Anze Kopitar, Kevin Fiala each score 2 goals as Kings rally past Flyers
By ANTHONY SANFILIPPO The Associated Press
PHILADELPHIA — Anze Kopitar and Kevin Fiala scored two goals each, and the Kings scored four goals in the third period to rally past the Philadelphia Flyers, 7-3, on Thursday night.
Warren Foegele added a goal and an assist for the Kings, who won for the eighth time in 11 games overall and improved to 3-1-1 on their season-long seven-game road trip. Tanner Jeannot and Quinton Byfield also scored for the Kings, and Alex Laferriere, Vladislav Gavrikov and Jordan Spence each chipped in a pair of assists. Darcy Kuemper made 23 saves.
Tyson Foerster had two goals and an assist for Philadelphia, which has dropped six of its last eight games (2-5-1). Aleksei Kolosov surrendered six goals on 26 shots for the Flyers.
The game was tied entering the third period before Foegele made it 4-3 at 1:54 with an athletic redirection of a shot by Spence.
Kopitar, who had not scored in his first six games this month, added some insurance with his second of the night. Alex Turcotte avoided a defender near the right boards and sent a perfect saucer pass over to Kopitar, who beat Kolosov for his 10th of the season. Kopitar now has at least one point in 19 of his last 24 games, but it was his first multi-goal game since scoring a hat trick on the opening night of the season.
Byfield added an empty-net goal with 3:37 remaining before Fiala’s second of the night and 12th of the season capped the scoring with 2:26 remaining.
Both teams scored a goal in the first period. Fiala’s breakaway backhander got the Kings on the board, before Noah Cates drew Philadelphia even just over three minutes later with a nifty backhand move of his own.
Jeannot put the Kings in front 2-1 early in the second, beating Kolosov on a scramble in front, but Foerster scored twice to tilt the momentum back in the Flyers’ favor.
First, he corralled an errant feed from Scott Laughton and found an opening past a sprawling Kuemper. Then he scored 3½ minutes later from the slot off a nice setup from Morgan Frost.
However, Kopitar netted the equalizer with 44 seconds remaining in the period. Kolosov tried to glove a loose puck to the left of the net, but Kopitar nudged it free and tucked it home for a 3-3 deadlock entering the third.
TAKEAWAYS
Kings: The Kings have faced the fewest shots in the NHL this season, and the team yielded 26 to the Flyers. The Kings extended their streak of allowing three goals or fewer to 10 games.
Flyers: Coach John Tortorella scratched defenseman Cam York for Thursday’s game. Tortorella said before the game that York “has been stuck in neutral” since returning from a shoulder injury.
UP NEXT
The Kings continue their seven-game road trip in Nashville on Saturday at 10:30 a.m. PT.