After falling apart in Pittsburgh, the Kings traversed the Keystone State for Thursday’s throwdown with the Philadelphia Flyers and Calder Trophy favorite Matvei Michkov.
In Pittsburgh, the Kings scored in the first period for the fifth straight game and, despite going away from the early jitters of Tristan Jarry to start Alex Nedeljkovic, the Penguins again allowed a goal off the hop.
But the Kings faltered where they’ve typically excelled this season, in the third period, and then again in the frame that has flummoxed them the most, overtime. They fell to 0-0-4 in games that reached an extra session this season, bringing their two-season total to a lackluster 7-0-15.
Despite sitting on a second-intermission lead, the Kings were fortunate to even reach OT as the third period was dominated by the trio of Sidney Crosby, Rickard Rakell and Bryan Rust. They piled up menacing opportunities before Crosby set up the equalizer and Rakell secured the victory in overtime.
“Third periods have been our best, I think, that’s been the trend anyway, for a while, and it was not tonight,” Kings coach Jim Hiller told reporters. “We relied on Darcy (Kuemper) way too much. They got some energy with the second goal, they tied it. They had a lot of chances, too many.”
Kuemper was praised widely after the game as he contained more than a few fires once the Crosby line heated up late. Defenseman Vladislav Gavrikov and winger Adrian Kempe, who had a breakaway go awry in OT and who opened the scoring, respectively, each lauded Kuemper as well as Alex Turcotte, who scored a brilliant goal in transition.
“He’s a skilled guy. You can see that much in the games, but on practice days he’s been outstanding and finally he brought some of that into the game and scored a huge goal for us,” Gavrikov said.
At Wednesday morning’s session with reporters in Philadelphia, Gavrikov spoke in Russian about another “skilled guy,” Philly’s front-runner for rookie of the year, Michkov.
Current Flyers bench boss John Tortorella guided Columbus when Gavrikov and former Kings center Pierre-Luc Dubois played in Ohio’s capital. Gavrikov was asked if he had any advice for Michkov, who despite his immense potential had been benched and scratched multiple times by Tortorella already.
Gavrikov said that he had seen clashes between Tortorella and his players before, including Dubois.
“There were very interesting locker-room battles with Pierre-Luc Dubois,” Gavrikov said. “In the dressing room, we just sat there frozen wondering what would happen next, like we were watching a movie. Tortorella yelled a lot at him, he also shouted back, and I was sitting there thinking someone is going to break someone’s forehead, something will definitely happen.”
Much like the story of a similar confrontation told on Spittin’ Chiclets by former Ducks center Ryan Kesler, who played for Tortorella in Vancouver, Gavrikov said that the veteran coach, who won a Stanley Cup in 2004 with Tampa Bay, appreciated pushback and the passion that came with it.
“He likes it. Torts likes it when they answer him,” Gavrikov said. “It is important to him that the player cares.”
Gavrikov went on to express appreciation for Tortorella’s guidance in his own career and confidence that Tortorella could steward young players, despite a gruff approach that could cause friction with some players.
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Michkov may or may not have needed the discipline he’s received, but his talent is undoubted. In an eyelash over 17 minutes a game, he’s racked up 27 points in 29 contests. He leads the struggling Flyers power play in points by a wide margin and trails only Travis Konecny in overall scoring.
He’s been held off the scoresheet in his past two games, but had slathered on 10 points in his prior five games. He’s already drawn comparisons to contemporary Russian stars like Nikita Kucherov and Kirill Kaprizov, as well as consecrated figures like Pavel Datsyuk and Pavel Bure.
Kings at Philadelphia
When: 4:30 p.m. PT Thursday
Where: Wells Fargo Center, Philadelphia
TV: ESPN+, Hulu