FINAL – Kings 7, Flyers 3 – Foegele, Danault, Hiller

The LA Kings improved their record to 3-1-1 on their current road trip after a 7-3 victory over the Philadelphia Flyers on Thursday night at the Wells Fargo Center.

The Kings opened the scoring as their most dangerous line in the early games got the visitors on the board. Forward Phillip Danault hit a faster Kevin Fiala down the middle of the ice, where the Swiss winger got a step in behind the Philadelphia defense. Fiala calmly settled on the backhand, worked through a hook from behind and finished for the game’s first goal, his 11th of the season.

Philadelphia came back to tie the game with a backhand goal of their own later in the period. Working in the offensive zone, Bobby Brink drew a crowd on the boards but was able to get a pass to Cates coming down through the slot. Cates got on the backhand and lifted his shot over Kings netminder Darcy Kuemper’s pad for the goal and the equalizer for the hosts.

Just 91 seconds into the second period, the Kings pulled ahead for the second time in the game thanks to forward Tanner Jeannot. Forward Warren Foegele got the puck into a dangerous area of ​​the crease and after a scramble, Jeannot got the goal going from close range to put the visitors back on top, this time by a 2-1 margin.

Forward Tyson Foerster scored twice later in the second period to turn a 2-1 Kings lead into a 3-2 deficit.

First, shortly after the Kings had their first power play of the game, defenseman Jordan Spence was unable to hold the offensive zone, leading to a 2-on-1 the other way. Kuemper nearly kept the puck out, but after a wraparound later in the sequence, Foerster scored just outside the box to tie the game at two.

He then made it 3-2 Flyers shortly after Philadelphia had their first-man advantage. Foerster rattled loose in front of the net and, unmarked, finished off a cross from forward Morgan Frost for his second goal of the night, his eighth of the season, giving the hosts their first lead of the game.

Within the final minute of the second period, the Kings found a way to tie the game as captain Anze Kopitar worked the puck over the goal line for the equalizer. After winning the faceoff and working the puck back to the point, Kopitar went to the net and got just enough on the rebound to guide it over the line, past Flyers goaltender Aleksei Kolosov and into the game-tying goal.

The visitors struck again early in a period, this time the third frame, to take their third one-goal lead of the night. Spence got a shot through from the point that first deflected off a Flyer defender before forward Warren Foegele got a piece and sent it into the net for his ninth goal of the season as the Kings pulled ahead 4-3.

Kopitar doubled the lead midway through the third period, scoring again from the right around the front of the net. This time it was Alex Turcotte who made the play happen as he drove to the outside with speed and perfectly weighted a plate pass through the top of the crease to Kopitar at the back post, where he buried his tenth goal of the season, making it 19 consecutive seasons with double-digit goals for the captain.

Striker Quinton Byfield made it 6-3 with an empty net goal before Kevin Fiala rounded off the scoring with his second of the game with a fine assist from striker Alex Laferriere to take us to the 7-3 final.

Hear from Danault, Foegele and head coach Jim Hiller after tonight’s win.

Warren Foegele

Philip Danault
On if tonight’s win was just about finding a way to get the job done
Yeah, we didn’t play our game. They found a way to play theirs, a lot up and down the ice, a lot of 2-on-1s and stuff like that. We just played our Kings game in the third and we were rewarded.

About the discussion in the second break and what changed.
Yeah, just get back to our game. We didn’t play it in the first two periods and we got our result right there at the end. We addressed it at the second break and we all took care of it and we all responded. It was a great team win and Darce was also solid in net.

On his line to find two goals tonight and get the reward they have deserved
It’s been that kind of year. Grinding, looking good, and it’s not easy. Nice to be rewarded tonight from where we were.

On the importance of getting the two points tonight, late on a road trip
Fight. You could tell they had a lot of momentum, they were hungry, they played hard, but we just found a way

Jim Hiller
On his biggest takeaways from tonight’s win
Two things. The two takeaways I have is Kopitar’s goal at the end of the second period, a very big goal for us, because we had lost all our momentum, so it was a big turning point in the game. Then, the third period that we gave up a lead in Pittsburgh, we were happy with that. We’ve been playing so well in the third and tonight I thought our third period was obviously our best. Remember the goals, but we played hard, we checked, we limited turnovers, odd players, obviously. So I was really happy with the third one.

Getting two big goals from Anze Kopitar that helped spark the win
To be his age and to be out there and play against the other team’s best players night after night, and then also make an offensive contribution while leading the team, I don’t know, it’s really, really hard to do. I know it’s hard to do 25, never mind 37.

What changed for the team between the first 40 minutes and the last 20
We don’t want to get into it, but I just think we started the game, maybe the first 10 minutes, playing our game, what we call Kings hockey, and then it was just a matter of whose game we were going to play. in the third period and I thought we played our game. Again, really happy and proud of the guys to come out like that in the third and play our game.

Seeing the Danault line get rewarded tonight for their play of late
Yes, two really nice goals. I think that line now, for a while, has been pretty good. I don’t think they’ve scored that much for the chances they’ve had, but they’ve just played good hockey. I think they’ve probably been the most consistent line on the road trip. Yeah, nice to see the puck go in for Kevin, we know how many breakouts he’s had this year, and what a play by Laf at the end, behind the back. It’s good, yeah, it was just good to see some guys score some goals.

On an appreciation of Tanner Jeannot’s physical hockey brand
He also scored a big goal in net. I thought shot blocks from him, just the meat and potatoes part of the game, blocking shots, getting pucks out, finishing checks and having presence after the whistle when required. All of these things are what make him a very unique player in the league and why we are happy to have him.

Notes –
• Captain Anze Kopitar (2-0=2) extended his point streak to a third game with his pair of goals tonight and increased his team-leading point total to 37 on the campaign (10-27=37).
• Kopitar has now found the back of the net 64 times since turning 35 on Aug. 22, 2022, tying Bob Nevin (64-113-177) for the most by a player 35 or older in Kings history, according to NHL PR.
• Forward Kevin Fiala (2-0=2) opened and closed the scoring tonight with his second and third goals on the road trip, his 11th and 12th of the season. Fiala has now recorded multiple points in a game 47 times since his debut with the Kings on October 11, 2022, the third most on the team behind Kopitar (50) and Adrian Kempe (50) in that span.
• According to NHL PR, the only Swiss-born players to record more multi-goal games than Fiala (24) are Nino Niederreiter (30) and Timo Meier (27).
• Forward Warren Foegele (1-1=2) recorded his ninth goal and eighth assist of the season tonight at Wells Fargo Center and has four points (2-2=4) in his last three games. Tonight’s contest marked Foegele’s fifth multi-point game of the campaign, the most the 28-year-old winger has registered through this point in a career season.
• Forward Tanner Jeannot (1-0=1) scored his fourth goal of the season. In six career games against the Flyers, Jeannot has recorded six points (3-3=6), including a game-winning goal and two five-point games.
• Forward Quinton Byfield (1-0=1) extended his hitting streak against the Flyers to a fourth straight game (1-5=6) dating back to Jan. 24, 2023.
• Defenseman Jordan Spence (0-2=2) recorded his second and third assists over the last three days at the Keystone State, his seventh helper of the campaign.
• Defenseman Vladislav Gavrikov (0-2=2) recorded a pair of assists tonight, the same stat line he posted Tuesday at Pittsburgh. With his duo of performances, the blueliner establishes the first multi-point game streak of his career (0-4=4).
• Forward Alex Laferriere (0-2=2) picked up a pair of helpers at the Wells Fargo Center and now has three points (0-3=3) in as many career contests against Philadelphia.
• Defenseman Jacob Moverare (0-1=1) recorded an assist on Foegele’s game-winning tally to record his first point of the season in his 14th game.
• Forward Alex Turcotte (0-1=1) extended his point streak to a third game (2-2=4) with his fifth point on the road trip.
• Defenseman Brandt Clarke (0-1=1) gave Kempe the second most assists on the team by scoring his 15th of the campaign tonight.
• Forward Philip Danault (0-1=1) picked up his third point (1-2=3) in his last four games. Danault now has 10 assists in 18 career contests against the Flyers, the second Kings forward to have double-digit helpers against Philadelphia after Kopitar (12A).
• Defenseman Mikey Anderson played his 300th career NHL game tonight against the Flyers. Drafted in the fourth round (103rd overall) of the 2017 NHL Draft, Anderson is the sixth defenseman from his draft class to reach the 300-game mark, the 19th skater from his year to do so overall.
• Goalie Darcy Kuemper stopped 23 shots tonight to improve his record to 8-2-4 on the season.
• According to NHL PR, the Kings recorded their 19th regulation win and tied Winnipeg for second most this season. New Jersey (20) is the only team with more.

The Kings are not scheduled to hold an on-ice practice tomorrow. The team returns to the ice on Saturday, December 21 at 12:30 local time, 10:30 Pacific vs Nashville Predators at Bridgestone Arena.