The LA Kings are one point out of 1st place in the Pacific Division. The Philadelphia Flyers keep bobbing over and under 500 and were on the second half of a back-to-back. Somehow this game was tied at three and still very winnable when the 3rd period started.
Philly vs LA
The Kings run an aggressive forecheck that had the Flyers searching for the best route out of their own zone for a good portion of the 1st period. Earlier in the week at practice Flyers coach John Tortorella was focusing on “tempo”. The Kings were definitely setting the tempo in this game and they wanted things moving fast. This had the Flyers chasing the game, rushing passes, and making mistakes.
LA kept finding dangerous lanes open allowing them to easily break into the Flyers zone with numbers. Eventually at 10:53 Kevin Fiala beat Flyers netminder Aleksei Kolosov on a clean breakaway.
The Flyers started to settle and looked more disciplined as the period went on. They bounced back with a goal to tie the score at one. Bobby Brink fed the puck from the corner to Noah Cates all alone on the doorstep. Cates had time to make a quick move before putting the puck behind Kings goalie Darcy Kuemper with 3:49 left in the opening period.
These two teams clearly started to enjoy each other’s company less and less as the period came to an end.
Starting from scratch
The 1st intermission was not kind to the Flyers. After solidifying their game throughout the previous period it was like they were starting all over again at the start of the 2nd period. The Kings took advantage less than two minutes in. Tanner Jeannot pushed the puck through traffic and between the legs of Kolosov. 2-1 Kings.
The Flyers tied the score at two after an excellent individual effort by Scott Laughton. Laughton came streaking into the Kings zone winning the race to a loose puck. He wasted no time teeing up a slapper. Kuemper made the stop. Laughton picked up his own rebound and wrapped around behind the LA net to throw the puck into the slot where Tyson Foerster sent it home 11:30 into the second.
Penalties
There were only three penalties called during the entire game. Both teams showed a lot of restraint when things heated up but there could have been more calls. At one point Matvei Michkov was blatantly tripped right in front of the LA net. Flyers Fans voiced their disapproval as the replay was shown. Anybody and everybody could see it except for the on ice officials. You could pull an extra terrestrial out of a drone like craft in the middle of New Jersey, show them the clip, and your new friend would ask “on what planet is that not a penalty”?
Seconds after the Flyers first man advantage expired Owen Tippett passed the puck to Morgan Frost behind the LA net. Frost sent the puck to the front of the net where Tyson Foerster smacked it home for his second goal of the contest. Owen Tippett was a bright spot all night. He had a particularly crafty game, his puck movement was off the hook.
Don’t let up till you hear the horn
With just 43.1 seconds left in the 2nd period Anze Kopitar erased the Flyers lead. Aleksei Kolosov was looking to freeze the puck at the side of the net. Kolosov missed the puck with his glove as his attention shifted to the approaching King. Kopitar showed up to turn a routine play into a costly mistake and a tied game.
From scratch 2.0
Again a slow start to the third period had the Flyers playing catch-up. Kolosov, who made quite a few challenging saves during the course of this game had just stoned Quinton Byfield on a breakaway. Just under two minutes into the third Warren Foegele deflected a shot past the Flyers netminder. 4-3 Kings.
Turning point
With the Flyers down by only a goal and 13:58 left to play Jacob Moverare was called for tripping Bobby Brink. If the Flyers could have taken advantage with this power-play things may have ended differently. The power-play was a mess. It proved to be a monumental task just to break into the Kings zone with the puck. Then it was a struggle just to keep it there let alone create any chances. From this missed opportunity on the entire thing started to fall apart.
With 9:21 left in the game a wide open Alex Turcotte passed the puck out of the corner to a wide open Anze Kopitar in front who scored his second goal of the game. 5-3 Kings.
With four minutes left the Flyers pulled their goaltender for the extra attacker. Before the Flyers could even get set up in the zone Jamie Drysdale lost control of the puck at the Kings blueline. Quinton Byfield skated in and put the puck into the empty net. 6-3 Kings.
Kolosov returned to the net to allow the final goal of the game. Alex LaFerrier pulled off a tricky behind the back pass behind the Flyers net that tricked Kolosov into hugging the wrong post. Fiali scored his second goal of the game on the wrap around. 7-3 Kings.
For what it’s worth the Flyers were in this game at the start of the 3rd period against a team with a much better record. The Kings showed total dominance in the final period with four unanswered goals.
Extra Credit:
Jamie Drysdale had a really rough outing tonight. Drysdale is a fantastic skater but he has been turning that asset into a disadvantage. It’s a hockey fundamental that you can pass the puck up the ice a lot faster than you can skate it there, no matter how fantastic of a skater you happen to be. Drysdale has been holding onto the puck for too long because he may have the ability to skate it to safety. It’s causing him to spend a considerable amount of his ice time running away from people instead of finding his better option and getting the puck there asap. Drysdale has the skills, but he’s been making some really poor decisions.
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