The Philadelphia Flyers faced off with the Los Angeles Kings at the Staples Center on New Year’s Eve.
Looking to kick start a two-game winning streak on this six-game road trip, the Philadelphia Flyers headed to Los Angeles to take on the Kings. Both teams were aiming to set themselves up for a season-series sweep when they next meet in Philly, which neither side has done since the 2017-18 campaign. Brian Elliott got back-to-back starts from Head Coach Alain Vigneault in-net and opposed Jonathan Quick on the opposite end of the ice. Elliott was aiming for his third-straight win for the Orange and Black while Quick looked to snap a personal four-game losing skid. Scott Laughton also made his return to the lineup, as the team activated him off of Injured Reserve a few hours before puck drop.
Philadelphia didn’t have the best of starts to this one, allowing the game’s first goal around five minutes in to noted goon Kyle Clifford. The Flyers left him completely uncovered as he skated into the and beat Elliott short side for his first NHL goal against the City Of Brotherly Love. This was a shot Elliott probably should’ve saved, as he had zero traffic in front of the net and didn’t seem like the hardest wrister I’ve ever seen. Los Angeles added to their lead soon after, capitalizing on two power-play opportunities and a 2-on-1 shorthanded rush to take a 4-0 lead. Alex Iafallo, Tyler Toffoli, and Adrian Kempe were responsible for the special teams’ tallies and putting Flyers fans in a pit of misery for 20 minutes.
Carter Hart entered the game for Elliott to begin the second, as the man they call Moose made just 11 saves on 15 shots in one period of play. This sort of helped. I mean, the Flyers didn’t give up any more goals, which was good! They scored a goal too, thanks to a shot from Justin Braun of all people deflecting off of a Kings’ defender, but still trailed by three heading into the third, which was not so good.
I can confirm a third period of Flyers hockey took place. What I can also confirm is that it wasn’t great. Philadelphia let up another man-advantage goal early in the frame off the stick of Martin Frk to make it 5-1. Claude Giroux would get that goal back with a power-play tally of his own, and Jakub Voracek added another goal late, but that was all the Fly Guys could muster up as they fell to the Kings, 5-3. I don’t have much more to say other than while they made it interesting towards the end, this was a game to forget, and Philly needs to pick themselves up and put this lackluster performance behind them.
Philadelphia’s now 22-13-5 on the season. Next game is Thursday against the Vegas Golden Knights.