The Philadelphia Flyers (9-12-4) have finally found a way to win a hockey game after last night’s 4-3 victory over Vegas, and they now have a chance to stake a two-game winning streak within 24 hours as they face the Arizona Coyotes (5-20-2). Both teams find themselves on the second leg of a back-to-back, but this game is immense for the Flyers who just went through a ten-game winless streak.
Scoring 33 goals in their last 19 games before last night’s game against the Vegas Golden Knights, firing their coach on Monday night, and then getting utterly embarrassed by the New Jersey Devils on Wednesday, their 4-3 victory meant more than just another notch in the win column.
It was a win against a venerable opponent, as the Vegas Golden Knights dominated play all throughout. But the Flyers were able to score 4 goals, 2 of them being power play goals, and get another vintage start from Carter Hart. In short order they have a chance to start a win streak against an opponent who only has 5 wins on the season.
The Arizona Coyotes come into this game on a 4 game losing streak, losers of 6 of their last 7, and have only been able to find the back of the net 11 times in a 7 game stretch. Playing against the Florida Panthers was never going to be an easy task, however credit goes to the Coyotes a little as they restricted their high flying offense to only 23 shots. In saying that, they still lost the game 3-1 and their offense has really gone MIA, even more so than before.
This is the Flyers’ opportunity to try and climb back into the standings after a whirlwind month of abysmal hockey. They previously faced off against each other in early November where the Flyers shut them out 3-0 on the back of some solid goaltending from Carter Hart and a 3 goal third period. Since then they’ve gone 4-10-3 and have a new bench boss in Mike Yeo.
Under Yeo, the Flyers look a lot different and outside of that New Jersey game, their offense looks a lot smoother, a lot quicker, and are actually creating chances. Albeit a small sample size, it’s a positive amongst a myriad of negativity and it’s something to build upon as they embark on their easiest stretch of games yet. Based on records and standings, the Flyers will face the 5-20-2 Coyotes, 10-10-5 Devils, 6-19-3 Montreal Canadiens, and the 7-16-1 Ottawa Senators. Surely winnable games but nothing is ever a foregone conclusion in the modern NHL.
Since letting go of head coach Alain Vigneault and assistant coach Michel Therrien, the Flyers have scored more than 3 goals twice already, a feat they could barely accomplish from the end of October to mid-December. They have done a lot more on the power play as well, scoring 3 times and scoring twice in one game for the second time this season.
James van Riemsdyk was able to break through an 11 game goalless drought, Keith Yandle was able to pot a couple power play assists, Max Willman scored his first NHL goal, and it was nice to see Sean Couturier and Kevin Hayes on the board.
The Coyotes haven’t had many reasons to celebrate this year but a few wrinkles of positivity come from the performances of former Flyer Shayne Gostisbehere and young stud Clayton Keller. Both players are tied for the team lead with 17 points, while Keller leads the team with 6 goals. The former first round pick has had offensive bursts throughout his career but has had issues with consistency.
They have received serviceable goaltending from both Karel Vejmelka and Scott Wedgewood, however not enough to turn in many wins. The Coyotes are dead last in goals per game, shots on goal, power play %, and shooting %. They rank 30th in goals allowed, 28th in shots on goal allowed, and 29th in penalty kill. This is a game for the Flyers to show their mettle and pounce on a lesser opponent. They have had issues with such games in the past and this is not the time to fumble the bag.
The Flyers will remain without the services of Derick Brassard, Ryan Ellis, Nate Thompson, and Joel Farabee. While the Coyotes will be without Carter Hutton and Johan Larsson. Since this is the second game of a back to back for both teams, Martin Jones (3-4-1) and Karel Vejmelka (2-10-1) are in line to start. Vejmelka played the Flyers in early November, stopping 31 of 33 shots in what turned out to be a pretty close game.
Philadelphia Flyers Projected Lineup:
Scott Laughton – Sean Couturier – Travis Konecny
Morgan Frost – Claude Giroux – Cam Atkinson
Max Willman – Kevin Hayes – James van Riemsdyk
Oskar Lindblom – Patrick Brown – Zack MacEwen
Ivan Provorov – Justin Braun
Travis Sanheim – Rasmus Ristolainen
Keith Yandle – Kevin Connauton
Martin Jones
Arizona Coyotes Projected Lineup:
Clayton Keller – Travis Boyd – Phil Kessel
Lawson Crouse – Barrett Hayton – Nick Schmaltz
Antoine Roussel – Jay Beagle – Loui Eriksson
Andrew Ladd – Ryan Dzingel – Christian Fischer
Jakob Chychrun – Ilya Lyubushkin
Shayne Gostisbehere – Dysin Mayo
Kyle Capobianco – Anton Stralman
Karel Vejmelka
