Kopitar, Kings Rally in 3rd to Down Flyers

When the Flyers hosted the Kings just 10 days ago, a late second-period goal by the Kings' captain proved to be a turning point. On Sunday night, Anze Kopitar's whole third period was the game changer.

Kopitar scored twice as the Flyers suffered a 5-4 defeat to the Kings.

The Kings got the scoring started at 5:14. Kevin Fiala fired a quick shot from the left circle to make it 1-0 on his 14th of the season.

The Flyers answered back at 8:17 with play at 4-on-4. Tyson Foerster took a lead pass from Cam York and got a step on the defense, beating David Rittich through the five hole to make it 1-1 with his 10th of the season.

The Flyers took the lead at 14:09 of the period. Matvei Michkov tried to bank a shot in off of Rittich, and the puck bounced in the air and hit off of Scott Laughton and went in for Laughton's eighth of the season.

The lead was short-lived for the Flyers, as the Kings tied things up with 3:06 remaining in the period. Adrian Kempe finished on a one-timer off a rush to make it 2-2 with his 17th of the season.

Through 20 minutes, shots were 6-6.

The Flyers got the lead again at the 11:03 mark of the second. Michkov banked in a shot from below the goal line for his 12th goal of the season to make it 3-2. Less than three minutes later, the Flyers added some insurance. Joel Farabee went to the net and finished off a tip-in of a Garnet Hathaway centering pass to make it 4-2.

But the Kings took advantage of a bad turnover by the Flyers at 15:04. Warren Foegele got a breakaway and was initially stopped by Aleksei Kolosov, but put home the rebound for his 11th goal of the season to make it 4-3.

Through two periods, shots were 15-14 Los Angeles.

As the Flyers tried to hold the lead in the third, the Kings' captain took over. Kopitar capped off a long shift for the Flyers in the defensive zone with a goal at 6:44 to tie things up at four. Just over two minutes later, the Kings got the first power play of the game and needed just five seconds to cash in. Kopitar deflected a Kempe shot for his second goal of the game and 12th of the season to put the Kings in front.

That was the difference, as the Flyers were not able to bury the equalizer in the closing moments of the game.

Kolosov finished with 15 saves on 20 shots in the loss. Rittich made 17 saves on 21 shots in the win.

Michkov and Laughton each had two points in the loss. Kopitar and Kempe each had two points for the Kings.

The Flyers get back on the ice on Tuesday night for the final game of 2024, facing off against the San Jose Sharks at 8 p.m.

Box Score

	1	2	3	T
Flyers	2	2	0	4
Kings	2	1	2	5

Scoring Summary

1st Period

LA Kevin Fiala (14) (Alex Laferriere, Phillip Danault) 5:14
PHI Tyson Foerster (10) (Cam York, Travis Sanheim) 8:17
PHI Scott Laughton (8) (Matvei Michkov, Morgan Frost) 14:09
LA Adrian Kempe (17) (Brandt Clarke, Alex Turcotte) 16:54

2nd Period

PHI Michkov (12) (Laughton, Rasmus Ristolainen) 11:03
PHI Joel Farabee (6) (Garnet Hathaway, Ryan Poehling) 13:42
LA Warren Foegele (11) (Unassisted) 15:04

3rd Period

LA Anze Kopitar (11) (Quinton Byfield, Jacob Moverare) 6:44
LA Kopitar (12) PP (Kempe) 8:55

Game Statistics

	Flyers	Kings
Shots	21	20
Power Play	0/1	1/1
Hits	14	24
Faceoff %	50.0%	50.0%
Giveaways	11	7
Takeaways	5	5
Blocked Shots	20	12
Penalty Minutes	6	6