PREVIEW: FLYERS @ COYOTES
In the fourth and final game of a critical four-game road trip, Dave Hakstol's Philadelphia Flyers (36-24-13) are in Glendale on Saturday to take on Dave Tippett's Arizona Coyotes (33-34-7). Game time at Gila River Arena is 10:00 p.m. EDT. The game will be televised on CSN Philadelphia.
This is the second and final meeting of the season between the teams, and the lone game in Arizona. On February 27 at the Wells Fargo Center, the Flyers skated to a 4-2 win. The Flyers grabbed an early 3-1 lead, survived a hairy second period thanks to stellar goaltending and, after the Coyotes clawed back within a goal with 13:27 left in the third period, they closed the game out strong and got an insurance goal.
Goaltender Michal Neuvirth stopped 29 of 31 shots. Twelve of his saves came in the second period. Scott Laughton, Claude Giroux (power play), Sam Gagner and Pierre-Edouard Bellemare scored for the Flyers. Mark Streit assisted on all three Philadelphia goals in the first period, including Giroux and Gagner's goals spaced just 40 seconds apart. Brayden Schenn had a pair of assists. Nick Cousins and Wayne Simmonds had a helper apiece.
Brad Richardson and Oliver Ekman-Larsson scored in a losing cause for Arizona. Max Domi, Shane Doan, Mikkel Boedker and Mike Stone added assists. Louis Domingue stopped 29 of 33 shots for the Coyotes.
The Flyers went 1-for-4 on the power play and 4-for-4 on the penalty kill. The Coyotes dominated the circles (36-for-58, 62 percent) but the Flyers generally managed around it well.
For the Flyers, Saturday's game in Arizona is the end of a road trip that has seen them play in Brooklyn on Monday (4-1 win), Columbus on Tuesday (3-2 shootout loss after leading 2-0 until the final 67 seconds of the third period) and Colorado on Thursday (4-2 win). They return home on Monday to host the Winnipeg Jets at the Wells Fargo Center.
The Coyotes are in the third game of a four-game homestand. They defeated the Edmonton Oilers (4-2) on Tuesday and then beat the Western Conference leading Dallas Stars (3-1) on Thursday. The homestand wraps up on Monday when the Calgary Flames come to town.
Flyers Outlook
The Flyers are 10-2-2 over their last 14 games. For the season, the team currently has a 17-14-6 road record and 19-10-7 record at home.
On Thursday, the Flyers' legs seemed to abandon them for the first 24 minutes of their game in Colorado and they had to rely almost solely on Steve Mason to keep them in the game. However, the final 36 minutes saw Philadelphia take over the game.
Philadelphia battled back to erase a pair of one-goal deficits to surge past the Colorado Avalanche with two goals within a minute in the third period and then added an empty net goal to seal the victory.
The Flyers got goals by Pierre-Edouard Bellemare, Radko Gudas, Claude Giroux (game-winner) and Ryan White (empty net). Shayne Gostisbehere, Andrew MacDonald, Sean Couturier, Jakub Voracek, Wayne Simmonds, Brayden Schenn, Bellemare and Gudas chipped in assists.
Mason stopped 32 of 34 shots to earn the win in Denver. He has started nine of the last 10 games and four in a row. With Michal Neuvirth (suspected meniscus tear in his left knee) sidelined for the rest of the regular season, Hakstol will have to decide if and when the time is right to give rookie Anthony Stolarz a spot start or two over the final nine games of the season. Signs point to Mason starting again in Glendale on Saturday.
Mason has appeared in 46 games this season, posting a 19-16-9 record, 2.55 goals against average, .918 save percentage and four shutouts (five regulation shutouts). Neuvirth appeared in 31 games, posting a 17-8-4 record, 2.28 GAA, .925 save percentage and three shutouts.
Second year pro Stolarz has had several NHL recalls but has yet to appear in an NHL regular season game. Stolarz had an outstanding first half of the AHL season -- especially the first two months -- and earned a selection to the AHL All-Star Game. in 40 games this season with the Lehigh Valley Phantoms, Stolarz has posted a 19-14-6 record, 2.57 GAA and .917 SV%.
In Thursday's game, Jakub Voracek moved to Sean Couturier's line and Sam Gagner moved to the Nick Cousins line. Chris VandeVelde returned to the lineup after a three-game absence (two on an NHL suspension, one was a healthy scratch). Scott Laughton was the odd man out in Colorado.
The Flyers have been getting more -- and more balanced -- scoring since the All-Star break. Brayden Schenn has been very productive going to the start of the calendar year. In his last 37 games, he has 37 points (17 goals, 20 assists). Couturier has 10 assists in his last nine games, although he has not scored a goal in his last 21 games.
Thus far, the team has done a remarkably good job of playing around the absence of top-pairing defenseman Michael Del Zotto. The player, who suffered torn ligaments in his left wrist on February 13, is out for the rest of the season.
