Flyers claw back to fall in overtime to Kings, drop fourth straight loss

Gabriela Carroll, The Philadelphia Inquirer on Jan 31, 2026

Published in Hockey

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PHILADELPHIA — After the Kings scored two goals to go up 3-0 in the first period, it looked like Saturday’s game was going to be another brutal loss for the skidding Flyers.

But the challenge and eventual overturn of the Kings’ third goal ended up being a key turning point. The Flyers fought back mightily from that point to force overtime but ultimately fell 3-2, their fourth consecutive loss.

The Kings opened the scoring three minutes into the first period. Los Angels forced Dan Vladař to make a number of saves in tight, but Corey Perry dug the puck out from the side of the net and found Alex Laferriere, who dished it to Adrian Kempe open in front.

Rick Tocchet made huge changes to the lines on Saturday, moving Trevor Zegras back to center, pushing Nikita Grebenkin up to play with Christian Dvorak and Travis Konecny, and moving Sean Couturier down to the fourth line.

Fans have been clamoring to see Matvei Michkov play with skill players like Zegras, and the results in the offensive end looked promising, generating most of the Flyers’ early changes. But the downside with that line was always going to be in the d-zone, and Perry found a wide open Kempe streaking down the middle of the ice for his second of the game.

Former Flyer Andrei Kuzmenko nearly made it 3-0 just seconds later, but the goal was ultimately overturned after a successful offside challenge.

The Flyers came out of the intermission with significantly more pop. Early into the second period, Zegras scored on the power play on a feed from Bobby Brink. The goal was Zegras’ first point since a two-assist night in Utah on Jan. 21, and his first goal since Jan. 17 against the Rangers.

Then, less than 30 seconds into the third period, Konecny tipped in a Rasmus Ristolainen point shot to tie the game. Konecny nearly had the overtime winner on a breakaway against Kings goalie Darcy Kuemper, but missed, and Quinton Byfield won the game for the Kings shortly after.

Breakaways

Aleksei Kolosov was recalled from Lehigh Valley and backed up Vladař against the Kings after Samuel Ersson was injured in Thursday’s loss to Boston ... Lane Pederson was re-assigned to the AHL.

Up next

The Flyers return to Xfinity Mobile arena on Tuesday to take on the Washington Capitals.

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