The Flyers coming off a huge opening night away victory last night in San Jose, looked to keep the momentum tonight against the LA Kings. The Flyers were lead last night by great goaltending by newcomer Brian Elliott, 3-point nights by Voracek, Simmonds, & Gostisbehere, and a strong performance by both powerplay units. Flyers goalie Michael Neuvirth gets his first start of the season tonight against the LA Kings, he holds a career record of 1-2-1 against the Kings.
The Flyers made one change to the lineup for tonights game vs the Kings. Flyers rookie Travis Sanheim made his NHL debut taking the spot of Brandon Manning in the lineup. The scratches for the game were Lehtera, Morin, & Manning with Brian Elliott getting the night off as the backup.
Giroux – Couturier – Voracek
Weal – Patrick – Simmonds
Weise – Filppula – Konecny
Leier – Laughton – Raffl
MacDonald – Provorov
Gostisbehere – Hagg
Sanheim – Gudas
Neuvrith
Coach Dave Hakstol said this following the Flyers win last night in San Jose on how he felt the team played and stepped up to the opportunity at hand…
“The intensity level ratchets up so much in game No. 1 from a preseason game that I think along with that comes better execution and the overall pace. There’s a lot of things we want to clean up and we will work on cleaning up, but overall, for the first game of the season in a tough building, there’s a lot of positives out of it.”
1st Period
The game got off to a fast start with both teams generating chances in the first minute. The Kings forced most of the pressure in the first couple minutes of the game, testing Michal Neuvirth on two good opportunities where Neuvirth had to come up big in the early stages.
At the 15:29, after a great offensive zone chance, Travis Konecny got caught on the backcheck for a hooking penalty. The Kings really never generated any sustained pressure and the Flyers killed it off easily.
Around the 11:00 mark, the Flyers third line, Weise-Filppula-Konecny, had a huge shift, generating multiple scoring chances, totaling about a full minute of sustained pressure. The shift ended with a great save by Jonathon Quick on Dale Weise from the high slot.
The Flyers fourth line, Leier-Laughton-Raffl, continued their great play with multiple good shifts to start the game, the best coming around the 7:00 mark when they sustained pressure for over a minute and generated two scoring chances. The best coming when Scott Laughton got free in the high slot, just to be robbed by the glove of Quick.
The Flyers got their first powerplay at the 5:24 mark, when Kings Michael Cammalleri tripped Radko Gudas in the neutral zone. No quick goal tonight on the powerplay for the Flyers and neither unit generated much pressure. However, the best chance came near the end of the powerplay, when Gostisbehere found Filppula for a high quality scoring chance for the high slot, but Quick made the save through traffic and the Kings killed it off.
The Kings picked up the pressure after they killed off the penalty and started to test Neuvirth. Neuvirth stood tall and at the 1:20 mark, he made a season highlight reel save when he robbed Anze Kopitar on the doorstep. You will be seeing that save a lot during the season.
Period ends 0-0.
Scoring
No Goals
Penaltys
Flyers 15:29 Travis Konecny 2 min Hooking
Kings 5:24 Michael Cammalleri 2 min Tripping
Shots
Flyers 10
Kings 9
2nd Period
The second period started off with a bang. Gostisbehere had himself a dangle show through center ice, which lead to Flyers Nolan Patrick drawing a high sticking penalty at the 19:12 mark and the Flyers went on their second powerplay of the night. After having great success last night, the Flyers powerplay units struggled again. This time coming from too much passing. Flyers only generated one shot on goal and it was an easy kill for the Kings.
Derek Forbort got a good chance out of the box on a 1 on 1 rush from center ice, which lead to some sustained pressure from the Kings.
Then, around the 16:00 mark, the Flyers fourth line again created the best chance of the night so far when Raffl got a semi break-away from the right dot, only again to be robbed by Quick.
At the 13:44 mark, the Kings caught the Flyers defense sleeping and off a excellent cross-ice pass from Kings Nick Shore, Trevor Lewis beat Neuvirth to open the scoring.
The Kings got their second powerplay of the night at the 9:08 mark, when Flyers Captain Claude Giroux was called for a slashing minor. This was the best powerplay by either team tonight. The Kings had multiple scoring opportunities, however, none found the back of the net and the Flyers killed it off.
Right out of the box, Giroux joined Laughton in center ice to create a 2 on 1. Giroux got off a good shot, but when going for the rebound, he was hooked by Kings Trevor Lewis and the Flyers went on their third powerplay of the night.
