It wasn't easy or artistic but the Philadelphia Flyers (5-2-1) ultimately took care of business against the winless Arizona Coyotes (0-9-1) at the Wells Fargo Center on Tuesday night. The game entered the third period scoreless but the Flyers scored three unanswered goals to skate off with a 3-0 victory.
Carter Hart was excellent in goal whenever he had to erase a mistake --particularly over the first 30 minutes of the game-- and he ultimately earned a 29-save shutout. Coyotes rookie counterpart, Karel Vejmelka, who has been perhaps his team's only bright spot amid a disastrous start for Arizona, did his part at the other end yet again. But he got no goal support once again to fall to 0-6-1 in eight appearances this season.
The Flyers, who entered the game as the NHL's most penalized team, stayed out of the penalty box entirely on this night. The Flyers power play went 0-for-3 against a Coyotes team that entered the night at a league-worst 56.8 percent on the PK.
The first period was rather sloppily played by both teams, leading to an abundance of dangerous scoring chances. In the second period, the Flyers were stuck at a 5-2 shot deficit for much of the first half of the period. Philly actually drew energy, however, from the reversal of what was initially ruled a goal by Cam Atkinson. Out-of-position near-side referee Chris Schlenker did not see Vejmelka briefly cover the puck but also did not blow play dead for losing sight of the puck before Derick Brassard dug it free across the goal-mouth to Atkinson with 7:14 remaining in the second period. After a conference at center ice with the other three officials, Schlenker retroactively ruled that the puck had been covered long enough for a stoppage of play.
The Flyers stepped up in the third period Immediately a strong shift by Scott Laughton's line, which buzzed all not with no reward until very late in the game, Sean Couturier (4th goal of the season) scored a goal to put the Flyers ahead, 1-0, at 6:54 of the third period. The assists went to Travis Konecny and Claude Giroux.
The Flyers held on to a 1-0 lead until the Sabres attempted (but did not quite succeed) to get Vejmelka to the bench for an extra attacker. The rookie scrambled back to his net in time to prevent a goal but the Flyers scored moments later. A gorgeous pass from James van Riemsdyk connected with Laughton, who scored (2nd goal of the season) from the right slot for a 2-0 lead at 17:51. With Vejmelka finally pulled for a 6-on-5 attack, Couturier unselfishly passed up a gaping shooting lane at the empty net and instead set up a slam dunk for Giroux (ENG, 5th).
From there, the only remaining suspense was whether Hart would get a shutout. The team closed out the game to seal the three-goal margin.
Tuesday's game was the 700th career regular season tilt for Couturier, who became the 12th player in Flyers' franchise history to reach that total. The game also marked the first return to Philadelphia for longtime Flyers defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere. "Ghost" received a nice ovation after a video tribute during a first-period stoppage of play. He acknowledged the crowd by raising his stick.
Apart from his two-point game, Claude Giroux won a monstrous 14 of 16 faceoffs on the night (88 percent). Rasmus Ristolainen, who twice narrowly missed on potential goals up the ice, led the Flyers with five hits in 21:12 of ice time.
The Flyers will practice in Voorhees midday on Wednesday. On Thursday, the team has a road game against the Pittsburgh Penguins.