Date Published: 12-31-2022
Photo Credit: FNG’s Rob Windfelder
The Flyers capped off 2022 by beating the Los Angeles Kings by a score of 4 to 2 on the very last night of the year. It’s the first time the Flyers have won back-to-back games since the beginning of November. Flyers fans are well conditioned to dread the traditional post Christmas trip out West, it’s something we have been trained not to look forward to. …So far this trip is different.
Tonight the Flyers spent too much of the 1st period in the penalty box. Finally after giving the Kings a two man advantage L.A. opened the scoring when Adrian Kempe squeezed one past Samuel Ersson. Scott Laughton tied the score with a blistering one timer on a pass from Cam York on the power play. The Kings took the lead again when Phillip Danault slapped one passed Ersson on a partial break-away. This took place right before Ersson decided to shut the door and keep it locked for the rest of the night.
This game had a lot of back and forth, both teams trading off good chances all evening. The only goal of the 2nd period came off the stick of Owen Tippett who had a particularly strong showing. Tony DeAngelo and James van Riemsdyk got credit for the assists. Tippett is the one who did all the heavy lifting. Beautiful move, super sweet shot, high glove side passed Jonathan Quick.
The energy remained high into the 3rd and the Flyers never let up. They were landing hits, blocking shots, and doing all the hard work up against the boards and down in the corners. I bet Head Coach John Tortorella is pleased with his squad, tonight he delivered the team he has been promising us. They just kept plugging away doing all the right things until eventually it all paid off. Noah Cates surprised everyone (maybe including himself) with a “let’s see what happens” type of shot that went over Quick’s shoulder for a short-handed goal. The Flyers protected their lead and protected it well. They did whatever it took to win this game. Rasmus Ristolainen blocked 2 possibly 3 shots in a row during a late penalty kill. The 1st shot hit him in the mid-section as he was going down, he jumped right up and nailed a King to the boards before dropping again and blocking another. Travis Konecny scored the final goal of the night on a wrap-around into the empty net with 2 Kings doing their best to try and stop him. The assist came from Scott Laughton who was flat on his back sliding across the ice as he wacked the puck behind the net. The Flyers work ethic tonight was relentless and the outcome of this game was hard-fought and well deserved.
Check out our Flyers Nitty Gritty Store
Extra Credit: Tortorella has stated that he is looking for his bottom six to focus on the forecheck. A good example of that would be the play tonight of Zack MacEwen. Zack has what they call tenacity. Zack can be a very tenacious dude, and that is a good thing. Philly loves that kind of stuff. Happy New Year Flyers Fans, wishing you all the best in 2023!
