A disastrous third period doomed the Flyers against the Kings on Thursday night, turning what began as a back-and-forth duel into a complete rout.

The teams split at the first and second breaks with scores of 1:1 and 3:3 respectively. But a barrage of four unanswered goals in Los Angeles handed the Flyers their third straight loss, 7-3, and second in as many nights.

“It’s a team that controls very well,” Flyers coach John Tortorella said. “A good challenge for us here. I thought we did well for 40 minutes and need to find our way through 60.”

Here are the key takeaways from the recent defeat:

Defensive chemistry is lacking

With Cam York having a healthy lead and Emil Andrae returning to the lineup after three games, the Flyers saw new configurations on the blue line.

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Travis Sanheim partnered with Jamie Drysdale, Nick Seeler partnered with Rasmus Ristolainen, and Andrae ran with Egor Zamula.

As Tortorella put it after the game, “There were some problems.”

None of the six defenders finished with a positive plus-minus. In his return to the ice, Andrae showed rust and was caught flat-footed by Alex Turcotte on the Kings’ fifth goal.

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“There were some mistakes. We have to clean it up,” Tortorella said.

Faceoff goals

Tortorella suggested Anze Kopitar’s goal late in the second period was a major turning point in the game. With less than a minute left, the Kings won a tie in the offensive zone and scored on a point shot by Aleksei Kolosov. The new goalie reached out to cover the puck, but Kopitar beat him to it and pushed it into the net.

It was a sobering goal that ended the momentum the Flyers had built from Tyson Foerster’s earlier goals and sent them to the locker room tied once again. But it’s also the type of goal that’s been a common trend against the Flyers lately.

“That’s four faceoff goals in the last two games,” Tortorella said.

The Kings’ next goal, just under two minutes into the third period, also came from a deflected point shot outside the tie.

“Obviously there are so many scenarios, the way you lose the tie, where the puck goes when it bounces in certain areas, but regardless, you just can’t have that many outside of the faceoff,” center Morgan Frost said . “So we have to find a way to keep them out of our network.”

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The faceoff percentages were overall in the Flyers’ favor as their centers won a combined 53%. But the draws they lost proved more costly due to subsequent defensive failures.

“I think the most important thing is that one breakdown can’t lead to two,” Noah Cates said. “So I think what you’re seeing right now is we’re sort of exacerbating mistakes.”

Unusual suspects

Even though they ultimately failed to sustain that offense, the offense the Flyers generated in the first 40 minutes of the game – and who exactly generated it – is worth highlighting.

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Cates is known for being a defensive-minded forward, and the Flyers have been hoping for the last two years that he would shift their offense into new gear. Despite not getting on the scoresheet at the start of this season, Cates has shown improvement since the calendar switched to December. In fact, Cates’ goal on Thursday – a backhand deke over Los Angeles goalkeeper Darcy Kuemper – is his second in as many nights.

On the other hand, Foerster scored 20 goals in the 2023/24 season, even if he didn’t quite live up to that goal at the start of this season. But things clearly went well for him on Thursday. The winger positioned himself in front of the net in the second period, and the results followed: Foerster got past two Kings defenders to block a pass from Scott Laughton and was perfectly positioned to score on a pass from Frost less than four minutes later to score.

“That’s what I’m trying to get to the net,” Foerster said. “Our team plays well and we support each other well. And we always know the puck is going into the net. I have to go there.”

The reinforcements of Cates and Foerster were crucial in keeping the Flyers in the game until the third minute. It is noteworthy that Matvei Michkov only completed 12 minutes and 19 seconds of ice time, ahead of only Frost (11:43). During that span, Michkov finished with a plus-minus of minus-4.