Steve Mason's status was anything but certain heading into Tuesday's game. The Flyers goalie had been recovering from injury, and it appeared Thursday would be his chance to return.
Sometimes, plans change. 5:50 into the game, Craig Berube had seen enough of Ray Emery.
The Coyotes opened a 2-0 lead in the first 5:50 of the game, when Berube turned to Mason. The Flyers scored the next three goals to erase the early deficit, but a late second-period goal by Arizona would set the stage for overtime and the dreaded shootout.
Once again, Wayne Simmonds played hero, scoring in the third round to give the Flyers a 4-3 win over the Coyotes on Tuesday night at Wells Fargo Center.
The Coyotes opened the scoring early in the first. A shot by Connor Murphy hit off the shoulder of Emery and rolled across the goal line for the game's first goal at 3:33.
Just over two minutes later, Arizona added a second goal. A shot by Oliver Ekman-Larsson bounced off the pad of Emery and straight to the stick of Martin Erat. Erat buried the rebound to give the Coyotes a two-goal lead.
That was enough of Emery for Berube, who sent Mason onto the ice in relief. Emery made two saves on four shots.
The Flyers started to turn play around following the change in goal. On a power-play chance midway through the period, they cashed in. Mark Streit fired a shot through traffic that stayed in the blue paint. Simmonds was there for the rebound and on his second chance, beat Mike Smith to cut the Arizona lead to one.
The Flyers out-shot the Coyotes, 16-10, in the first 20 minutes.
The Flyers continued their solid play into the second. Holding control of the play and possession game, the Flyers eventually tied the game. Andrew MacDonald found a wide open R.J. Umberger from the left circle. He fired glove-side high over Smith to even the score at 13:55.
In the second, the Flyers had a 12-5 shot advantage. One of their last in the period came at 18:59. Jake Voracek led Michael Del Zotto with a pass along the left wing. Del Zotto managed to squeeze a high shot to the short side of Smith to give the Flyers the lead.
The lead was short-lived, as just 23 seconds later, the Coyotes evened the score on a breakaway goal by Tobias Rieder.
The two teams would play a very strategic third period, trying several different methods of scoring. Neither team was able to grab the go-ahead goal in the final 20 minutes of regulation, forcing overtime. The Flyers out-shot the Coyotes in the third, 13-9.
Both teams managed scoring chances in the overtime, but again failed to score, forcing a shootout.
Mason stood tall in goal for all three Coyotes shooters. The Flyers two All-Stars were stopped in the first two shootout attempts, but Simmonds scored on the third for the game-winning goal.
Mason made 22 saves on 23 shots in relief to earn the win. Smith stopped 39 shots.
Voracek and Claude Giroux each had assists for the Flyers in the win.
The Flyers return to home ice on Thursday night to host the Winnipeg Jets. The opening face-off is set for 7 p.m.
Kevin Durso is managing editor for Flyerdelphia. Follow him on Twitter @Kevin_Durso.
