Defensive lapses, blown leads haunt the Flyers against the Kings

For coach John Tortorella, one of the most important qualities of his defense is its “bite” — closing out plays quickly, allowing the rest of the team to read off of the play and get back on the attack.

But unfortunately for the Flyers on Tuesday night in their 4-3 overtime loss to the Los Angeles Kings at the Wells Fargo Center, their defensive lapses allowed the Kings to bite back.

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The Flyers never trailed in the game until Kings winger Kevin Fiala’s overtime winner, which handed them their first set of consecutive losses since Dec. 22 and 23 against the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Carolina Hurricanes. They jumped out to one-goal leads three times, but the Kings responded to each of the Flyers’ goals with tallies of their own.

Penalties served as self-inflicted momentum-killers for the Flyers. They put the Kings on the man advantage five times. However, they scored on only one of those opportunities — their first, when winger James van Riemsdyk was called for tripping and Kings captain Anže Kopitar capitalized just four seconds into the power play to tie the score, 1-1.

“Those penalties just kind of hurt us overall,” center Noah Cates said. “Then, obviously, being a guy that kills, kind of the energy you need and how big of moments those are, when you’re in there and you’re grinding away ... huge, huge plays for our team, but personally, [if] we seem to stay out of the box, [then we] kind of come back with better efforts.”

But while the Flyers killed off the other four power plays, often resoundingly so, they weren’t always able to carry momentum into their five-on-five play. In the second period up 3-2, roughly one minute after the Flyers killed off a boarding penalty by defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen, they let the Kings back in. Defenseman Tony DeAngelo failed to clear the puck from deep in the Flyers’ zone, turning it over to the Kings and leading to winger Samuel Fagemo’s tying goal.

“I’ve got to make a better play,” DeAngelo said. “I didn’t get the puck out of the zone. Probably could have went up the wall, maybe. When you watch it over, you could do 20 different things, but when you’re supposed to move the puck, you’ve got to make the play. So there’s really no excuse.”

DeAngelo was on the ice for three of the Kings’ four goals on Tuesday night — their second, third, and the overtime winner — and finished minus-3. The Kings’ second goal, which they scored 1 minute, 13 seconds after winger Wade Allison’s go-ahead goal in the first period, was scored off a rush. The Flyers lacked “bite” and failed to disrupt the Kings’ speed and seamless passing after they entered the zone, leading to an uncontested Kopitar goal from the slot for his second of the night to tie it once again.

In the overtime period, with DeAngelo, defenseman Travis Sanheim, and center Scott Laughton on the ice, the Flyers generated a pair of Grade A scoring chances one minute in. Laughton skated up the right wing with the puck, then cut into the slot, hitting the post with his wrist shot. DeAngelo collected the rebound and passed the puck to Sanheim, whose point-blank shot was denied by Kings goalie Pheonix Copley.

As DeAngelo went to recover the loose puck, he fell to the ice, looking for a tripping call against the Kings. But the official in the vicinity never lifted his arm, and play continued as the Kings skated toward the Flyers’ end with numbers. Fiala scored on a two-on-one with Travis Konecny, who had just come on for Laughton, in coverage, as the Flyers suffered their eighth overtime loss of the season.

DeAngelo was outraged by the alleged no-call and let the official know it, which led to DeAngelo being assessed unsportsmanlike conduct and game misconduct penalties.

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“It’s a clear penalty,” DeAngelo said. “It’s not even a question about it. Usually, you call penalties at the most times when there’s a chance to go the other way, a wide-open chance, that’s when you’re supposed to call. But whatever.”

Tortorella, however, had a different opinion.

“You’ve got to skate,” Tortorella said. “You’ve got to get back. I don’t think it’s a penalty.”

After the Kings dominated the first 10 minutes Tuesday, the Flyers found their groove offensively and got to their game. But defensively, the Flyers’ bite sometimes resembled more of a nip when it came to protecting their hard-earned lead.