FINAL – Kings 3, Flyers 4 (SO) – Kempe, Moore, Smith

The LA Kings picked up another point in overtime, but were unable to take advantage of favorable results around the Western Conference as they fell 4-3 in the shootout against the Philadelphia Flyers on Thursday evening at Crypto.com Arena.

The Kings scored the only goal of the first period, coming inside the final minute of play, to take a 1-0 lead into the first intermission. Forwards Alex Laferriere and Trevor Moore connected off the rush to gain the offensive zone with possession, with Moore picking the puck off the wall in the corner. He spun and found forward Quinton Byfield in the slot, with the centerman cleanly beating Flyers goaltender Samuel Ersson for the early lead.

Philadelphia struck back just 26 seconds into the second period, however, to knot the score at one on the first shift of the middle stanza. Attacking off the rush, 3-on-2, defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen dropped the puck to Konecny between the circles, where the Flyers’ leading scorer fired past Kings goaltender Darcy Kuemper and in for his 25th goal of the season and a 1-1 scoreline.

Just 21 seconds later, the Kings restored their one-goal advantage as captain Anze Kopitar made it four straight games with the point, as he found the back of the net. Defenseman Brandt Clarke made a nice move into the slot and after his shot missed the net, the puck kicked off the endboards to Kopitar at the back post, where Kopitar buried his 11th goal of the season to put the hosts ahead 2-1.

The back-and-forth scoring continued, as the Flyers scored twice in just shy of three minutes to take their first lead of the game at 3-2.

The visitors tied the game on a scramble-play in the crease, with Kuemper ultimately knocking the puck over the line, with forward Noah Cates getting credit for the goal. Cates then had the primary assist on defenseman Travis Sanheim’s goal from the center point, as the shot evaded traffic in front, past Kuemper, who was without a stick, to put Philadelphia ahead 3-2 through 40 minutes of play.

With the Kings trailing in the third period, forward Artemi Panarin delivered on the power play to tie the game at three. At the end of the man advantage sequence, Panarin held the puck at the top of the left-hand circle, with Moore providing a screen in front of the net. Panarin shot near post and beat Ersson inside the pipe for his fourth goal as a member of the Kings, tying the game at three and forcing the game into overtime.

After neither team scored in what was a pretty uneventful overtime period, Philadelphia scored twice in the shootout, while the Kings were denied twice, to earn the Flyers the second point.

Hear from Kempe, Moore and Interim Head Coach D.J. Smith after tonight’s defeat.

Adrian Kempe

Trevor Moore
On if tonight feels more like a point lost than a point earned
Yeah. I mean, we’ve lost a lot in overtime this year, so, we wish we had those points. We wish at that point tonight. Just got to keep pushing.

On how the legs felt in the first game back on home ice
Pretty good first period, I thought. I thought we were competitive, I thought we were physical. Just a lapse in the second period, which has been a bit of a theme for us, for whatever reason.

On what he felt changed from a good start to the second period
We were focused on having a good start to second period and then got scored on first shift. So, just something we’ve got to try to work through. I think it’s partially bounces, whatever, but we’ve just got to make sure that we stop that and we just have good second periods right now.

On Artemi Panarin’s game-tying goal on the power play
Special player. It’s cool being out there with him on the power play. I just wanted to take the goalie’s eyes away and give him a chance. He’s been doing it for a long time. He’s a hell of a player.

D.J. Smith
On a point lost versus a point earned tonight
Yeah, it’s a fair assessment. Really good first period and then you give up the goal on the first shift of the second period, after all the momentum that you build, you’ve got to be ready to start that period. They beat us a little bit at our own game plan. They were on the goalie, they grinded, kept pucks back, but in saying that, the first period, we had tons. Second period is pretty even, we did have some chances and then the third period, we found a way to score. Give them credit, they go into Anaheim last night, they’re a good team, they’ve got young players that can make plays and they work. I thought that was two teams that really worked hard.

On if results around the conference factors in at all when assessing tonight’s game
No. I mean, you look at the teams that lost tonight, every one of them went in thinking we’ve got to win the game and of the teams that needed to do it, we were the only one that got a point. So, did we want two? Yeah, but at the end of the day, we don’t have any time to think about that. I mean, if you get the two and then you don’t do anything in the next two, what’s the difference? For me, we’ve got to fix what I think and know that we can do better. Then, we’ve got to be ready to play a really good Buffalo Sabres team that won 5-0 tonight, they seem like they win every single night. We have to be at our best, but again, you just move on to the next city. You’ve just got to keep scratching and clawing. I think if you asked, whenever I took over, if you said, we’re sitting here right now, I think I’d take it.