The Flyers third powerplay of the night went exactly like the previous two. This time it was spent mostly in the neutral zone, only generating 2 shots, 0 on goal and the Kings killed it off easily.
Flyers Sean Couturier had a great scoring opportunity at the 3:30 mark of the period when he went on a semi break-away and got his stick tied up before he could get a shot off.
With the period winding down, Flyers rookie Travis Sanheim had his rookie careless moment and got called for a 4 minute double minor for high sticking. Sanheim got real careless with his stick while fighting a battle along the boards with Kings Trevor Lewis.
The Kings had some sustained pressure on the powerplay to end the period, but no goal. They carried 2:14 of powerplay time over into the third.
Period ends 1-0 Kings.
Scoring
Kings 13:44 Trevor Lewis Assisted by Nick Shore & Kyle Clifford
Penaltys
Kings 19:12 Derek Forbort 2 min High Sticking
Flyers 9:08 Claude Giroux 2 min Slashing
Kings 6:56 Trevor Lewis 2 min Hooking
Flyers 1:46 Travis Sanheim 4 min Double Minor High Sticking
Shots (Total)
Flyers 8 (18)
Kings 13 (22)
3rd Period
Opening the period with the Kings on the powerplay for another 2:14, the Flyers came out with a great first minute of penalty killing, playing keep-away for a good 30 seconds just to have Wayne Simmonds dump it deep to kill even more time. The Kings never generated sustained pressure and the Flyers killed it off.
Around the 16:00 mark, The Flyers started to gain some pressure when Couturier went coast to coast generating a great scoring opportunity off a shot from a bad angle by Jake Voracek. The pressure conituned when Claude Giroux pick-pocketed a Kings defender to create another scoring chance.
Then it was the fourth lines turn when Scott Laughton raced through center to start another sustained offensive zone time shift for the fourth line. This time, Taylor Leier got the best chance when he got free 1 on 1 right infront of the net, but Quick had the answer.
At the halfway point of the 3rd, it has been all Flyers. Shift after shift, chance after chance, the Flyers have really turned up the pressure and the Kings have really went into a shell. However, Quick has had the answer for every chance.
The pressure continues and off great pressure, the first line shows their dominance and generates a penalty. Kings Drew Doughty gets called for tripping Giroux when entering the zone. Flyers to their fourth powerplay of the night.
The Flyers fourth powerplay of the night started with great pressure, however it turned into what the Flyers powerplay has been all night, lackluster and motionless. Kings kill the latter half off easily. Still 1-0 Kings.
The Flyers go right back to the powerplay at the 7:02 mark, when Trevor Lewis is called for interference. However, the Flyers generate minimal pressure and the Kings kill it off.
With the Flyers pressuring late, the Kings get a 2 on 1, and with 2:21 left in game, Tyler Toffoli scores of a great feed by former Flyer Jeff Carter to put the game away.
Jake Voracek saves an empty net goal by taking a hooking penalty to stop Tanner Pearson from scoring.
Game ends Kings 2 , Flyers 0.
Scoring
Kings 2:21 Tyler Toffoli Assisted by Jeff Carter & Tanner Pearson
Penaltys
Kings 10:02 Drew Doughty 2 min Tripping
Kings 7:02 Trevor Lewis 2 min Interference
Flyers 0:26 Jake Voracek 2 min Hooking
Shots (Total)
Flyers 17 (35)
Kings 5 (27)
The Flyers lost a tough fought battle tonight on the second night of a back to back. The problem tonight for the Flyers was the powerplay, going 0 for 5 and generating minimal goal scoring opportunities. This was a complete opposite of the night prior when they went 3 for 4 in San Jose.
Kings goalie Jonathon Quick was the real star of the night, stopping all 35 shots he faced tonight, including a couple robberies of multiple Flyers and stopping all 17 shots he faced in the 3rd. Quick deserved the first star honors tonight.
Flyers rookie Travis Sanheim said this about his NHL debut…
“I started playing a lot better in the third. Getting my feet under me and started to play more of my game. Jumping up ice and getting into the play. Kind of wished I could have did that early, but obviously with being my first game, I was a little heistant.”
Flyers Captain Claude Giroux on what positives came from this game…
“I think the whole team played great tonight, we obviously didn’t come up with the win but we did a lot of good things and its early in the season. I feel like the lines are starting to click a little bit and get some chemistry.”
The Flyers fall to 1-1-0 on the season.
The Flyers get right back at it Saturday in Anaheim, when they take on the Ducks at 10:00 EST on NBC Sports Philadelphia. Pregame coverage starts at 9:30 EST.
Mandatory Credit: Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports
