(Photo: Kate Frese)
By Kevin Durso, Sports Talk Philly editor 
Eight straight wins have the Flyers closing the gap on a near-impossible deficit for a playoff spot. For now, that matters very little. All the team can control is the next game and focus on catching the team in front of them.
The next opponent for the Flyers is the Los Angeles Kings, who come to Wells Fargo Center on Thursday night. The Kings have won back-to-back games on an East coast road trip and play their third game in four nights against the Flyers.
Game time is at 7 p.m.
Team Leaders
| Philadelphia Flyers | GP | G | A | P | Los Angeles Kings | GP | G | A | P |
| Claude Giroux | 53 | 16 | 40 | 56 | Anze Kopitar | 52 | 16 | 24 | 40 |
| Jake Voracek | 53 | 12 | 33 | 45 | Dustin Brown | 43 | 12 | 19 | 31 |
| Sean Couturier | 51 | 21 | 23 | 44 | Drew Doughty | 53 | 5 | 24 | 29 |
| Travis Konecny | 53 | 14 | 17 | 31 | Ilya Kovalchuk | 43 | 11 | 15 | 26 |
| James van Riemsdyk | 37 | 13 | 12 | 25 | Jeff Carter | 51 | 10 | 15 | 25 |
| Player to Watch | |
| 14 Sean Couturier | 73 Tyler Toffoli |
| Last 5 Games: 2 G, 3 A, 5 P, +4 | Last 5 Games: 4 G, 2 A, 6 P, E |
| Goalie Matchup | |
| 41 Anthony Stolarz | 32 Jonathan Quick |
| 10 GP, 3-3-2, 3.44 GAA, .896 SV% | 26 GP, 10-13-3, 2.97 GAA, .903 SV% |
Anthony Stolarz makes his second start since returning from injury. Stolarz had a 38-save shutout against the Rangers on Jan. 29 in his last start and first since Dec. 15.
Injury has gotten in the way of another season for Jonathan Quick, but he made two of the team's last three starts coming out of the bye week. Quick picked up the win in Monday's game against the Rangers, making 24 saves.
Flyers Projected Lineup
Injuries: Michal Neuvirth, Brian Elliott, Corban Knight
Scratches: Christian Folin
| Left Wing | Center | Right Wing |
| 25 James van Riemsdyk | 28 Claude Giroux | 11 Travis Konecny |
| 23 Oskar Lindblom | 14 Sean Couturier | 93 Jake Voracek |
| 21 Scott Laughton | 19 Nolan Patrick | 17 Wayne Simmonds |
| 44 Phil Varone | 24 Mikhail Vorobyev | 12 Michael Raffl |
| Defense | ||
| 9 Ivan Provorov | 6 Travis Sanheim | |
| 53 Shayne Gostisbehere | 47 Andrew MacDonald | |
| 8 Robert Hagg | 3 Radko Gudas | |
| Goalie | ||
| 41 Anthony Stolarz |
Lineup Notes
The Flyers lineup is expected to remain the same from Saturday's game for Monday's game.
Scott Gordon did say following the morning skate that there is a chance Brian Elliott returns next week, but that remains to be seen. Elliott has been getting work in prior to practices for the last couple of weeks.
Kings Projected Lineup
Injuries: Jeff Carter, Trevor Lewis, Jonny Brodzinski
Scratches: Dion Phaneuf, Matt Luff
| Left Wing | Center | Right Wing |
| 19 Alex Iafallo | 11 Anze Kopitar | 23 Dustin Brown |
| 14 Brendan Leipsic | 10 Mike Amadio | 73 Tyler Toffoli |
| 62 Carl Hagelin | 9 Adrian Kempe | 17 Ilya Kovalchuk |
| 13 Kyle Clifford | 44 Nate Thompson | 51 Austin Wagner |
| Defense | ||
| 24 Derek Forbort | 8 Drew Doughty | |
| 27 Alec Martinez | 61 Sean Walker | |
| 7 Oscar Fantenberg | 2 Paul Ladue | |
| Goalie | ||
| 32 Jonathan Quick |
Game Notes
- Power Play: Flyers (23rd, 17th at home), Kings (28th, 29th on road)
- Penalty Kill: Flyers (25th, 21st at home), Kings (29th, 22nd on road)
- Recent History vs. Kings
- Oct. 5, 2017 – Kings 2, Flyers 0 (at LA)
- Dec. 18, 2017 – Kings 4, Flyers 1 (at PHI)
- Nov. 1, 2018 – Flyers 5, Kings 2 (at LA)
- Flyers Leaders vs. Kings
- Claude Giroux – 16 GP, 2 G, 14 A, 16 P
- Sean Couturier – 11 GP, 5 G, 5 A, 10 P
- Jake Voracek – 23 GP, 6 G, 9 A, 15 P
- James van Riemsdyk – 11 GP, 0 G, 8 A, 8 P
- Milestone Watch
- Radko Gudas needs two points to reach 100 for his career.
Where to Watch
TV: NBC Sports Philadelphia
Radio: 97.5 The Fanatic
