Flyers takeaways: Matvei Michkov bounces back but Orange and Black fall, 5-4, to Kings

LOS ANGELES — The Flyers lost for the fifth time in the last seven games on Sunday night.

But, as in their 7-3 defeat to the Los Angeles Kings on Dec. 19, there were some positives in this 5-4 loss compared with other defeats during this recent stretch. Once again the Flyers went toe-to-toe with the surging Kings and took a second-period lead, this time by two goals, before letting L.A. rattle off a bunch of unanswered scores.

“I thought we were on our toes,” coach John Tortorella said. “We’re trying to play better in front of our goalie. I don’t think we gave them much.”

Here are the two main storylines from the loss.

» READ MORE: Flyers’ line of Noah Cates, Bobby Brink, and Tyson Foerster is clicking on this trip

A day after he was benched for the entire third period against the Ducks, Michkov was in the lineup and skated on a line with Morgan Frost and new winger Scott Laughton. After logging a season-low of 9 minutes, 1 second against Anaheim, Michkov played 16:35 and picked up a goal and an assist.

“Yeah, he played good,” Tortorella said before adding: “Thought Mich competed harder tonight. I thought there was a big difference in his game.”

The rookie skated 4:27 in the first period and was on the ice for three goals, one by the Flyers. But first, he set up Laughton after he pressured the point and got a pass from Frost to break out. Skating in all alone he passed to Laughton, who joined him behind the defense but shot wide. Not long after, the Kings made it 1-0 on a shot by Kevin Fiala from inside the left faceoff circle.

Michkov was then a key cog in a goal by Laughton to make it 2-1. The rookie started the play in the Flyers’ end when he received a pass up the wall from defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen. Pressured from behind, and knocked down by Alex Laferriere, Michkov still made a crisp pass to Frost, allowing the Flyers to break out three-on-two.

Laughton got the puck and tried to make a centering pass low in the Kings’ end but it bounced to Michkov, who was trailing in the slot. Joel Edmundson blocked the Russian’s shot atop the crease, but the Flyers retained possession and Michkov got the puck back on the left side after a feed from Frost. Michkov carried the puck low and tried to sneak a bank shot off Kings goalie David Rittich that popped up off Rittich for Laughton to tap in.

The third goal the trio surrendered was a one-timer by Adrian Kempe to tie it 2-2. The Flyers had some sustained pressure on the shift as the five-man unit combined for three shot attempts. But the Kings quickly broke out of their zone and ended up with a four-on-three in the Flyers’ end as Frost and Michkov were late getting back.

When Michkov was asked postgame what the message was from Tortorella, who said he spoke with the rookie after the game Saturday and Sunday morning, he replied through a team translator: “He said [I] need to work and the scoring will come.”

And it did. It was evident early on that Michkov had more energy and he finally broke his nine-game goal drought. On the goal, Ristolainen drove to the net with the puck and was stopped by Rittich before Laughton sent the rebound over the net. Michov collected the puck along the end boards, quickly turned, and banked the puck off the skate of Rittich and in.

In the final 20 minutes, Michkov played 7:08 and spent two minutes in the penalty box after taking a coincidental minor alongside Quinton Byfield. He had a shot on goal during a power play with the Flyers trailing by one and just missed tying the game with 35 seconds left.

“He’s a young kid, you got to remember that,” said defenseman Nick Seeler. “It’s his first year in the NHL and he’s going to have some ups and downs. But I think the most important thing is his mindset and you can see that he’s a competitor and he wants to compete for his teammates. It was nice to see him have the game that he did tonight and hopefully gain some confidence from that.”

It’s been an up-and-down season for Kolosov. After being called up Oct. 26, Kolosov started his career with four straight losses. He then won his next three starts. But he has just a 1-3-1 record in December across four starts and six games — including two losses to the Kings — coupled with a 4.24 goals-against average and .838 save percentage.

On Sunday, he allowed five goals on 20 shots, with the Kings attempting 62 shots; the Flyers had 51. The game-tying and game-winning goals, came on two of L.A.’s five shots in the third period.

“No, no, no, I’m not saying that at all,” Tortorella said when asked if he just needed more saves by Kolosov. “There’s a couple of tip-in goals [and] first one I think he’s in deep, but no, I’m not laying the blame on the goalie.”

Should Kolosov have stopped a few more than he did? Sure, but he also didn’t get much help at times as the Kings swarmed the Flyers’ net. As he said through the team translator, “It was hard to play because a lot of the game was in the zone.”

The first two goals were one-timers. The third goal by the Kings, which cut it to 4-3, came off a costly turnover from Travis Konecny. The Flyers were putting pressure on when Konecny got the puck at the blue line. He tried to make a no-look pass to Ristolainen that was intercepted by Warren Foegele for a breakaway. Kolosov made the initial save on the five-hole attempt but Foegele scored on the rebound.

“Third goal is just a kick in the teeth,” Tortorella said.

The game-tying goal by Anže Kopitar came off sustained pressure by the Kings for almost a full minute. They pinned in the five-man unit of Ryan Poehling, Garnet Hathaway, Joel Farabee, Jamie Drysdale, and Seeler, and had six shot attempts, three of which the Flyers blocked. Kopitar finally ended the runaround with the puck hitting his body and just barely crossing the goal line.

The game-winner was a tip-in by Kopitar on a power play that came after a questionable hooking call on Travis Sanheim.

“To me, the biggest change of the game was up 4-2 and we give them one for free,” Tortorella said. “It’s kind of a tough thing for Koly because he makes a great save on the breakaway [and] comes right back to him for the rebound. He makes a great save when we’re jammed up and we’re running around on Kopitar’s first goal; makes a great save and it hits Kopitar. So it was some unluckiness for him. I thought he played well.”

Tyson Foerster scored a nifty goal after receiving a stretch pass from Cam York, spinning around, and scoring on a partial breakaway. He now has four goals and six points in his last five games. … Joel Farabee has scored in consecutive games for the first time since Jan. 20-21, 2024. The goals have come after Laughton shaved Farabee’s head on Friday in Anaheim, Calif. … Since being a healthy scratch against the Kings on Dec. 19, York has a four-game assist streak. … Laughton has five points during a three-game point streak. … Forward Olle Lyckell, defenseman Erik Johnson, and goalie Ivan Fedotov were the healthy scratches. … Noah Cates’ five-game goal streak came to an end.

The Flyers travel to Northern California for a New Year’s Eve game against the San Jose Sharks (8 p.m., NBCSP).