The Flyers went the distance Thursday night for a gutsy, 4-3 shootout win over the Kings at Crypto.com Arena.

Trevor Zegras and Matvei Michkov delivered in the skills competition. Zegras is a scorching 20 for 33 lifetime.

Samuel Ersson picked up his 13th career shootout victory in 18 opportunities.

This was the Flyers’ fourth straight overtime game and their 25th of the season. They lead the NHL with 15 shootout wins over the last two seasons.

Travis Konecny, Noah Cates and Travis Sanheim provided the team’s goals in regulation.

Michkov and Rasmus Ristolainen each had two assists. Cates also had a helper.

The Flyers (33-23-12) improved to 2-0-0 on this three-game California road trip. They beat the Ducks, 3-2, in overtime Wednesday night.

Rick Tocchet’s club is a commendable 5-5-1 in the second game of back-to-back sets. Last season, the Flyers were a dreadful 1-10-2.

They really gutted this one out. They had to roll with just 11 forwards and an extra defenseman.

The Flyers were without Sean Couturier, who missed the game because of an upper-body injury. It’s unknown if the injury is related at all to Couturier’s back, which has plagued the Flyers’ captain in the past.

Denver Barkey (upper body) and Luke Glendening (lower body) were also out. Both have been considered day to day.

The Flyers have gone 8-2-1 over their last 11 games. The problem, though, is they received little help Thursday night in the playoff race (more on that below).

The Flyers went 1-0-1 in their regular-season series with the Kings (28-24-16). They suffered a 3-2 overtime loss in Philadelphia at the end of January.

Trevor Zegras and Matvei Michkov came up clutch for the Flyers in the shootout in their win over the Kings on Thursday night.

• Ersson converted 22 saves on 25 shots. He turned away Adrian Kempe and Artemi Panarin in the shootout.

The Flyers relinquished a 3-2 third-period lead when they gave up a power play goal to Panarin.

But Ersson was solid all night and the Flyers rewarded him with three second-period goals.

The 26-year-old has been a reliable guy since the Olympic break. In four appearances (three starts), he has recorded three wins, a 1.74 goals-against average and .920 save percentage.

Los Angeles netminder Darcy Kuemper stopped 17 of the Flyers’ 20 shots.

Trevor Zegras, Noah Cates and Rick Tocchet spoke after the Flyers’ shootout win over the Kings on Thursday night.

• With 14 games left, the Flyers have matched their win total from last season, when they went 33-39-10.

They already have two more points than last season.

The Flyers have made progress and they would actually hold a playoff spot rather comfortably if they were in the Western Conference. In fact, the Ducks are in first place of the Pacific Division and the Flyers have the same number of points.

But in the Eastern Conference, the Flyers are trying to chase down multiple teams. The Blue Jackets, Bruins and Red Wings all won Thursday night. The Flyers are within five points of third place in the Metropolitan Division and six points back of both the East’s first and second wild-card spots.

• The Flyers dodged an injury scare in the third period when Michkov was hammered into the boards by Drew Doughty.

The 21-year-old winger was shaken up but didn’t need to leave the game. He had a strong and active night in 17:04 minutes.

• With how undermanned the Flyers were up front, Emil Andrae was deployed mostly as a forward.

Garrett Wilson played his first NHL game in almost seven years. The 35-year-old winger has been a part of AHL affiliate Lehigh Valley’s leadership group over the last six seasons.

• The Flyers wrap up their trip Saturday when they visit the Sharks (4 p.m. ET/NBCSP).