Coyotes get Best of Flyers in Ugly Game

(Kate Frese/Sports Talk Philly)

By Kevin Durso, Sports Talk Philly editor 

Brayden Schenn's big hit electrified the crowd at Wells Fargo Center. But as the forward prepared for an impending fight with Jakob Chychrun, the Coyotes went down and scored to break a 2-2 tie.

The Flyers never recovered, as Arizona scored three times in a sloppy game overall for the Flyers and held on for a 5-4 win on Thursday night.

It was another slow start for the Flyers and the Coyotes took full advantage. At 7:33, Jamie McGinn was waiting on the doorstep for a rebound after a good hard-working play by Anthony Duclair to give the Coyotes a 1-0 lead.

A Flyers turnover just over four minutes later led to a goal as Oliver Ekman–Larsson fired a shot past Steve Mason to extend the Arizona lead to two.

The Flyers had three power plays in the first period, but failed to capitalize as Arizona controlled the shot advantage, 11-9, through 20 minutes.

But as they have done several times already this season, the Flyers managed a comeback in the second. It started at 9:34, as Nick Cousins finished off a strong shift for the third line by picking up a rebound in front for his first goal of the season. Dale Weise picked up an assist for his first point as a Flyer.

The Flyers had a power play shortly after and after failing to score, allowed a goal that was immediately waved off. Before the goal was scored, Laurent Dauphin passed by Mason and ran into his stick, not allowing the Flyers netminder to get back into the play for a goalie interference penalty.

With another power play, the Flyers took advantage quickly as a shot from the point by Shayne Gostisbehere was stopped but Schenn was able to tap home the loose puck in the crease to even the score with five minutes remaining in the period.

The Coyotes struck first in the third period as Martin Hanzal finished off a rush as the fight between Schenn and Chychrun happened behind the play.

Arizona got another goal just a few moments later, as the Flyers were on the power play due to an instigation penalty to Chychrun, a shorthanded rush by Brad Richardson ended with the puck in the Flyers net, but not real signal on the ice. The call on the ice was eventually ruled a goal and stood after two lengthy reviews, one a challenge by the Flyers.

Just 24 seconds after Arizona made it a two-goal game, Andrew MacDonald scored to cut the lead back to one.

The Flyers kept the margin at one until the final 4:19, when former Flyer Ryan White scored from a sharp angle off another Flyers turnover to extend the Coyotes lead back to two.

Wayne Simmonds added a goal with 14.3 seconds left on the power play, but that was as close as the Flyers could get.

The Flyers were 2-for-8 on the power play. Arizona snapped a five-game losing streak with the win. It was their second win of the season, both coming against the Flyers.

The Flyers remain home for the final game of a three-game homestand to take on the defending Stanley Cup champion Pittsburgh Penguins on Saturday night at 7 p.m.

Box Score

Scoring Summary

1st Period

• ARI Jamie McGinn (1) (Anthony Duclair, Brad Richardson) 7:33
• ARI Oliver Ekman-Larsson (5) (Unassisted) 11:22

2nd Period

• PHI Nick Cousins (1) (Brayden Schenn, Dale Weise) 9:34
• PHI Schenn (2) PP (Shayne Gostisbehere, Claude Giroux) 15:00

3rd Period

• ARI Martin Hanzal (2) (Max Domi, Mark Stone) 6:31
• ARI Brad Richardson (3) SH (Tobias Rieder) 8:10
• PHI Andrew MacDonald (1) (Ivan Provorov, Travis Konecny) 8:34
• ARI Ryan White (1) (Christian Dvorak) 15:41
• PHI Wayne Simmonds (5) PP (Brayden Schenn, Mark Streit) 19:45

Game Statistics