FINAL – Kings 2, Flyers 4 – Grundstrom, Danault, McLellan

The LA Kings saw their eight-game point streak come to an end with a 4-2 defeat on home ice against the Philadelphia Flyers on Saturday evening at Crypto.com Arena.

The Flyers opened the scoring with the lone goal of the first period, as forward Owen Tippett scored his fifth goal of the season. A shot from the left point was blocked by the Flyers, sending Tippett on a breakaway in the other direction. The Philadelphia winger deked to the backhand and his shot narrowly got past Kings netminder Cam Talbot for the game-opening goal and a 1-0 lead through 20 minutes.

Philadelphia forward Morgan Frost added a pair of his own goals during the second period, as the Flyers opened up a 3-0 advantage.

First, Frost worked his way around the net on a wraparound, with his shot deflecting off a Kings skate, off the back of Talbot’s glove and in, a hard-luck goal against, yielding a 2-0 advantage for the visitors. Frost made it 3-0 in the final four minutes of the middle stanza, as he got a deflection on a Nick Seeler shot from the point, tipping it past Talbot for his second goal both of the evening and of the season.

In the final two minutes of the second period, the Kings pulled a goal back from forward Carl Grundstrom, who brought the hosts back to 3-1 heading into the intermission. Grundstrom gained the offensive blueline down the right wing and beat Flyers netminder Cal Petersen with a shot from the top of the right-hand circle for his sixth goal of the season, one shy of the team lead.

Off a turnover in the defensive zone, Philadelphia pulled back ahead through forward Cam Atkinson, who made it 4-1 from close range. After defenseman Vladislav Gavrikov was dispossessed deep in the defensive zone, the Flyers quickly moved the puck around and converted through Atkinson, who buried his eighth goal of the season to restore the three-goal advantage.

Forward Adrian Kempe brought the Kings a goal closer, as he extended his point streak to nine games with a third-period tally. Gavrikov’s shot from the right-hand boards was deflected on the way through by forward Quinton Byfield, directly to Kempe, who slotted home at the back post. Byfield extended his own scoring streak to six games with the primary assist, with the game finishing at a 4-2 scoreline.

Hear from Grundstrom, forward Phillip Danault and Head Coach Todd McLellan following tonight’s defeat.

Carl Grundstrom

Carl takes questions from @CarrlynBathe and the media post game @LAKings | #GoKingsGo | #LAKingsLive pic.twitter.com/9t4VeDHEYu

— Bally Sports West (@BallySportWest) November 12, 2023

Phillip Danault
On what he felt was missing with the group’s connectivity tonight
Yeah, I think they played really well, they had some good sticks out there and I think that made the difference tonight, they were better on stick battles and little details like that. I think that’s how they won the game.

On if he felt anything slip over the games preceding this one, that contributed to the outcome
Yeah, a little bit, but we weren’t really bad, it’s just like I said, little details that can slip and we get too comfortable sometimes. We know we have a good team, but we’ve just gotta stay humble in this and do little details. We can only be really good when we do the little details defensively, starting in our zone and creating some offense. They wanted it more than us tonight.

On the team’s struggles on home ice early in the season
I’m not sure, honestly, but we have to rectify this for sure, as soon as possible. The home ice is really important. We got better as a team for sure, we need to watch some video and look at things that we have to be better at, at home.

On how long he feels a new line needs to be truly evaluated
Maybe a couple of practices, I think that first game is always hard right away, but also they played really well, really tight, didn’t give us any chances. We know we’re good players, we’ve got better and we know it.

Todd McLellan
On what he felt was the most uncharacteristic part of tonight’s loss
I don’t think there’s many nights so far this season where we’ve been outworked in and out-committed and we were that tonight. So, I could chalk up the press conference or whatever you want to call it, I could give you everything I have right now.

On what he felt was lacking with the team’s connectivity tonight
First of all, you have to give them credit. They played a committed game, they were on top of us, they blocked shots like there was no tomorrow, I didn’t see us diving in front of a whole bunch of them. We got scored on, on a floater from the point that was deflected, we didn’t work real hard to get in that lane and they did. They were quick to scrums, they won a lot of the loose pucks, they didn’t need a lot of chances but the ones they got, they scored on. We can beat our team up, which we have to a little bit, they deserve it, but I also have to tip my hat to their team. They played a real good game.

