Byfield's OT Snipe Lifts Kings Past Flyers, 3-2

After an ugly loss to the Sabres, the Kings (23-17-13) bounced back with a hard-fought road performance with a 3-2 overtime victory over the Philadelphia Flyers (24-20-10) on Saturday, with a clutch winner from Quinton Byfield. 

After building an early two-goal cushion in the first period, the Kings held on despite a Flyers push before sealing the game in an extra period. 

The Kings came out flying, establishing offensive pressure early and capitlzing on the Flyers early mistakes. Adrian Kempe opened the scoring midway through the first period, finishing off the nice feed from Alex Laferriere and Corey Perry, giving LA the early 1-0 lead. 

Just over three minutes later, Kempe struck again, this time off a setup from Perry, burying the quick-release shot from the slot. The Kings dominated possession in the early frame, outshooting the Flyers and keeping Philadelphia from generating offensive pressure. 

Darcy Kuemper was sharp in the early frame, turning aside several shots as the Kings took a 2-0 lead into the second period. 

Philadelphia came out with urgency in the second and cut the deficit just 39 seconds into the frame. Trevor Zegras finished off a crisp passing sequence, beating off Kuemper to make it 2-1 and swing momentum toward the home side. 

The Flyers controlled long stretches of the period, generating pressure off the forecheck and forcing the Kings into extended defensive zone shifts. 

Despite scoring early in the period, the Flyers had only one goal in the second, and Los Angeles entered the third ahead by one, but the momentum had clearly shifted. 

Early in the third, Philadelphia capitalized on a Los Angeles turnover and tied the game 2-2. Travis Konecny snapped a shot past Kuemper just 25 seconds into the period, bringing the Wells Fargo Center crowd to life and setting the stage for a tense finish. 

From then on, both teams traded chances in a fast, physical third period, generating quality looks, but the Flyers' goaltender, Dan Vladar, anchored down in the crease, and neither team could score. 

Overtime featured end-to-end action, with both teams looking to steal this game. Philadelphia nearly ended it when Konecny rang a shot off the post, but the Kings survived and countered. 

Byfield finished with the overtime winner, skating on the right side off the ice to beat off the Flyers' goaltender and score the dagger to escape with a much-needed win to get Los Angeles back in the win column.

Adrian Kempe led the way with two goals and three points, continuing his strong stretch and extending his point streak to six games. Byfield finished with the overtime winner, while Perry chipped in two assists ina strong playmaking performance.

Kuemper had a solid game, stopping 19 of 21 shots to earn the win. Despite giving up those two goals very early in the second and third periods, he still came up big in the clutch. 

Kopitar returned today for the first time since Jan. 5, when he exited the game against the Minnesota Wild with an upper-body injury. In the 11 games, Kopitar missed, Los Angeles went 4-3-3 without him, clearly missing him, and tonight, though, despite coming back and playing 16 minutes on ice, he wasn't much of a factor. 

It was definitely some rust shown for Kopitar, finishing with just one shot on goal, and was a -1 on ice, so hopefully he gets back to his regular self at the end of the Kings road trip. 

The Kings will look to build on this overtime victory as they are now 3-1 on their six-game road trip and will continue it tomorrow afternoon against the Carolina Hurricanes at 12 P.M. PT. 

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