with the Flyers also ranking in the bottom third of the league in both categories. Those trends were bucked by a four-goal opening salvo.
A fervent start to the Kings’ performance culminated in a three-zone effort from Fiala, 5:14 after the puck dropped. He made the outlet pass on the breakout, recovered the puck on the forecheck and finished the sequence with a blast that he managed to tuck inside the far post for his 14th goal of the season.
The Flyers would pull even at 8:17 and ahead at 14:09.
Former Junior Duck Cam York’s long pass for Foerster made Foerster turn back for the puck before he pivoted past a scrambling Vladislav Gavrikov and darted in to slip the puck between Rittich’s pads.
Michkov then alchemized something out of a whole lot of nothing, popping a sharp-angle shot from in tight off of Rittich and skyward to create a rebound that was guided home by Laughton.
With 3:06 left in the first period, Kempe made it a new game. What had been a three-on-three counterattack was enlivened by the presence of Clarke, who settled the puck and slid it to Kempe for a one-timer and his team-leading 17th goal of 2024-25.
“It was a great comeback win by everybody,” Kempe said.
Next up, the Kings will welcome the Metropolitan Division-leading New Jersey Devils for a New Year’s Day matinee at home.
Originally Published:
