Good Effort & Luck Help Flyers Get W Against Streaking Kings

The Los Angeles Kings came into Tuesday night’s game on a six-game win streak, and looked to stretch it to seven against a Flyer’s team suffering from injuries and troubles on defense. Philadelphia was also looking to make it three straight wins, and reach .500 for the first time this season. With two high scoring teams taking the ice, nobody expected a low scoring matchup where both goalies shined.

            In the 1^st period, both the Flyers and the Kings came out firing on all cylinders making Emery and Quick earn their money early. The Flyers were able to capitalize on their high-powered offense when Michael Raffl found the back of the net off a shot that originally came from Claude Giroux for his 5^th goal of the season. With the Flyers on the power play, Tyler Toffoli (5) capitalized off a poor pass attempt by Matt Read and scored breakaway goal shorthanded to tie the game up with less than seven minutes to go in the 1^st.  The orange & black were able to get in the final punch of the 1^st period as Chris VandeVelde scored his first goal as a Flyer to give his team a 2-1 lead going into the locker room. The 2^nd period provided no goals for either side, leaving the Kings only 20 more minutes to get things knotted up.

            It only took the Kings five minutes to get the equalizer from the former Flyer Mike Richards (1). Although both squads were able to get off plenty of shot, nobody was able to give their team the go-ahead goal in regulation, giving both teams a point and a chance to gain another in overtime. The extra five minutes of play would end in a very bizarre fashion that Kings’ goaltender Jonathan Quick would like to forget about as soon as possible. With less than three minutes to play in overtime, Brayden Schenn (3) took a shot on a breakaway that originally looked like it was gathered up by Quick. However, Quick’s momentum forced his body into the net bringing the puck along with him. At first, the officials ruled a no-goal; but the ruling was overturned giving the Flyers a 3-2 victory.

            Overall, the Flyers put forth a very good effort against a highly talented Kings team. Ray Emery was brilliant once again making 38 saves on 40 shots. He is proving to the team that he deserves to be the #1 goaltender for Philly going forward. The Flyers look to extend this 3-game win streak when they head to Tampa Bay to take on the Lightning on Thursday night.