5 THINGS: Flyers @ Kings
Playing a New Year's Eve day game, John Tortorella's Philadelphia Flyers (12-17-7) will visit Todd McLellan's Los Angeles Kings (21-12-6) on Saturday afternoon
By
Bill Meltzer
philadelphiaflyers.com
GAME NOTES
The game will be televised on NBCSP. The radio broadcast is on 97.5 The Fanatic with an online simulcast on Flyers Radio 24/7.
This is the first of two meetings this season between the teams, and the lone game in LA. The teams will rematch at the Wells Fargo Center on Jan. 24.
The Flyers enter this game coming off a 4-3 overtime win in San Jose on Thursday. Philadelphia trailed by two goals early in the third period but then pushed back to force OT and then win for the first time in 3-on-3 sudden death this season. Travis Konecny netted his 16th and 17th goals of the season, while Tony DeAngelo netted the OT game-winner (7th) amid a three-point (1g, 2a) game and Owen Tippett produced a two-point (1g, 1a) performance. Samuel Ersson earned his first NHL win in goal, stopping 25 of 28 shots.
The Kings defeated the reigning Stanley Cup champion Colorado Avalanche via shootout, 5-4 (2-0), in Denver on Thursday. LA trailed, 4-2, entering the third period but rallied to send the game to overtime and eventually win in the skills competition. Gabriel Vilardi (16th), Phillip Danault (PPG, 11th), Alex Iafallo (PPG, 6th) and Sean Walker (2nd) scored for the Kings in regulation. Viktor Arvidsson and Adrian Kempe converted their shootout attempts into goals. In net, Pheonix Copley improved to 8-1-0 over nine starts, as he stopped 23 of 27 shots in regulation and overtime before going 2-for-2 in the shootout.
Here are five things to watch in Saturday's game:
1. Konecny and DeAngelo picking up where they left off.
With their clutch performances in Thursday's comeback win in San Jose, Konecny and DeAngelo carried over their strong play from recent games leading up to the leaguewide Christmas break. Konecny brings a four-game point streak (4g, 4a, 8 points) into Saturday's game in Los Angeles. DeAngelo has three goals and seven points over his last three games and is a traditional plus-seven over the last four matches.
Scott Laughton was another key player in Thursday's comeback. In the third period, he was moved up a line to play with Tippett and James van Riemsdyk. He helped the Flyers get through a vital penalty kill with Joel Farabee in the box in the latter stages of the third period. In overtime, Laughton won the opening faceoff and the Flyers maintained possession until they won the game on DeAngelo's goal off a feed from Ivan Provorov.
Over his last five games, Laughton has posted five points including a pair of shorthanded goals and three assists.
On the flip side, Morgan Frost did not have his best of overall games in San Jose -- a strong second period was bookended by an uneven first period and a very rough shift amid sparing third-period ice time -- after taking a four-game point streak into the holiday break. He'll look to quickly get back on course.
2. Hayes, Cates and Provorov.
To earn a win in Los Angeles, getting strong performances from defenseman Provorov and forwards Kevin Hayes and Noah Cates would significantly boost the Flyers' chances of winning back-to-back games for the first time since Nov. 5 in Ottawa and Nov. 8 at home against St. Louis.
Hayes was moved up in the third period on Thursday to play with Konecny and Farabee. Overall, he played 13:51 across 22 shifts. Hayes has one point (a first period power play assist in Toronto on Dec. 22) in his last five games and two points (0g, 2a) in the last eight games. He's also had defensive issues at times, which was the impetus for Tortorella switching him from center to wing.
Tortorella has shown tremendous confidence this season in rookie two-way forward Noah Cates, keeping him in the upper end of the lineup -- usually at center with tough defensive matchups -- and showing patience through early season and recent offensive struggles. Tortorella said on Friday that he thought Cates showed some signs of fatigue in the last few games before the holiday break.
In Thursday's game, Cates centered the top line for the first two periods but was moved down in the third period to play left wing on the third line with Frost and Wade Allison. For the game, Cates played 16:16 across 25 shifts. Overall, while he's continued to play well defensively, points have been hard to come by. Cates is now 20 games removed from his last goal (Nov. 15 in Columbus) and has three points (0g, 3a) in his last 11 games.
On the blueline, Provorov got off to an outstanding start to the 2022-23 regular season. More recently, there's been inconsistency in the top pairing blueliner's performances in terms of puck management. On the positive side, he's continued to log massive ice time and maintained his characteristic durability and ability to block shots (team-high 86). In Thursday's game in San Jose, Provorov skated 23:35 across 32 shifts.
Offensively, Provorov is not currently part of the power play rotation. For the season, the two-time double-digit goal scorer, has just one goal but a dozen assists (on pace to match or surpass his career-high 24, accomplished twice previously).
3. Hart or Ersson?
Before the Flyers departed for their current three-game California road trip, the Flyers placed Carter Hart on Injured Reserve with an upper body injury. He sustained the injury in a mask-to-helmet collision with Carolina's Seth Jarvis in the second period of the Dec. 23 game against the Hurricanes.
On Wednesday, Tortorella indicated that Hart could be ready to play as soon as the game in Los Angeles. Hart still had to clear the NHL's concussion protocol and be cleared for activation from IR. On Friday, Tortorella said he was not aware of any updates on the player's status and would not speculate on Hart's availability for the Kings game.
If Hart is cleared to play in Saturday's game, Tortorella and goalie coach Kim Dillabaugh might still opt to give Ersson another start and give Hart a couple more days before starting him in Anaheim. However, Tortorella's originally stated plan was to start Hart in both Los Angeles and Anaheim if available to play.
