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Wrapup: Fluke Goal, Smith Send Flyers to 2-1 Loss in the Desert |
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WRAP: FLUKE GOAL, SMITH SEND FLYERS TO TESTY 2-1 LOSS
The Philadelphia Flyers were by far the better team for the final 40 minutes of Saturday's road tilt against the Arizona Coyotes but had only a 2-1 regulation loss to show for it in a testy game at Gila River Arena in Glendale.
Coyotes goaltender Mike Smith was outstanding in goal, stopping 34 of 35 shots. The Coyotes got a second period power play goal by Shane Doan and a controversial goal by Michael Stone with 0.5 seconds left in the period after Steve Mason had his masked knocked ajar by Arizona's Max Domi. The goal was challenged by the Flyers but the call was upheld.
Mason saw just 17 shots for the game, stopping 15. Sean Couturier scored a power play goal in the final minute to shave the deficit to one goal but the Flyers could not find an equalizer. Shayne Gostisbehere and Matt Read got assists.
The Flyers went 1-for-5 on the power play and 2-for-3 on the penalty kill. A bad penalty by Ryan White, a clean attack zone entry for Arizona and a coverage miscue by Nick Schultz added up to Doan's goal that broke a scoreless deadlock.
Both team's captains -- Claude Giroux for the Flyers and Doan for Arizona -- had their heads hammered into the boards in the third period and left the game. Stone suffered a late-game injury for Arizona, having to be helped off the ice. Oliver Ekman-Larsson briefly left the ice in the third period but quickly returned.
The Coyotes got an early power play at 2:14 as Brandon Manning was called for slashing Antoine Vermette's stick. Mason stopped a Shane Doan shot through a Vermette screen as the penalty expired for the Flyers' 18th straight successful penalty kill.
Michael Raffl created a 2-on-1 rush as he intercepted a puck and fed the puck to Wayne Simmonds just inside the hash marks at the bottom of the right circle. One-on-one with Smith, Simmonds was not able to finish off the play.
At 8:53, Oliver Ekman-Larsson pounced on a puck at the top of the left circle and ripped a shot on net. Mason stopped it and held on. Shots were 3-1 Coyotes at this point.
Tobias Rieder nearly had a breakaway shortly past the midway point of the period. The puck just eluded him. Jiri Sekac later claimed a puck off the right boards, cut to the inside and was denied by Mason's glove from 20 feet. Mason held for a TV timeout at 12:09.
The Flyers went to their first power play as Sean Couturier and Raffl worked the puck along the walls behind the net. Kevin Connauton was called for holding Couturier at 13:51.The struggling first power play unit was unable to get set up. With the second unit out, Smith stopped a tough deflection by Sam Gagner off a setup by Couturier.
The Coyotes' Martin Hanzal took the puck straight to the net on the rush. Mason made the save but the rebound went to Max Domi. With room to shoot from 12 feet, Domi tucked the puck just wide on the backhand with 2:12 left.
With 1:57 left in the period, Streit wristed a shot on net that Smith saw all the way and held for a stoppage.
Shots in the first period were 6-5 in Arizona's favor.
Nick Schultz lost his stick in a battle behind the net in the opening minute. Anthony Duclair slid to an open spot in the slot and snapped a tough shot on goal. At the other end of the ice, Manning and Gudas put pucks at the net through traffic.
Smith denied Cousins at the doorstep on the rush at 1:55 but it looked like Cousins kicked the puck at the net on the back end of the triangular passing sequence from Gagner to Matt Read to Cousins. Ekman-Larsson received a roughing penalty in the after-the-whistle scrum. Once again the top unit struggled and second unit generated strong puck movement and pressure but was not able to convert it. Ryan White had a whack a loose puck in front as the penalty expired but Smith stopped him and held for a faceoff.
Radko Gudas caused some havoc in the Arizona end and created an offensive zone right circle faceoff with 14:32 left in the period. The Giroux line went to the attack on the net shift, and Smith stopped Brayden Schenn from the left slot. More forechecking pressure by the Flyers ensued on the net shift. Shots for the period were 9-1 Flyers by the 7:30 mark.
The Bellemare line enjoyed a lengthy shift cycling deep in the Arizona end about eight-and-a-half minutes into the middle frame. With 10:29 left, Brayden Schenn barreled into Connor Murphy with a legal check behind the net. A scrum ensued with no penalties.
At 10:12, after Mason made his ninth save but left out a long rebound on a heavy but unscreened shot by Ekman-Larsson from 35 feet, Couturier flipped the puck over the defensive zone glass for an automatic delay of game penalty. The Flyers killed it off in good shape. Shots for the period were 12-3 Flyers at 12:12.
