Postgame RAV4: Flyers fall to Kings in OT

The Philadelphia Flyers lost to the Los Angeles Kings in overtime, 3-2, at Xfinity Mobile Arena on Saturday. Travis Konecny had a goal and an assist. He hit the post in overtime before Quinton Byfield scored to end the game.

Adrian Kempe (22nd goal of the season) gave the Kings a lead early in the first period. Kempe (3rd) scored again just under minutes later.

The Flyers scored a pretty power play goal in the opening minute of the second period, with Trevor Zegras (PPG, 20th) finishing off the play.

On the opening shift of the third period, the Flyers forged a 2-2 tie. Konecny (22nd) deflected home a Ristolainen point shot. In OT, Byfield (10th) won the game.

Dan Vladar made 18 saves on 21 shots. LA's Darcy Kuemper turned aside 19 of 21 shots from the Flyers.

The Flyers went 1-for-2 on the power play. They were 4-for-5 on the penalty kill.

FIRST PERIOD SYNOPSIS

The Flyers had a poor start to the game, and quickly fell into a two-goal deficit. They had a decent finish over the final five-plus minutes, with a penalty kill generating some stability.

Matvei Michkov had a scoring chance at the net at 1:43. After a failed clearing opportunity, Trevor Moore snapped LA's first shot on net at 3:01.

With Vladar down on the ice, a scramble ensued near the net. Kempe scored from in front. The assists went to Alex Laferriere and Corey Perry at 3:10.

On the next shift, Michkov set up Bobby Brink from a prime chance. Kuemper made the save. At the other end, the Flyers recovered from a Michkov flub with the puck.

Kempe skated right through the middle after the Flyers lost a 3-on-2 battle behind the net, took a pass from Perry and scored on a one-timer at 7:08. At 7:50, former Flyers winger Andrei Kuzmenko scored. However, the goal came off the board after a coach's challenge for an offside.

Looking to create a spark, Nick Deslauriers tried to find a fight behind the play with Brandt Clarke and then Samuel Helenius, without a taker. Meanwhile, Nikita Grebenkin jumped out on the ice. The Flyers were penalized for too many men on the ice at 12:33. The Flyers killed the penalty, with Vladar making two saves. Through 14:40, shots on goal were 10-3.

Sean Couturier was called for holding Moore in the defensive zone at 14:49. The Flyers killed off this penalty with relative ease.

As play entered the final minute, Kuemper fought off a shot from Zegras. At 19:13, Drew Doughy cross-checked Michkov to the ice. The Flyers took 1:13 of carryover power play time into the second period.

Shots: Flyers 6 - Kings 10
Faceoffs: Flyers 14 - Kings 10

SECOND PERIOD SYNOPSIS

Philly controlled most of the play for the first half of the period. LA pushed back a bit in the latter half but it was an overall period for the Flyers.

The Flyers used quick movement -- Travis Konecny to to Bobby Brink to an open Zegras on the weak side -- for a tic-tac toe power play goal at the 39-second mark.

Two shifts later, Garnet Hathaway had a prime scoring chance in front of the net. at 4:48, after some extended puck position, Owen Tippett curled in and generated a shot from near the hash marks.

Couturier made a gorgeous pass to Rasmus Ristolainen for a prime chance, but the shot went off the near side post. Moments later, Ristolainen backhanded a shot on net. Through 6:33, shots were 7-1 in the Flyers' favor.

At 6:41, Cody Ceci sent the puck over the glass from the defensive zone. The Flyers went back to the power play. Noah Cates had a look in the waning seconds. Exiting the penalty box, Ceci had a rare breakaway for himself. Vladar made his second save of the period. Denver Barkey breathed a sigh of relief.

At 10:56, Konecny swooped across the blue paint after skating out from behind the net. Kuemper made his seventh save of the period as Mikey Anderson knocked Konecny to the ice.

At the end of the period, Armia dumped Zegras to the ice, resulting in a heavy collision with Kuemper. Both players took a while to get up but seemed OK thereafter.

Shots: Flyers 10 (16 overall) - Kings 4 (14 overall)
Faceoffs: Flyers 12 (26 overall) - Kings 12 (22 overall)

THIRD PERIOD SYNOPSIS

The Flyers knotted the score at the 25 second mark of the third period. Nikita Grebenkin won a puck battle and got the puck out to the point. Ristolainen's point shot seemed to be redirected by Konecny but the defenseman was initially credited with the goal before the scoring change. Konecny told RIstolainen to lead the goal celebration flyby at the bench. Ristolainen and Grebenkin were credited with the assists after the adjustment.

Bobby Brink hustled up a chance as the puck bounced in front off the end boards at 5:10. At 6:43, Vladar gloved down a shot from the left dot. The Flyers goaltender stopped Anze Kopitar at 7:54.

Through 10:54, shots on goal were 3-2 LA (the third one for the Kings came on a puck that Deslauriers accidentally deflected on net that was headed wide).

Cam York intercepted a failed clearing attempt from LA, and had back-to-back scoring chances. Couturier had a left circle shot during an extended possession shift. Through 15:26, shots were 5-4 Flyers.

The Flyers limited LA to a total of 10 shots on goal over the final 35 minutes of regulation.

Shots: Flyers 5 (21 overall) - Kings 6 (20 overall)
Faceoffs: Flyers 11 (37 overall) - Kings 8 (30 overall)

OVERTIME SYNOPSIS

Konecny hit the post on a breakaway opportunity. At 2:48, Byfield scored to end the game.

FLYERS STARTING LINEUP

Nikita Grebenkin -- Christian Dvorak -- Travis Konecny
Matvei Michkov -- Trevor Zegras -- Bobby Brink

Denver Barkey -- Noah Cates -- Owen Tippett
Nicolas Deslauriers -- Sean Couturier -- Garnet Hathaway

Travis Sanheim -- Rasmus Ristolainen
Cam York -- Jamie Drydale
Nick Seeler -- Noah Juulsen

Dan Vladar

[Aleksei Kolosov]

Postgame RAV4 (RAV4 Things Revisited)

1. Avoid backdoor goals against

Backdoor goals per se were not the issue as LA took a 2-0 lead in the first period (plus a disallowed goal). But there were nevertheless coverage issues. In the latter part of the first period and most of the second period, the Flyers defended well and gained a territorial edge.

2. Grebenkin

The rookie winger had a nice block on a Joel Edmunson shot midway through the game. Through two periods, he had 11 shifts for 7:45 of ice time. On his first shift of the third period, Grebenkin won a puck battle and assisted on the tying goal.

3. Between the pipes

Vladar was unable to get reset for a second shot on Kempe's first goal of the game. He settled in as the game moved along.

4. Zegras at center

The Flyers experiment of having Trevor Zegras center Matvei Michkov and Bobby Brink at 5-on-5 continued into Saturday afternoon's game. In addition to scoring a power play goal in the second period, Zegras had a much better game on faceoffs after going 1-for-12 on Thursday.