The Philadelphia Flyers fall 5-4 to the Los Angeles Kings on Sunday night. Anze Kopitar turned in a pivotal two-goal third period for LA, scoring the tying and game-winning goals. This comes after the Flyers beat the Ducks 3-1 Saturday. Philly fell to 16-17-4 after the loss.
Tyson Foerster, Scott Laughton, Matvei Michkov, and Joel Farabee all scored for Philadelphia.
The Flyers entered the third period with a 4-3 lead, which would not last long. Within the first 10 minutes of the period, Kopitar knotted the game at four, then gave the Kings their first lead of the game since Kevin Fiala’s game-opening score.
Kopitar’s two-score period was not the only struggle for the Flyers in the third frame of Sunday’s match.
The Flyer’s lone opportunity of the game with the man advantage (there were two matching penalties in the game as well) came down a score with less than seven minutes remaining. Though the Flyers were able to control the puck, they were unable to convert on any chance.
Defenseman Travis Sanheim may be thinking about that power play for a little while after missing multiple high-danger chances, including a one-timer with an open net. Sanheim missed wide-right.
Flyers rookie phenom Matvei Michkov had been struggling heading into Sunday’s contest. Michkov had not registered a point since December 10th against the Blue Jackets and had not scored a goal since Dec. 7th against Boston.
Michkov got the monkey off his back in the first period, getting the helper on Laughton’s goal. He then tacked on a flashy goal from behind the net.
There were thoughts that Michkov could see some time as a healthy scratch, especially after being benched against Anaheim in the third period. Whatever Torts said to him as his reason for the benching must have worked. Michkov played one of his best games so far this season and his first multi-point game since that Dec. 10th contest against Columbus.
Tyson Foerster opened the scoring for the Flyers Sunday after using his speed and sneaking past the LA blueliners. The only man left to beat was the goalie, and Foerster beat Kings netminder David Rittich glove side.
That makes it six points in the last five games Foerster, who is having an offensive resurgence in his last 10 games.
The Tyson Foerster – Noah Cates – Bobby Brink line continues to be a bright spot for the Flyers.
The Flyers will travel to San Jose on Dec. 31st to play the Sharks on New Year’s Eve. Puck drop is slated for 8:00 p.m. in the SAP Center.
