Arizona Coyotes grind past Philadelphia Flyers 2-1 in physical affair

With nothing to lose, the Arizona Coyotes put away a Philadelphia Flyers team with everything on the line.

A power play goal and some puck luck carried the Coyotes to a 2-1 victory over the Flyers on Saturday night at Gila River Arena. The win was Arizona's third in a row. The win was marred however by injuries to Shane Doan and Michael Stone, as well as questionable hits and officiating throughout the game.

Scoring Summary

First Period

No goals in the first period to go along with 11 total shots on goal. Both teams were stingy early on.

Second Period

1-0 Arizona: The veterans combine for a huge opening goal for the Coyotes. Alex Tanguay and Antoine Vermette combined for a give-and-go on the near-side off the zone entry. The Philadelphia defender bit on Tanguay and let Vermette slip in behind him. Vermette took a clean shot on net, and Shane Doan had a wide-open net on the rebound to open the scoring. Assists to Vermette and Tanguay on the power play goal at 15:37.

2-0 Arizona: Louis Domingue was likely having flashbacks on this goal. Max Domi and Brandon Manning engaged in some jostling in front of Steve Mason. While Mason's mask may have become partially dislodged, no whistle was blown, and Mason stopped playing before time expired. As a result, Michael Stone scored an easy open-net goal with less than a second remaining in the period. Assists to Anthony Duclair and Martin Hanzal on the goal at 19:59.

Third Period

2-1 Arizona: The Flyers made things interesting in the last minute of the third period by scoring on a power play. Sean Couturier took a seeing-eye shot that slipped through several bodies and past Mike Smith to end his shutout bid. Assists to Shayne Gostisbehere and Matt Read on the power play goal at 19:20.

Stat Report

Paw Prints

• For the Philadelphia perspective, check out Broad Street Hockey
• Former Flyer Nicklas Grossmann did not play tonight against his former club. The man he was traded for - Sam Gagner - logged 14:27 of ice time and took two shots for the Flyers.
• Shane Doan's goal was his 26th this season, which is the most he's scored in a single season since his 31 goals in the 2008-09 campaign.
• Martin Hanzal now has four points in his last three games.
• For a non-conference game, this one was surprisingly chippy. Shane Doan left in the third period after Radko Gudas gave his head a late shove into the boards. No penalty was called on the play as Doan underwent the concussion protocol and did not return.
• Michael Stone also left in the third period after his left leg got caught underneath Michael Raffl along the boards. He left the ice putting no weight on the injured leg.
• The chippiness of the game - combined with a lack of penalties either way by the officiating crew - eventually came to a head in the last four minutes of the game, when Martin Hanzal knocked Claude Giroux into the boards. Giroux briefly lost consciousness on the ice, which caused the remaining Flyers on the ice simultaneously went after Hanzal. Hanzal would be ejected, along with Wayne Simmonds, Ryan White, and Oliver Ekman-Larsson.
• Attendance: 16,002.

Looking Ahead

Arizona plays next on Monday night, when they host the Calgary Flames in their second to last home game of the year. Puck drop is at 7 PM Arizona time.