Quebec’s Phillip Danault continued his excellent swing, but the Kings lost the flag 4-2 to the Philadelphia Flyers in Los Angeles on Saturday.
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Danault unleashed a powerful slap shot to surprise Samuel Ersson and take his 12th of the campaign in the first half. With that, the Victoriaville native ended 2022 with at least a point in his last seven games.
However, Danault’s efforts did not deter John Tortorella’s squad. Owen Tippett hit the target with a precision top-half shot in the second half to level the game before watching Noah Cates do the same in the third half thanks to traffic in front of goaltender Jonathan Quick, despite the Flyers playing outnumbered .
Cates, Tippett and Scott Laughton all finished the game with a goal and an assist in the winning half.
With that win, the Flyers now have 33 points overall, the same number of points as the Montreal Canadiens in the Eastern Conference.
The Pennsylvania State team will enjoy a rest day before taking on the Ducks in Anaheim on Monday.
Hartman handles the blues
In St. Louis, Ryan Hartman struck twice in the Minnesota Wild’s 5-2 win over the Blues.
Dean Evason’s side have claimed victory for the eighth time in their last 10 games. However, she had stumbled in her last duel against the Dallas Stars.
Twice Hartman threaded the needle in the middle third of the day’s duel, each time thanks to clumsiness by goalkeeper Jordan Binnington around his net.
Earlier, Matt Dumba leveled the game with an accurate shot.
Binnington also gave up against Jared Spurgeon and Jordan Greenway in the third period. Like his opponent, he faced 31 shots but flinched twice more than Marc-André Fleury.
Defensemen Calle Rosen and Robert Bortuzzo lined up for the Blues, who are yet to make the Western Conference playoffs.
Elsewhere, Vladimir Tarasenko left the game in the first half, plagued by an upper-body injury.