WRAP: LA ENDS FLYERS WINNING STREAK IN 4-1 DECISION
Playing the final game of a previously winless east coast road trip, the Los Angeles Kings were the more opportunistic team and got superior goaltending as they defeated the Philadelphia Flyers, 4-1, at the Wells Fargo Center on Monday night. The Flyers' winning streak ended at six games.
The Flyers generated a heap of pressure on power plays but finished at 1-for-6 on the night. At 5-on-5, they were largely kept to the perimeter. However, there were periodic good chances -- including a 2-on-1 rush and a 3-on-2 -- where the Flyers were unable to capitalize. Apart from a fortunate bounce off a blocked shot in which he had no chance to recover for the follow-up, the Flyers were once again unable to solve Jonathan Quick.
"We had a lot of really good looks and good opportunities on the power play. We got one. He made some good saves and they defended some pretty well. ...We made good plays on those. It’s not like we didn’t make good plays on them," Flyers head coach Dave Hakstol said.
"Like I said, to me, the number of opportunities we generated whether it be five on five or power play they all count. We generated enough of those opportunities. We made some good saves. You expect that it’s the other side that we do control that we could have been better at in terms of the completeness of our play without the puck. A lot of that stems from some of the play with the puck that ended up in turnovers.…
Quick, who shut out the Flyers in LA in Philly's second game of the regular season, stopped 36 of 37 shots on this night to take first-star honors. The Flyers did not get particularly good goaltending on this night from Brian Elliott. He had his first subpar outing in weeks, letting in a couple stoppable goals among the four pucks (actually five, but one was overturned on a coach's challenge for goaltender interference) that got by him on 25 shots.
Alec Martinez (3rd goal of the season), Trevor Lewis (8th), Adrian Kempe (11th) and Tyler Toffoli (16th) scored for LA. Torrey Mitchell (1st assist of the season), Nick Shore (7th assist), Jake Muzzin (17th assist), Dustin Brown (16th) and Nick Shore (8th) collected one assist apiece.
Jakub Voracek (power play goal, 8th tally of the season) scored the lone Flyers' goal. Claude Giroux (23rd assist) and Shayne Gostisbehere (19th assist) got the assists.
"We have to forget about it. You have to play confident and can’t get down on yourself. Obviously today, we lost. Like I said, games like that are going to happen. You can’t win every single game," Voracek said.
"Just refocus. On the other hand, look at it this way, it’s a good team. It’s a good thing we lost to a team from the West. We got an Eastern Conference team [Detroit] on Wednesday. We've got to make sure we win." …‹
The Flyers had some solid stretches of play against the Kings, primarily in the second period, but they hurt themselves with a sluggish start and some breakdowns. They gave up a goal off a faceoff and screened/deflected shot. Then there was a 200-foot goal off a Flyers line change. By that point, the Flyers were in the tough position of trying to chase the game against the club with the NHL's lowest goals against average and best third period goal differential.
"I thought we came out a little flat. Didn’t have the jump that we usually do. I thought in the second it was better than in the third we were kind of chasing the game. Trying to force plays but overall we just have to be better," said Sean Couturier, who had three shots on goal.
LA pulled away in the final stanza with two goals. The Kings went 0-for-2 on power plays but outscored the Flyers, 4-0, at full strength (Philly had come into the game with the fewest 5-on-5 goals allowed in the NHL). The third goal, restoring a two-goal lead for the Kings and all but sealing the win, came moments after an LA penalty ended.
"The first one, he just beat me with the shot. [On the second], it was a kind of line change where we lost our coverage. The third one there, he just shot through a screen and I didn’t see it so I just saw a guy driving backdoor, he shot it through the screen,… Elliott said.
Gostisbehere missed much of the second period. He appeared to aggravate an undisclosed injury that bothered him in Saturday's game against Dallas. However, he returned to the ice in the latter portion of the period and finished out the game.
A bright spot for the Flyers. Rookie defenseman Travis Sanheim, who had been struggling mightily on the defensive side of the puck the last few weeks although creating good things for the Flyers in the offensive zone, had his best two-way game in weeks. Fellow rookie Nolan Patrick also quietly strung together some good shifts, although he finished without a shot on goal or a point.
The Flyers had a rough first period on faceoffs, losing 12 of 18 and seeing one of them end up in their net after Taylor Leier accidentally screened Elliott from up high and may have had the puck partially deflect off him. They ended up winning 20 of the 32 faceoffs over the final 40 minutes to go 26-for-50 on the game.
A bigger and heavier team than the Flyers, LA outhit the Flyers, 12-5, in the first period. The final tally was 27-27 Flyers' defenseman Robert Hà¤gg led all players with six, while Scott Laughton had five.
1ST PERIOD
Gostisbehere ripped a shot on net form the right point for the game's first scoring chance at about the 2:30 mark. The puck sat tantalizingly close in front but was gained by LA.
At 2:43, LA got the game's first power play. Travis Konecny was called for offensive zone interference on Oscar Fantenberg. On the power play, Fantanberg put a point shot through traffic, off the crossbar and then off Elliott but the puck stayed out of the net. LA took an icing with seven seconds left and finished the power play without an official shot on goal. After the penalty expired, LA's Trevor Lewis fired a harmless shot on net from along the wall atop the right circle. Elliott made his first save.
LA took a 1-0 lead at 4:27 off a left circle faceoff win. Mitchell drew the puck back cleanly on a draw against Laughton and Martinez fired a wrister from inside center point that deflected off Leier up high and rose to find the upper portion of the net.