Smith made an awkward looking save on a rising point shot by Mark Streit with 6:19 left. Juggling momentarily, the goalie finally found the handle and held for a stoppage.
White went in deep in forechecking pursuit of Connauton but the Arizona defenseman lost his balance and went into the end boards when he skates got tangled with White's stick. White received a tripping minor at 15:04.
The Coyotes capitalized as they had a clean entry into the offensive zone. A left circle shot low to the blocker side by Vermette rebounded into the right slot, where a wide open Doan potted it for his 26th goal of the season at 15:37 mark. Alex Tanguay got the secondary assist. On the goal, Schultz abandoned covering his own side to go to Vermette on the other side -- with the puck already about to be released, leaving Doan wide open.
The Flyers immediately resumed the attack after the Arizona goal. With 3:40 left, the Flyers went to the power play as Doan high-sticked Schultz along the wall in the Coyotes zone. Voracek hammered a right-circle one-timer off a three-on-one directly into a squared-up Smith with 1:10 left on the power play. The Flyers switched units. The second unit created nothing dangerous.
As the penalty expired, Doan had a breakaway exiting the penalty box off a pass up the middle by Zbynek Michalek. The attempted shot high to the glove side missed the net.
With time about to expire in the period, Arizona scored a goal as Manning and Domi battled directly in front of Mason. The puck went in before the buzzer with 0.5 seconds left. The Flyers challenged the ruling on the basis that Domi interfered with Mason. Mason immediately turned around, complaining that his mask was knocked ajar by Domi -- it got unstrapped and turned - and Mason was struggling to fix it -- before Michael Stone shot the puck in the net. Duclair and Hanzal got the assists.
After review by the referees, the call on the ice was upheld. Shots in the period were 16-7 Flyers; 21-13 Flyers through two periods.
The Coyotes iced the puck in the opening nine seconds of the third period. The Flyers lost the ensuing draw. At 1:16, Smith hung on to a Voracek shot from the left circle.
Read got knocked down with an Ekman-Larsson high stick at 1:26. The Flyers went to their fourth power play. The Flyers let another opportunity slip away. Smith hung on to a Gostisbehere shot from the point with Raffl nearby after the power play expired.
Mason's stick stopped Duclair on a 2-on-1 rush for Arizona at about 4:30.
At 6:07, Gudas legally checked Doan on a open rush, knocking him down and, with momentum going toward the boards then hit him a second time, sandwiching the Coyotes' captain's head into the boards. Doan had trouble getting up. The Coyotes too exception. No penalties resulted. Doan went up the tunnel, presumably to undergo concussion protocol testing.
The Couturier line -- especially Raffl and Voracek -- had a long forechecking shift deep in Arizona territory but the puck could not be worked into a scoring area. At the other end of the ice, Mason denied a Duclair wraparound.
With 10:55 left, Smith made a good save on Schenn from below the dots and then took umbrage at Simmonds brushing into him as he went by the net.
The Flyers had a near 4-on-2 rush go offside with 9:11 left after Giroux stripped Ekman-Larsson of the puck. Ekman-Larsson limped off up the tunnel but returned. On the next shift, Stone went down twisted up in a battle with Raffl behind the net. He had to be helped off, unable to put any weight on his left leg.
Giroux won a right circle draw back Streit. Smith made the save through traffic. On the next draw, Hanzal beat Giroux and the Coyotes cleared. With 7:41 left, Gudas snapped a right circle shot on net. Still angered by the Doan play, Connauton gave Gudas a forearm to the head after the whistle. On the next shift, Voracek was stopped from the left side and then attempted a wrap-around that Smith denied.
With time ticking down near five minutes, the Giroux line pressured on the walls but could not get a scoring chance. With four minutes left, Gostisbehere stole a puck but ended 1-on-2 in the Arizona end and the threat was ended.
With Arizona pressuring and Mason caught out of position. Schenn saved a near goal and then the Flyers pulled Mason with about 2:45 left. Schenn had an open one-timer stopped. With 2:15 left, Hanzal pushed Giroux head-first into the boards. Giroux had to leave he game.
The Flyers got a three-minute power play, as Hanzal got a major for boarding. Schenn got a roughing minor and Simmonds got a 10-minute misconduct. Smith swallowed up a right-side one-timer by Gostisbehere.
With 40 seconds left, Couturier broke a 21-game goal drought as he weaved a shot through a White screen into the net to make it a 2-1 game. Gostisbehere and Read got the assists. White and Ekman-Larrsson received misconducts in a scrum that initially started between Voracek and Ekman-Larsson after the goal. Couturier turned over two pucks in the final 20 seconds and Arizona hung on for the win.
Shots in the third period were 14-4 Flyers; 35-17 Flyers for the game.
Philadelphia Flyers Blogger •NHL.com • 
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