Arizona Coyotes finish awful road trip with regular season sweep of the Philadelphia Flyers

After the first six games of the season Death stared into the face of the Arizona Coyotes, and Death blinked first. Arizona won for the second time over Philadelphia in 2016-17 and also for the second time overall this season.

The Coyotes came out fast and furious, speeding all around the Flyers, giving and taking hits. After grabbing hold of the match with a 2-0 lead after the 1st period, the Coyotes shot themselves in the paw by taking penalty after penalty, letting the Flyers back into the game.

With the help of luck or karma, some very strange goals eventually saw Arizona leave the Wells Fargo Center with their second win of the season after an explosive 3rd period that could have seen either team take the points.

Scoring Summary

First Period

1-0 Arizona: After the Coyotes managed to keep puck possession in their own offensive zone for a prolonged time, a cycling Anthony Duclair mixed it up and cut in-front of the net from behind, hoping to sneak a backhand shot past a cheating Steve Mason. Mason made the initial save but rebounded the puck to the opposite side of the goal where Jamie McGinn was waiting to score his first goal as a Coyote. Assists to Duclair and Brad Richardson at 7:33.

2-0 Arizona: A perfect stick lift on Claude Giroux by Max Domi on a Flyers’ clearing pass led to a turnover that landed at the feet of Oliver Ekman-Larsson. In one swift motion, Ekman-Larsson span his body away from the puck, taking an instinct fueled swing at the puck which flew into the back of the net past Max Domi, who was driving past the net as a screen on Mason. Unassisted at 11:22.

Second Period

2-1 Arizona: The Coyotes got sloppy in the 2nd period, spending periods of time watching the puck and hoping nothing unfortunate would happen. Eventually they paid the price. Nick Cousins scored his first goal of the season from a Louis Domingue rebound created by the Flyers’ deep forecheck pressure. Assists to Brayden Schenn and Dale Weise at 9:34.

2-2 Tie: The Coyotes lost the lead after what was essentially a short period of back to back penalty killing for those wearing the white and maroon. With Laurent Dauphin in the box for a very unfortunate goaltender interference call, Brayden Schenn got the jump on a tired Arizona PK unit, diving to knock home a loose puck past a static Louis Domingue who seemed to think he had the puck tied up somewhere in his gear. Assists to Shayne Gostisbehere and Claude Giroux at 15:00.

Third Period

3-2 Arizona: Martin Hanzal received a beautiful feed from Max Domi on a rush and was able to put the puck home past a sprawling Mason. At the same time, Jakob Chychrun instigated a fight with Brayden Schenn, who had just laid a big hit on Michael Stone just after he was able to make the pass to Domi. The play was reviewed but the Coyotes were awarded the goal. Assists to Domi and Stone at 6:31.

4-2 Arizona: In another set of strange circumstances, Brad Richardson scored his second short-handed goal of the season. During the penalty kill ensuing from the events of Hanzal’s goal, Richardson got in one-on-one with Mason courtesy of a clever Tobias Rieder feed. Tripped by a desperate Philadelphia defender on his way in, Richardson went crashing into Mason and the net but not before he managed to slip the puck underneath the Flyers’ goaltender for a good goal. Assist to Rieder at 8:10.

4-3 Arizona: 24 seconds later, the Flyers scored a much less exciting goal to remind the Coyotes that the game was not over yet. Just after the Chychrun penalty had expired, Andrew MacDonald blasted a slap shot into the back of the net from the point. Assists to Ivan Provorov and Travis Konecny at 8:34.

5-3 Arizona: Ryan White punishes his former team, sneaking a goal from a sharp angle shot, up and over Mason’s right shoulder. The play came from a nice one-two pass with Christian Dvorak set up behind the net. Assist to Dvorak at 15:41.

5-4 Arizona: He’s the villain, he’s the hero, he’s the villain again. Ryan White went back to the box for a delay of game penalty after closing his hand on the puck. With Steve Mason on the bench and a six-on-four man advantage for the Flyers, it was only a matter of time before the Coyotes slipped up in the dying seconds and let an otherwise quiet Wayne Simmonds score the Flyers’ 4th goal of the night. Assists to Brayden Schenn and Mark Streit at 19:45.