On the next shift immediately after the LA tally, Gostisbehere blocked what would have been a point blank chance for Martinez on a bid for another goal.
At 9:10, LA went offside on a potentially dangerous rush. Ont the next shift, Couturier had a 2-on-1 with Simmonds but Simmonds was unable to finish in tight to Quick off the rush. Shots were 4-4 at this point.
On an offensive zone entry, Laughton chipped the puck off the boards and stepped past Fantenberg and was taken down to draw a tripping penalty at 12:46. Voracek coughed up a puck to Kopitar early the power play and LA went off on a potential counter but no harm resulted. Couturier put a shot on net from the left hash marks off a Giroux feed but Simmonds could not elevate the rebound over Quick from near the left post. Gostisbehere put a shot on goal from the right circle that Quick saved cleanly with no rebound.
LA made it 2-0 at 16:46 off a 200-foot rush off a Flyers' line change. From the LA end boards, Muzzin completed an outlet pass to Shore. Taking a pass from Shore, Lewis scored to the short side between the post and Elliott's glove. It was a shot that Elliott certainly could have played better.
The Flyers got their second power play at 17:49 as Mitchell got the gate for slashing Laughton. They cashed in 15 seconds later. At the top of the left circle, Giroux took a pass from Gostisbehere. Giroux's shot attempt was blocked by Doughty but went directly to Voracek in the right circle. Voracek shoveled a wrist shot over Quick before the goalie could adjust.
Kopitar hit the post on an odd-man rush on the next shift. The score stayed 2-1.
First period shots were 9-8 in the Flyers' favor.
2ND PERIOD
The Flyers went to their third power play at the 33-second mark. Away from the puck, Derek Forbort took Couturier down in the LA left corner. A Travis Konecny tip in front of a Filppula pass and then Konecny's follow-up try in the final second of the power play was the Flyers' best chance.
Gostisbehere, who skated the first 20 seconds of the period, was replaced by Provorov on the first power play unit. Travis Sanheim manned a PP2 point.
Raffl had a crack at a Voracek rebound but was in too close to Quick. As the shift ended at 4:01, Voracek put a left side shot on net through traffic. LA won the next draw and attacked the Giroux lineoff the rush. Marian Gaborik had a great scoring chance from the mid slot but Elliott snapped it up with the glove for his best save to that point.
Andrew MacDonald fired a shot at the net and Valtteri Filppula made a nice Pelle Eklund-style soccer kick of the carom to the slot but there was no teammate there to pounce.
Raffl was unable to finish a left-circle shot on a 3-on-2 rush that was well-executed up until that point. Shots were 11-8 Flyers through 12 minutes. With 7:21 left, a center point wrister by Hà¤gg got through traffic on net. The initial shot was not saved cleanly but eventually Quick got it for the stoppage.
The teams went to 4-on-4 at 14:37 after Nolan Patrick and Pearson were called for coincidental slashing minors. Gostisbehere returned to the ice for the shift leading up to the penalty and also skated during the 4-on-4. With five seconds left on the 4-on-4, Provorov blocked a Doughty slapper from the right circle out of play.
Second period shots were 13-11 in the Flyers' favor (22-19 Flyers overall).
3RD PERIOD
Hà¤gg made a smart pinch on the period's first shift but fired a shot attempt over the net. Later, Raffl had a chance near the net.
Voracek rejoined Couturier and Giroux for their first shift of the period, reuniting the Flyers' top line of most of the early season. They pressured but could not get a good look at the net.
The Flyers went to a power play at 3:42 after Weise was cross-checked in the LA corner by Adrian Kempe. The Flyers' PP1 pressured heavily for scoring chances by Gostisbehere and Voracek but Quick came up with the saves.
Gostisbehere broke up a shorthanded 2-on-1 for LA after Voracek turnover. Voracek had a shot on net from the deep right slot going the other way with numbers. LA then countered again off the long rebound just as Kempe was about to step out of the penalty box. They scored. Kempe took a pass from Brown atop the right circle and fired the puck off Elliott's glove side shoulder and into the net at 4:48 for a 3-1 LA lead.
Brown parked himself in the blue paint and deflected home a Doughty shot at 6:49 as LA momentarily appeared to take a 4-1 lead. The Flyers challanged for goalie interference and the initial good-goal ruling was overturned.
Giroux was unable to find the net off the rush on a chance from the middle slot but then got tripped a moment later by Muzzin. Philly went back to the power play at 8:13. Simmonds had a near slam-dunk on the power play but it went awry at the last moment.
Giroux slid awkwardly into a Kings player in the neutral zone, accidentally cutting his legs from under him. The Flyers captain was a bit hobbled as he went to the bench.
On a Flyers neutral zone turnover and a delayed penalty, LA scored off the counter rush to make it 4-1. Toffoli beat Elliott from between the circles. Shore got the lone assist.
LA went on its second power play at 17:10. Raffl was called for an offensive zone interference penalty. Hà¤gg rocked Pearson with a crunching behind the Flyers net halfway through the kill. The Flyers killed it off.
Sanheim bobbed and weaved all over the offensive zone with the puck. With 6.5 seconds left, Weise was tripped by Doughty. The Flyers left Elliott in the net.
Third period shots were 15-6 in the Flyers favor (37-25 LA overall) but LA had the two that went into the cash register to seal the win.
The Flyers can still have a successful homestand if they defeat the Detroit Red Wings on Wednesday night. The Kings concluded their eastern road trip with a 1-2-1 record.