On his level of concern with the team’s record on home ice
Well, we’re giving up way to many goals on home ice and what’s causing that? I think every night, there’s been a bit of a different scenario. I believe at our last presser, after the last game or maybe the game before at home, I was asked if I’m concerned and I wasn’t, because the beginning of the year was the beginning of the year. But, now I am a little bit, so we’re going to have to fix it.

On a minus-three night for Kevin Fiala and if there is concern with his start to the season
Well, plus/minus is not always a good evaluator of an individual’s play, situations come up that are not even warranted for both sides, getting a plus or a minus, so we don’t put a lot of credence into that. It’s the type of play and the level of play and there is some concern, yeah, I can’t lie to you. We’re trying to get him going. Some of the concern comes in power-play type situations, where he should be excelling, and some of it is in the game management and defensive side. So, on both sides of the puck, he has to be better.

On his assessment of Pierre-Luc Dubois right now and the decision to change the lines
When you have a few players struggling for whatever reason, sometimes you leave them together, sometimes you pull them apart. There hasn’t been good connectivity between PL and Kevin for a little while and quite frankly, that’s why we did it. Tonight was only one night, we didn’t practice yesterday, we just pulled it out of our hat. We’ve got to give them a little bit of time, we’ve got to give PL some time to adjust or deal with his linemates, but expectations are high there as well. We think that he can be a big part of what we’re working towards, but the expectations are high.

On another strong performance from Carl Grundstrom and if his play could merit a larger role
I think that Lizzo’s line is one of our best lines and I think that Grunny gives us everything he has, all the time and I think he’s in a perfect spot. The last thing we want to do is screw around with Grunny. Him, Lizzo and Lewy are money, you can count on them night after night to get the job done.

On seeing Cal Petersen and Sean Walker find success against their former team tonight
We lost the game but those two guys are really good individuals. They’re quality people and yeah, we took it on the chin tonight and they won, but I’m also happy for them. I’m happy that Cal had a good night. I wish it wasn’t against us but he had a real good night and maybe that will get him on track and get him going and Walks has played well all year. I know that staff over there a little bit and they couldn’t be happier. So, I’m happy for them, I’m glad that they’re having good years and hopefully it will continue.

Notes –
– Carl Grundstrom (1-0=1) scored his sixth goal of the season in his 200th career NHL game. Grundstrom is the 18th Kings skater to score a goal in their 200th career game, and the first to do so since Alex Iafallo (1G, Jan. 4, 2020). With his goal, Grundstrom has recorded a goal in back-to-back games, the second time he has done so this season (2G, Oct. 19-21, 2023).
– Grundstrom is just the fifth Swedish-born player in team history to appear 200 games with the club, joining Tomas Sandstrom (235), Adrian Kempe (486), Juha Widing (502) and Mattias Norstrom (780).
– Adrian Kempe (1-0=1) scored his seventh goal of the season, extending his point streak into a career-long ninth game (6-7=13). Kempe is the first Kings skater to record a point streak of at least nine games since Alex Iafallo (4-6=10, Dec. 21, 2019 – Jan. 9, 2020).
– Quinton Byfield (0-1=1) recorded his 11th assist of the season, extending his assist streak to a career-best six games (0-9=9). With his assist, Byfield became just the fourth different skater 21 years of age or younger in Kings history to establish an assist streak of at least six games: Jimmy Carson (2x, Last: 3-8=11 in 6GP from Nov. 1 – Nov. 14, 1987), Garry Galley (0-9=9 in 7GP from Nov. 19 – Dec. 4, 1984) and Bernie Nicholls (4-6=10 in 6GP from Mar. 22 – Mar. 31, 1982).
– Byfield is also the 12th skater 21 years of age or younger to have a six-game point streak and first to do so since Wayne Simmonds (4-4=8 in 6GP from Nov. 25 – Dec. 5, 2009).
– Trevor Lewis (0-1=1) recorded his fifth assist of the season. Lewis has now scored 168 (72-96=168) as a member of the Kings, two points shy of tying Mike Donnelly (87-83=170) for seventh all-time in points scored by an U.S.-born player in team history.
– Andreas Englund (0-1=1) tallied his fourth assist and fifth point of the season (1-4=5), establishing a new single-season career high in points.

The Kings have scheduled team a scheduled day off tomorrow and will participate in the Kings’ 21st Golf Tournament at Palos Verdes Golf Club on Monday. The team will return to the ice on Tuesday, November 14 at 11 AM at Toyota Sports Performance Center.

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