Three Answers

1. Are the kids alright? - Of the kids who played, Dvorak picked up an assist on White’s game winning goal, while Dauphin and Chychrun both got involved. Sophomore Anthony Duclair finally picked up his first point of the season with an assist on the opening goal of the night.
2. Can The King bounce back? - It’s difficult to argue that Domingue bounced back tonight but he definitely improved enough to be Five for Howling’s player of the game in a great team victory where no Coyote really stood out alone.
3. Keep your head up kid - Anthony Duclair got hit hard early and went flying, but remained uninjured and was later influential in the Coyotes’ first goal. The game remained relatively un-physical until the 3rd period, resulting in Chychrun’s ejection from the game and Michael Stone suffering an injury for the second time in as many games against Philadelphia after being on the wrong end of a big Brayden Schenn hit.

Players of the Game

Arizona - Louis Domingue - didn’t finish with an impressive save % (.875) but given he played 14:02 of short-handed time it was never going to be an easy night. Domingue made the key saves that he needed to which ultimately allowed the Coyotes to win the game.

Philadelphia - Brayden Schenn - was involved in three of the Flyers’ goals and also injured Michael Stone with a nice hard hit in the 3rd period, further adding pressure to the tired Coyotes’ defensive corps.

Paw Prints

• For the Philadelphia perspective, check out Broad Street Hockey.
• Scratched for the Coyotes were Dylan Strome, Kevin Connauton and Lawson Crouse. Strome has not played since October 21st against the Islanders.
• At 13:43 of the 2nd period, it appeared that Jordan Martinook had scored a goal immediately after killing a Ryan White charing penalty. However the goal was immediately disallowed with the Flyers instead ending up on a power play for goaltender interference on Steve Mason by Laurent Dauphin. Despite remaining out of the goaltender’s crease, Dauphin got caught on Mason’s stick as he was driving to the net, pulling Mason out of position and leaving the net wide open for Martinook to score. While the disallowed goal was fair enough, the ensuing penalty was a hard pill to swallow as this sequence of events changed the shape of the game from a potential 3-1 Coyotes’ lead to an actual 2-2 tie that energized the Flyers.
• The Coyotes began the play after Hanzal’s goal on the penalty kill as Jakob Chychrun received a 2 minute instigating minor, a 5 minute fighting major and was ejected with a 10 minute instigator-misconduct penalty.
• The Coyotes finished both the 1st and 2nd periods on the penalty kill, on their way to a total of 31 penalty minutes (including Chychrun’s 5 minute major and 10 minute game misconduct), giving the Flyers 8 power play opportunities for the night.
• The Coyotes shot out like a rocket with 11 shots in the opening period before only managing a measly 4 shots in the 2nd period. Meanwhile the Flyers managed to score 2 goals from 13 shots and get themselves back in the game.
• After being hit by Brayden Schenn just prior to the Coyotes 3rd goal at 6:31 in the 3rd period, Michael Stone went down to the locker rooms and did not return for the remainder of the game with an upper body injury.

• This - in combination with Chychrun’s game misconduct - meant the Coyotes spent the last 13:29 minutes of the game with only 4 defenders.
• The Coyotes now have three short-handed goals for the 2016-17 season. In 2015-16, they only had four.
• A positive to take from the Coyotes’ disastrous road trip is that it was solely against Eastern Conference teams, meaning Arizona did not directly feed points to their Western Conference rivals.
• CONSPIRACY: In several years time, hockey historians will debate whether or not Ryan White deliberately placed his hand over the puck to draw the penalty and let the Flyers score in hope that his goal for the Coyotes would be attributed as the game winning goal.

Looking Ahead

The Coyotes will now finally return home for the first time since the home opener. They take on the Colorado Avalanche. Puck drop is at 6:00 PM Arizona time.