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Kings gain a point in standings but fall to Flyers in shootout

March 20, 2026

Kings center Anze Kopitar (11) and Philadelphia Flyers left wing Noah Cates, left, battle for the puck during the second period of an NHL hockey game, Thursday, March 19, 2026, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Jessie Alcheh)

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LOS ANGELES — The Kings clawed a valuable point from Thursday night’s showdown at Crypto.com Arena, where they slipped to the abruptly undermanned Philadelphia Flyers, 4-3 in a shootout.

The Kings secured sole possession of the final wild-card spot in the Western Conference, for now, as the Seattle Kraken lost on Thursday, as did three other Pacific Division foes (Edmonton, Vegas and San Jose). The Kings also fell for the 22nd time in 24 opportunities when trailing after 40 minutes and for the 23rd time in 33 matches at home.

Though Adrian Kempe said it was a missed opportunity not to come away with two points, interim coach D.J. Smith took more of a glass-half-full view.

“You look at the teams that lost tonight, every one of them went in thinking ‘we’ve got to win the game.’ Of the teams that needed to do it, we’re the only one that got a point,” Smith said.

Artemi Panarin deposited a goal and set up another by Anže Kopitar after Quinton Byfield opened the scoring. Darcy Kuemper made 17 saves. Kempe was a game-time decision and returned to the lineup after missing Monday’s game against the New York Rangers, but he was unable to extend his eight-game points streak.

Noah Cates scored a goal and assisted on one by Travis Sanheim, with Matvei Michkov lending a hand on both markers to match Rasmus Ristolainen’s two helpers as the Flyers improved to 8-2-1 in their past 11 games. Travis Konecny also tallied for Philadelphia, which lost three forwards in 24 hours and was already without Tyson Foerster. Captain Sean Couturier, Luke Glendening and Denver Barkey were all unavailable after being banged up in Wednesday’s game with the Ducks at the Honda Center. Samuel Ersson stopped 22 shots.

Though Panarin nearly dangled his way into engineering a goal late in OT for Brandt Clarke, five minutes of the extra session came and went without a goal. In the shootout, former Duck Trevor Zegras and Michkov converted with flicks of their wrists, while the Kings’ Kempe and Panarin came up empty.

“It was a huge win, I’m really proud of the guys. They dug in. I asked some guys to play some positions that they’re not used to and kill some penalties, so it was a good effort,” Flyers coach and one-time Kings winger Rick Tocchet said.

Through 50:28, all the scoring in the game had arrived in a 7:28 span between the first and second periods. The two sides had also combined to go 0 for 5 on the power play, but that all changed midway through the final frame.

The Kings went to work a man up, with Panarin looking to shoot early and ultimately connecting on a short-side snipe through a Trevor Moore screen to make it a new game with 9:32 to play. Panarin has 15 points in 12 games since making his Kings debut following a trade from the Rangers.

“The best players in the league are the best players in the league for a reason. They find ways to make plays under pressure, when no one else can, especially in the third period,” Smith said. “It’s the talented-player time, and he’s talented.”

After a low-event first period that saw Byfield strike with 29 seconds to play off a wrist shot from the inner part of the right circle, the second period began with a bang.

Philadelphia evened the count 26 seconds after the intermission and the Kings reclaimed the lead 21 ticks after that. Then, the Flyers tallied twice unanswered, at 4:12 and 6:57, to take their first lead of the night and carry it into the dressing room.

“The point that was lost was lost in the second period. The first and third were the way that we want to play,” Smith said.

First it was Konecny, who reversed the puck in the neutral zone and then vanished behind the rush, only to reappear in the slot and fire a laser past Kuemper.

Kopitar, who was honored for having recently broken Marcel Dionne’s career franchise scoring record during the first period, added to his total. With Ersson glued to his post and Zegras jamming the shooting lane, Clarke’s high-slot shot was fired wide on purpose. The puck banked off the end boards and straight to Kopitar for the 11th goal of his final season and his fourth in four games.

Cates, who scored the game-winner in Anaheim a night earlier, leveled the contest off another play near the goal line. Michkov’s shot squirted through Kuemper and teetered behind him before Cates beat former Flyer Scott Laughton to the puck, pushing it home off his backhand.

That line, which included former King Carl Grundstrom, was on the ice for Philly’s go-ahead goal. Cates and Michkov machinated the puck for Sanheim’s blast from the blue line.

Michkov factored into two of three Flyers goals and cashed in during the shootout, despite taking a crunching hit from Drew Doughty behind the Philadelphia net.

The Kings next take on the surging Buffalo Sabres.

“This was a good opportunity for us, but [we’ve got] a tough game on Saturday, so we’ll reload and then come back,” Kempe said.

Kings gain a point in standings but fall to Flyers in shootout Orange County Register

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Kings gain a point in standings but fall to Flyers in shootout

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