5 things: Flyers vs. Kings

John Tortorella’s Philadelphia Flyers (14-14-4) are at home Thursday night to host Jim Hiller’s Los Angeles Kings (18-9-4). Game time at the Wells Fargo Center is 7:30pm EST.

The game will be streamed on Hulu/ESPN+ 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 interconference clubs. The Flyers and Kings will play a rematch in Los Angeles on December 29.

The Flyers enter this game coming off a 6-4 road loss to the Detroit Red Wings on Wednesday night. Philly was plagued by turnovers, early-game penalty trouble, spotty puck support and two potentially stoppable shots that ended up in the net. On the positive side, the Flyers showed their resilience by coming back from 2-1 and 4-2 deficits.

The Kings enter their fifth game of a seven-game road trip. They are 2-1-1 on the trip to date. On Tuesday, LA suffered a 3-2 overtime loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins at PPG Paints Arena.

Here are five things to watch in Thursday’s tilt:

1. Goalkeeper Koly

There is no morning skate for the Flyers on Thursday, after playing the previous night in Detroit. However, it is likely that rookie goaltender Aleksei Kolosov would start Thursday’s game regardless of what happened against the Red Wings on Wednesday.

Last Thursday, Kolosov flirted with a shutout for 56 minutes in a 4-1 home win against the Red Wings. He was overall very sharp in that game, and the lone goal he got was from a deflected puck that redirected a teammate.

The Kings, meanwhile, have lost David Rittich in 16 starts so far among his 18 appearances (10-7-0, 2.49 goals-against average, .890 save percentage). Veteran Darcy Kuemper has made 14 starts (7-2-4, 2.32 GAA, .915 save percentage, one shutout).

On Tuesday in Pittsburgh, Kuemper stopped 28 of 32 shots. Due to breakdowns in front of him – uncharacteristic of the Kings – LA was unable to protect a lead in the third period. Additionally, the only assists he received were figures from Adrian Kempe and Alex Turcotte.

2. Puck control

After a poor start to the season from both a structural and puck-handling standpoint — which too often led to games where the Flyers spent significantly more time in their own end of the ice than on offense — the Flyers cleaned up most of the process-related issues that tormented them in five-on-five play.

Unfortunately, Wednesday’s game in Detroit was a step back in how the Flyers played with and without the puck. The Flyers paid the price for allowing too many odd man rushes. They were also guilty of a bad line change with Detroit in possession of the puck. Finally, puck support was inconsistent when on ice and there were too many D-zone sequences where opposition forwards got to the inside.

The mantras of “defending from the middle out” and “checking forward” to create attacking opportunities were not sufficiently proven in Friday’s game. The Flyers need to get right back on the log in those areas against a strong LA club.

3. Line combinations and defense pairs

The Flyers put their line combinations and defensive pairings in a blender in the third period of Wednesday’s game. In addition, top pair defender Cam York sat on the bench during the last 20 minutes of the match.

The one front line combination not changed by Tortorella on Thursday was the trio of Noah Cates centered Tyson Foerster and Bobby Brink. The other three lines varied by shift. Scott Laughton moved from left wing to center in the third period, while Ryan Poehling (normally fourth line center) moved to left wing and ended up scoring his second goal of the season.

Will there be lineup changes or combination adjustments for the start of Thursday’s game? Will defenseman Emil Andrae (scratched the last three games) rejoin the Philadelphia lineup? How long will Tortorella wait in the game before juggling lines again?

The Flyers had a lot of line continuity over an eight-game stretch before tweaks in the game at Minnesota last Saturday and the wholesale switch Wednesday. It will be interesting to see how the lines start against the Kings, how much they are moved around (other than normal variations after the PK or post-power play on the next shift), and how the ice time is distributed in the second shift. games in the current four-in-six stretch.

4. Flyers special teams

The Flyers penalty kill has been going since Thanksgiving. The normal fluctuations and short-term hiccups that happen to all teams have now been a three-week free fall that has dropped the Flyers from near the top of the NHL to the middle of the pack (overall success rate of 79.8 percent) .

Going back to Black Friday, the Flyers have given up nine opposing power play goals in 24 opportunities for a dismal 62.5 percent PK percentage. Meanwhile, in the same span, the Kings’ PK has gone 17-for-18 (94.4 percent) to move into the league’s top 10 for the season.

However, the power play has been an even bigger struggle for the Kings than the Flyers this season. LA’s power play enters Thursday’s game at 15.3 percent, ranking 28th in the league. The Flyers, who had just one power play opportunity in Wednesday’s game, are 26th in the NHL with 16.5 percent success.

5. Behind enemy lines: Kopitar

The seemingly ageless Anze Kopitar remains one of the NHL’s most consistent all-around centers. At age 37, the big Slovenian center leads the Kings in points (35) and assists (27) while playing in all game situations (19:17 average ice time per game.

Kopitar, a perennial Selke Trophy candidate, is a traditional +15 this season today. He also remains one of the most dominant faceoff takers in the hockey world, especially on his strong (left) side. Overall, Kopitar has won 57.1 percent of his draws this year: the seventh straight season in which the Kings have had immediate puck possession from 55 percent of multiple draws taken by their captain.

In 1,404 career NHL regular season games, all with the Kings, Kopitar has produced 427 goals, 819 assists, 1,246 points and an overall +109 rating. The two-time Selke Trophy winner has a pair of Stanley Cup rings, five NHL All-Star Game selections and two Lady Byng Trophies in his Hockey Hall of Fame caliber.