On getting a massive moment from Artemi Panarin
That’s why those guys are who they are. I mean, you think of some of the goals that we’ve given up here this season, late in games, who gets them? The best players in the league are the best players in the league for a reason and they find ways to make plays under pressure when no one else can, especially in the third period. Having a guy like Bread gives us that option. If he was here for all these overtimes that we’ve had this year, how many more points do we have? You can see when he’s out there how dangerous he is. It’s a specialty situation, 3-on-3, it’s not your 5-on-5, muck it up, it’s the talented player time and he’s super talented.

On the 2-on-1’s allowed tonight and Brandt Clarke’s plays on breaking them up tonight
Really well [from Clarke]. That’s part of the game is you’ve got to break those up. Now, Philly didn’t give us a 2-on-1, maybe a partial there in the first period, but we can’t give up 2-on-1’s, that’s not the way we play. If we’re going to give you an odd man rush, it’s got to be a 3-on-2 or a 4-on-3, so that’s certainly something that we have to clean up. We want to score and we want to be aggressive but you can’t be at that cost, to give up those 2-on-1’s. Saying that, Clarkie made the plays and that’s what those guys are there to do. But, if you keep doing that, you’re not going to win a lot of games in this league.

Notes –
– Forward Artemi Panarin (1-1=2) notched his 49th assist of the year before scoring his 23rd goal of the season tonight, securing his fifth multi-point effort through his first 12 games as a member of the LA Kings. The only other players to record five or more multi-point games through their first 12 games with the Kings are Wayne Gretzky (9 GP), Marcel Dionne (7 GP) and Pavol Demitra (5 GP).
Panarin’s 15 points (4-11=15) in his first dozen games with the Kings make him the fifth different player in team history to have 15 or more points within their first 12 games with the team. He is joined on that list by Gretzky (11-14=25), Dionne (10-14=24), Luc Robitaille (10-5=15) and Ryan Smyth (6-9=16).
– With his third consecutive multi-point outing against the Kings’ 1967 NHL expansion cousins, the native of Korkino, Russia, extends his point streak against the Flyers to a fifth game (6-3=9) dating back to Jan 23, 2025. Panarin’s assist marked his 33rd career helper against the Flyers, breaking a tie with Alexander Ovechkin and Alexei Yashin for sole possession of the third- most assists by a Russian-born skater against the Flyers in league history, trailing only Sergei Gonchar (39 A) and Evgeni Malkin (67 A).
– Forward Quinton Byfield (1-0=1) scored his 14th goal of the season, breaking a tie with Andrei Kuzmenko (13 G) for the fourth-most goals among all Kings skaters this season. The 23-year-old’s game-opening marker extends his point streak against the Flyers to a seventh game (3-6=9), dating back to Jan. 24, 2023.
– Captain Anze Kopitar (1-0=1) scored his 11th goal of the season, extending his point streak to a fourth game (4-1=5), dating back to March 13 at UBS Arena. The goal marked Kopitar’s 10th career tally against Philadelphia, tying Real Lemieux and teammate Adrian Kempe for the fifth-most goals scored against Philadelphia in LA Kings franchise history. Kopitar’s tally marked his 699th point (228-471=699) on home ice, one shy of tying Marcel Dionne (288-412=700) for the most home points in franchise history.
– Forward Trevor Moore (0-1=1) collected his 12th assist of the season. The Thousand Oaks, Calif., native has now recorded four assists and five points (1-4=5) over his last three home games against the Flyers, dating back to Jan 1, 2022.
– Forward Alex Laferriere (0-1=1) picked up his 16th assist of the campaign with the secondary helper on Byfield’s goal, his fourth point (1-3=4) in his last two games played, and his sixth point (0-6=6) through six career games played against the Flyers.
– Defenseman Brandt Clarke (0-1=1) recorded his 30th helper of the season with a primary assist on Kopitar’s goal, becoming the 12th defenseman in Kings history to record a 30-assist season prior to their 24th birthday.
– Forward Scott Laughton (0-1=1) recorded his sixth assist of the campaign on Panarin’s game-tying goal, marking the former’s first power play point of the campaign. The assist marks Laughton’s first power play point since he recorded an assist on the man-advantage as part of a multi-point effort (1-1=2) at the New York Rangers on March 26, 2024 (w/ PHI).

The Kings are scheduled to practice tomorrow at 11 AM at Toyota Sports Performance Center in El Segundo.