After Wednesday’s sloppy loss to the Red Wings, the Flyers were right back at on Thursday night at the Wells Fargo Center, and came out with a third consecutive regulation loss. This time, the Kings came into Philadelphia and blew out the Flyers by scoring four unanswered in the third period. All the sudden, that puts the Flyers at 4-5-1 in their last 10, and moving down the crowded eastern conference bubble picture with the surging Ottawa Senators and Pittsburgh Penguins overtaking them.
The Basics
First period: 10:53 – Kevin Fiala (Danault), 14:11 – Noah Cates (Brink, Foerster)
Second period: 1:31 – Tanner Jeannot (Foegele, Spence), 11:30 – Tyson Foerster (Laughton), 15:04 – Tyson Foerster (Frost, Tippett), 19:16 – Anze Kopitar (Laferriere, Gavrikov)
Third period: 1:54 – Warren Foegele (Spence, Moverare), 10:39 – Anze Kopitar (Turcotte, Gavrikov), 16:23 – Quinton Byfield (EN), 17:34 – Kevin Fiala (Laferriere)
SOG: 27 (LAK) – 26 (PHI)
Some Takeaways
Defensive pairs in a blender
With Emil Andrae drawing in for top-pair defenseman Cam York, the pairs were certainly all over the place and completely different than what we’ve come to expect this season. Rolling out Sanheim-Drysdale, Seeler-Ristolainen, and Andrae-Zamula went just about how one could have expected it to go, with the Flyers giving up six goals and losing the expected goals battle 2.76 to 1.87. There were breakdowns all night, and outside from flashes from the Sanheim-Drysdale pair, it felt as if the D-core was out of place without Cam York. That makes a lot of sense, and maybe this is a different conversation if the Flyers could get an extra save or two, but it was a rough game for a Cam York-less defense.
Andrae struggles in return to lineup
Speaking of rough games, this was not a pretty one for Emil Andrae, and that’s especially concerning as it was his return from a three-game healthy scratching. In one moment in particular, at 4-3 Kings in the third, Andrae was made to look silly by Alex Turcotte, as Andrae missed on a check and was left out of position. This led to a mini 2-on-1 in the Flyers zone, and led to a backbreaking Anze Kopitar goal to extend the Kings lead to two. It’s the type of play that you can expect out of a young defenseman going through growing pains, but it’s rough timing for Andrae following the healthy scratchings. Almost wonder if that kinda play puts him right back upstairs this weekend.
Tyson Foerster scores twice
The most fun part of the night? Tyson Foerster netted two goals, and showed that gritty, two-way, power game that we hope Foerster starts to show with more consistency. The first came off a Scott Laughton wrap-a-round rebound, where he boxed out a few defenders to tie the game at two. The second came at the end of a Flyers power play, where he found time and space right in front of the Kings net to receive a behind-the-net Morgan Frost pass. The goals were Foerster’s 7th and 8th on the year, and puts him at a 21 goal 82-game pace for the year – about where we could reasonably expect year two of Foerster.
Noah Cates makes it two in a row
Another fun part of the night? Noah Cates has scored for a second straight night, and that’s always a cool thing for perhaps the Flyers most stout defensive forward. The Brink-Cates-Foerster line continues to be a strong combination for the Flyers too, earning a 75% corsi-for percentage on a night that the rest of the Flyers lines were sub-50%. Also, the goal was beautiful, finishing with a backhand move on a mini-breakaway off a pass from Bobby Brink.
Kolosov not the sharpest
Stop us if you’ve heard this lately: A Flyers goaltender struggled again, and the rotating door of Ersson and Kolosov continues to flounder in the early going of this tandem. Simply, the Flyers aren’t getting the extra save right now, and they haven’t been getting it for a while. In their last 8 games, the Flyers goaltenders have allowed less than 3 goals only once, in a December 12th 4-1 win over Detroit. The other games? 7, 4, 4, 3, 4, 6, 7 goals allowed. That’s not a recipe for success, and the Flyers are going to need one of the goaltenders to figure it out quickly if they are to turn this back around again.
Power play fails at a crucial time, again
And, we have to finally mention the unsolvable mess that is the Flyers power play. Specifically, the 2024-25 edition of the power play is starting to kill them in the most crucial moments of a game, similar to how it did last year. Down 4-3 in the third period, a Flyers power play opportunity could have breathed life back into the team, even if there was just a moment of sustained offensive pressure. Instead, though, the Flyers couldn’t even break the zone, and when they did, it was immediately stripped and sent down the ice by a Kings defender. It was truly a pitiful power play that swung the momentum firmly in the Kings favor.
