The Philadelphia Flyers have now lost three consecutive games, allowing four or more goals in each loss. They're 24-20-9 on the season, and in seventh place in the Metropolitan Division. The end of January can't come fast enough, as they've gone 4-8-2 since the start of 2026. They have a chance to right the ship this afternoon as the LA Kings come to town.
It's been a weird final season for long-time captain and two-time Stanley Cup Champion Anze Kopitar, who's been on injured reserve since early January. The Kings had a rough offseason, losing Vladislav Gavrikov in free agency and signing questionable contracts for Cody Ceci and Brian Duomolin.
The team is 4-3-3 in their last 10 games, and a couple of points back of a wildcard playoff spot--though the Pacific Division is so weak, they could jump the wildcard teams into third in the Pacific with one two point swing.
Three Storylines
Underwhelming offense
In the three games the Flyers have lost, they've been outscored 15-6, and they got shut out by the New York Islanders in the first loss. Travis Konecny's scoring surge (four goals and five points in two games) isn't enough to carry the team, and the rest of the skaters need to support him better. Trevor Zegras, in particular, needs to get his scoring back on track, especially considering how badly Konecny wants to get to the playoffs. At least Matvei Michkov seems to be finding his scoring touch again.
The line blender
Rick Tocchet put the Flyers' lines in a blender against Boston, notably putting Sean Couturier on the fourth line. The good news is that we got to see Trevor Zegras centering a line with Michkov and Bobby Brink; the bad news is that they did not play that well in 8:45 together at 5-on-5. Maybe Tocchet will give these new lines some leeway and go back to them against the Kings, but he could throw it all in the blender again to try and find some combination that works.
A cautionary tale of a rushed rebuild
The Kings embarked on a rebuild in the late 2010s, trying to maintain their veteran stars (Kopitar, Drew Doughty) while drafting high to acquire elite young talent. For three consecutive years, starting in 2019, they drafted in the top ten, adding Alex Turcotte, Quinton Byfield, and Brandt Clarke to their pipeline. They even had some useful, late-round gems like Alex Laferriere and Arthur Kaliyev.
The problem is, they botched just about everything else.
Trading Brock Faber to Minnesota, dumping Sean Durzi to the then-Arizona Coyotes, sending Sean Walker to the Flyers as part of the Ivan Provorov trade, and practically gifting Jordan Spence to the Ottawa Senators. The Pierre-Luc Dubois trade cost them Gabe Villardi, among other things, who's been excellent in Winnipeg when healthy, though they managed to recoup some value by swapping Dubois for Darcy Kuemper, who rediscovered his game in LA.
Add to that Byfield's uneven development and Turcotte being a bust by fifth-overall pick standards, and the Kings have plateaued at mediocre. Kopitar's retiring, Doughty's a shadow of his former self, and their pipeline lacks star power to replace those veterans. The Kings are stuck, and it's going to be difficult for them to get out of it.
The Flyers, so far, haven't fallen into some of the traps the Kings did--but they would be wise not to rush things the way LA seems to have done. The closest the Flyers have come to trying to rush things may be the Christian Dvorak extension, and if that's the worst thing you can point at, they're doing okay in the grand scheme of things. Danny Briere and Keith Jones have been patient, and there's little reason to believe that's changed, but the Kings serve as a warning to not get too far ahead of yourselves.