The Flyers have a faceoff issue, and other takeaways from their third-period collapse vs. the Kings

A disastrous third period doomed the Flyers against the Kings on Thursday night, turning what had started as a back-and-forth clash into an utter rout.

The teams skated off at the first and second intermissions with things tied at 1-1 and 3-3, respectively. But a flurry of four unanswered Los Angeles goals handed the Flyers their third consecutive loss, 7-3, and second in as many nights.

“It’s a team that checks very well,” said Flyers coach John Tortorella. “A good challenge for us here. I thought we handled ourselves well for 40 minutes, gotta find our way through 60.”

Here are the main takeaways from the latest loss:

With Cam York a healthy scratch and Emil Andrae drawing back into the lineup after sitting out three games, the Flyers saw new configurations on the blue line.

» READ MORE: Flyers can’t keep up with Los Angeles Kings’ scoring pace in third straight loss

Travis Sanheim partnered with Jamie Drysdale, Nick Seeler was paired with Rasmus Ristolainen, and Andrae skated with Egor Zamula.

As Tortorella put it after the game, “There were some struggles.”

None of the six defensemen finished with a positive plus-minus. In his return to the ice, Andrae showed rust, and was caught flat-footed by Alex Turcotte on the Kings’ fifth goal.

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“There’s been some mistakes. We have to clean it up,” Tortorella said.

Tortorella pointed toward Anze Kopitar’s late second-period goal as a major turning point in the game. With less than a minute remaining, the Kings won an offensive-zone draw and put a point shot on Aleksei Kolosov. The rookie goaltender reached out of position to cover the puck, but Kopitar beat him to it, tucking it in the net.

It was a deflating goal, one that stifled any momentum the Flyers had built from Tyson Foerster’s earlier pair of tallies, and sent them back to the locker room with the game tied once again. But it’s also the type of goal that’s been an overarching trend against the Flyers lately.

“That’s four faceoff goals in the last two games,” Tortorella said.

The Kings’ next goal, just under two minutes into the third period, also came via a deflected point shot off the draw.

“There’s obviously so many scenarios, the way you lose the draw, where the puck goes, if it bounces in certain areas, but regardless, you just can’t have that many off the faceoff,” center Morgan Frost said. “So we have to figure out a way to keep those out of our net.”

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The faceoff percentages overall were actually in favor of the Flyers, as their centers collectively won 53%. But the draws they did lose proved more costly, thanks to the defensive breakdowns that followed them.

“I think the biggest thing is one breakdown can’t lead to two,” Noah Cates said. “So I think right now you’re kind of seeing us compound mistakes.”

Although they were ultimately unable to sustain it, the offense the Flyers generated — and who, exactly, was generating it — through the first 40 minutes of the game stands out as a positive.

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Cates is known for being a defensive-minded forward, and the Flyers have been hoping he would unlock a different gear in his offense over the past two years. While Cates didn’t stuff the scoresheet to start this season, he has showed improvement since the calendar flipped to December. In fact, Cates’ goal on Thursday — a backhanded deke over Los Angeles goalie Darcy Kuemper — is his second in as many nights.

On the other hand, Foerster was a 20-goal scorer in 2023-24, though he hadn’t quite lived up to that to start this season. But things were clearly clicking for him on Thursday. The winger parked himself in front of the net in the second period, and the results followed: Foerster outmuscled two Kings defensemen to bury a pass from Scott Laughton, and less than four minutes later was positioned perfectly to score on a feed from Frost.

“That’s what I’m trying to do, trying to get to the net,” Foerster said. “Our line’s playing decent and we’re supporting each other well. And we always know the puck’s going to the net. That’s where I gotta go.”

Cates and Foerster stepping up was crucial to keeping the Flyers in the game until the third. Matvei Michkov notably only logged 12 minutes, 19 seconds of ice time, which ranked only ahead of Frost (11:43). In that span, Michkov finished with a plus-minus of minus-4.