Ersson's stats through his first two NHL games aren't pretty. However, he was hung out to dry or victimized by deflections on four of the five goals he allowed in Carolina. Ersson then finished strong after going back into the net following Hart's injury. In San Jose, Ersson didn't see a high volume of shots but he faced a rather high difficulty of chances.
If Hart is not cleared to play on Saturday, Ersson will start and Felix Sandstrom will dress as the backup. Sandström has only played in one game in December.
4. Flyers line play: Revert to last game's starting lines?
As noted above, Tortorella juggled three of the four forward lines in the third period of Thursday's game. At Friday's practice, the line combinations and positional assignments reverted to the ones that started the game in San Jose.
After Friday's practice, Tortorella said that the third period line shuffling was simply a matter of trying to find an offensive spark after the team fell behind by two goals. He tried some combos he thought might create some chances because he didn't feel enough had been generated teamwide up to that point.
While it seems like the Flyers will start the game in LA with the lines featured in the first and second periods in San Jose, Tortorella is a coach who is often quick to push different buttons if he feels certain players or combinations aren't clicking in a given game.
Projected lineup (subject to change):
86 Joel Farabee - 49 Noah Cates - 11 Travis Konecny
25 James van Riemsdyk - 48 Morgan Frost - 74 Owen Tippett
13 Kevin Hayes - 21 Scott Laughton - 57 Wade Allison
44 Nicolas Deslauriers - 38 Patrick Brown - 17 Zack MacEwen
9 Ivan Provorov - 45 Cam York
6 Travis Sanheim - 77 Tony DeAngelo
24 Nick Seeler - 55 Rasmus Ristolainen
79 Carter Hart (if activated from IR)
33 Samuel Ersson
Available to play: 61 Justin Braun, 62 Olle Lycksell, 32 Felix Sandström.
5. Behind Enemy Lines: Los Angeles Kings
The Flyers are catching the Kings at a time when LA enters the game on a hot streak. LA has claimed nine of 10 possible points in their last five games and boasts a 7-1-2 record over the last 10 games. The Kings, who will be playing their 40th game of the season, have posted an 11-5-2 home record and a 10-7-4 road mark.
In breaking down the Kings' overall season to date, the following trends emerge:
* The Kings score a lot of goals at 5-on-5 (80) but also yield quite a few (78). By comparison, the Flyers have yielded 76 but have also scored just 61.
* The Kings are slightly above water at 5-on-5, in the top half of the league on the power play (23.4 percent overall, and a robust 26.5 percent at home), but near the bottom on the penalty kill (71.1 percent, ranked 28th).
* While the power play is a big part of the King's success, LA has also coughed up 5 opposing shorthanded goals. That could present an opportunity for the Fyers, who have scored a half-dozen SHG, including three by Laughton and two by Konecny.
* LA has good offensive depth; far superior to Philly's.The KIngs have six players with double-digit goals (led by Villardi's 16) and eight players with 20 or more points. By comparison, the Flyers have only two players with double-digit goals (Konecny and Tippett) and three with 20-plus points (Konecny, Hayes and DeAngelo).
* The Flyers tendency to give up the game's first goal (25 of 36 games so far, 9-11-5 in such games compared to 3-6-2 when scoring first) does not bode well if it plays out again in Los Angeles. The Kings are 13-3-1 when scoring first.
* In terms of puck possession frequency and quality, the Kings rank 13th in 5-on-5 shot attempt differential (51.46 percent) and 10th in expected goal differential (52.58 percent).
* In terms of puck management and defensive play, the current Kings are sometimes prone to getting careless and were called out for it by McLellan. However, during the team's strong run over the past 10 games, they have generally shown improvement in these areas. They've also been getting much improved goaltending of late.
Copley has been a big part of the Kings' surge ever since the 30-year-old netminder was recalled from the AHL's Ontario Reign. He's become the team's primary starter over the month of December after Cal Petersen (5-3-2, 3.75 GAA, .868 SV%) cleared waivers and was sent to the AHL. Copley has gone from No. 3 on the depth chart to the recent No. 1.
Franchise icon Jonathan Quick, who will turn 37 on Jan. 21, has appeared in 21 games this season. He's posted an 8-8-4 record, 3.41 GAA and .885 save percentage on the season. Recently, however, Quick has seen less playing time. He is 1-2-2 in December, although he played a strong game in a 1-0 overtime loss to the Coyotes on Dec. 23. Quick's last win was on Dec. 1 against Arizona.
Entering the game against the Flyers, Kevin Fiala leads the Kings with 36 points (10g, 26a), He's followed by veteran two-way star Anze Kopitar ( 10g, 19a), Arvidsson (10g, 19a), Danault (11g, 17a), Vilardi (16g, 8a), Kempe (13g, 10a) and defenseman Sean Durzi (4g, 17a).
Thirty-three-year-old Drew Doughty still logs huge amounts of ice time (26:28 per game) for the Kings. The veteran of 1,052 regular season NHL games has chipped in two goals (both on the power play) this season among his 20 points. He's been credited with 54 hits and 59 blocked slots.
Recently, 2020 second overall draft pick Quinton Byfield ( 10 NHL games this season, 3 assists, 16 AHL games with 15 points) has been moved from center to left wing. He's getting a look on the top line with Kopitar and Kempe.
Projected lineup (subject to change):
55 Quinton Byfield - 11 Anze Kopitar - 9 Adrian Kempe
19 Alex Iafallo - 24 Phillip Danault - 33 Viktor Arvidsson
22 Kevin Fiala - 46 Blake Lizotte - 13 Gabriel Vilardi
91 Carl Grundström - 89 Rasmus Kupari - 28 Jaret Anderson-Dolan
44 Mikey Anderson - 8 Drew Doughty
50 Sean Durzi - 3 Matt Roy
2 Alexander Edler - 26 Sean Walker
29 Pheonix Copley
32 Jonathan Quick
