Kings slip past Flyers in shootout

After a wide-open, breathtaking overtime in which both teams had point-blank chances denied by the goalies, the Los Angeles Kings escaped with a 3-2 shootout win over the Flyers on Tuesday night at the Wells Fargo Center.

Anze Kopitar had the only shootout goal. Sam Gagner, Claude Giroux and Jake Voracek were stopped by the Kings' Jonathan Quick in the shootout.

Quick also denied Giroux on a breakaway during the wild, three-on-three overtime, poke-checking the puck away at the last instant.

With Quick pulled for an extra attacker, the Kings tied the score at 2-2 as Milan Lucic scored on a rebound off the post with 55.7 seconds left in regulation.

The goal took away the luster of Giroux's goal with 8 minutes, 49 seconds left in regulation, snapping a 1-1 tie. Ditto for Shayne Gostisbehere's first career goal.

"It's definitely bittersweet," said Gostisbehere, who fired four shots in the game. "It's always good to get your first goal, but we had it there at the end and just let it slip through our hands."

Giroux gave the Flyers a 2-1 lead, converting a pass from Jake Voracek, who had two assists and seems back on track after scoring his first goal of the season Saturday.

Steve Mason made 38 saves, including a flurry of shots from in close with about 4:30 remaining in regulation.

With the Flyers on a power play early in the first period, Gostisbehere kicked his right leg into the air triumphantly after firing a shot just inside the left post for the first goal of his NHL career.

"It's a dream come true," said the player they call Ghost. "Every kid who has ever played hockey wants to play in the NHL, let alone score a goal."

After he scored, Gostisbehere was mobbed by Giroux - who set up the goal - and the rest of his on-ice teammates as the Flyers took a 1-0 lead 3:41 into the game.

Giroux, stationed in the left circle, sent a pass back to Gostisbehere for a one-timer from the middle of the point, and the perfectly placed blast beat Quick (36 saves).

Gostisbehere is expected to run the first power-play unit for six weeks while injured defenseman Mark Streit is sidelined.

"It's pretty easy to see that he can make plays, he can jump in on the plays," Giroux said before the game. "He's got that hockey sense of being able to move up the puck."

A little over 11 minutes after Gostisbehere's goal, the Kings tied it on a power-play score of their own. With Nick Schultz in the penalty box for interference, defenseman Jamie McBain scored on a drive from just above the right circle while Marian Gaborik screened Mason.

The Flyers thought they had taken the lead when Brayden Schenn scored from the paint midway through the second period. But the goal was disallowed after a video review showed that the falling-down Schenn, who couldn't get his stick on the loose puck, used a kicking motion to put it into the net.

"Apparently we were offsides as well and they were going to challenge it; that's what we were told," said Schenn, who had a game-high eight shots in his first game as the top-line left winger this season.

The Flyers squandered three second-period power plays - Michael Raffl just missed scoring on a pair of close attempts - and the teams went into the final 20 minutes tied at 1-1.

"We did a lot of good things to be able to win that game," said Giroux, who had two points and won 24 of 28 faceoffs (86 percent). ". . . We got better and supported each other. I think if we keep playing that style, we're going to be successful."

"We were moving a lot through the neutral zone on our entries," Voracek said after getting stitches because a puck smacked him in the mouth during the second period. "I think it was the best game so far for our line this season."

scarchidi@phillynews.com

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