Shayne Gostisbehere has set two franchise records and an NHL record this season: most goals by a Flyers rookie defenseman (16 to date), and longest consecutive-game point streak (15 games) by a Flyers rookie or any rookie defenseman in NHL history. Gostisbehere needs nine points to match Behn Wilson's franchise rookie defenseman season record of 49 points (set over 80 games in 1978-79). The top four in points are Wilson, Janne Niinimaa (44 points in 77 games in 1996-97), Thomas Eriksson (44 points in 68 games in 1983-84) and Tom Bladon (42 points in 78 games in 1972-73). Gostisbehere is currently fifth. He has recently found it harder to find time and space to make plays, as he now draws considerable defensive attention.
Team captain Giroux leads the Flyers with 21 goals, 41 assists and 62 points in 70 games. He is followed on the Flyers' scoring leader list by Schenn (24 goals, 28 assists, 52 points), Simmonds (25 goals, 26 assists, 51 points, 129 penalty minutes) and Voracek (10 goals, 40 assists, 50 points in 62 games). Among Gostisbehere's 16 goals, seven have come on the power play, and four in overtime and he has scored five game-winners overall to go along with 24 assists and 40 points in 55 games. Sean Couturier rounds out the top six with nine goals, 25 assists and 34 points in 55 games.
Coyotes Outlook
The Coyotes have points in seven of their last 10 games (6-3-1). Tippett's club has been a decent home team this season, bringing a 20-14-4 record at Gila River Arena into Saturday's game. By comparison, the Coyotes are 13-20-3 on the road.
On Thursday, the Coyotes toppled the Stars for the second time this season.
The score was tied 1-1 at the first intermission after the clubs traded off closely spaced goal in the latter stages of the opening period. Arizona went ahead to stay in the opening minute of the second period as Martin Hazal scored the first of his two goals in the game. The Coyotes took a 2-1 lead to the second intermission after Brad Richardson was unable to convert a penalty shot in the middle stages of the period. Hanzal delivered the finishing blow at 7:51 of the third period when he scored a shorthanded goal. Domingue stopped 37 of 38 shots to earn the win in goal.
Arizona brings the NHL's best faceoff percentage (54.4 percent) into Saturday's game. They owned the circles against the Flyers in the previous meeting this season, so there is a good chance the Flyers will have to compensate for an initial puck possession disadvantage. Despite their gaudy faceoff stats, the Coyotes rank 29th of 30 teams in average shots on goal per game and only five teams (including the Flyers) yield more opposition shots per game than the Coyotes.
The reason for the disparity is because the Coyotes are not a very good 200-foot-game team.
Formerly one of the stingiest defensive teams in the NHL on a year-in and year-out basis, the Coyotes have had trouble keeping the puck out of their own net each of the last two seasons. The Coyotes rank 27th in the NHL in goals against average (2.96) this season. Much of the problem has come on penalty kill (78.3 percent, tied for 25th in the NHL) but the club has also yielded 130 goals at 5-on-5 (ranked 18th in the NHL) while scoring 122.
Former Flyers defenseman Nicklas Grossmann is questionable for this game with a lower-body injury.Fourth-line forward Joe Vitale is on injured reserve with a fractured orbital bone and a concussion. Backup goaltender Anders Lindbà¤ck is out for the season with a torn Achilles tendon. Defenseman Jarred Tinordi is under NHL suspension for violating the league's performance-enhancing substance policy.
Despite a recent six-game injury absence, dynamic defenseman Ekman-Larsson leads the Coyotes with 51 points (19 goals, 32 assists) in 68 games. He returned to the lineup on Tuesday for the team's 4-2 win over Edmonton. He has assists in each of the last two games. In the traditional plus-minus category, Ekman-Larsson is minus-seven this season but that is more a reflection of spotty team defense than of his own play.
Ekman-Larsson is followed by young forward Max Domi (18 goals, 29 assists, 47 points), veteran team captain Shane Doan (25 goals, 18 assists, 43 points), Anthony Duclair (17 goals, 21 assists, 38 points), Hanzal (13 goals, 25 assists, 38 points in 61 games), Tobias Rieder (14 goals, 23 assists, 37 points), Mike Stone (five goals, 30 assists, 35 points) and Antoine Vermette (15 goals, 19 assists, 34 points).
The best puckhandling goaltender in the NHL, Mike Smith has been limited to 26 games this season. He has posted a 13-10-1 record, 2.75 goals against average, .913 save percentage and two shutouts. Domingue has appeared in 37 games (34 starts), posting a 15-6-5 record, 2.61 GAA, .917 SV% and two shutouts.
Key team stat comparisons (NHL overall ranking)
Non-shootout goals per game: Flyers 2.60 (18th), Coyotes 2.62 (17th) Non-shootout goals against per game: Flyers 2.56 (14th), Coyotes 2.96 (27th) 5-on-5 Goals For/Against Ratio: Flyers 123/115, Coyotes 122/130 Power play efficiency: Flyers 18.1% (17th), Coyotes 18.2% (16th) Penalty killing efficiency: Flyers 81.0% (19th), Coyotes 78.4% (25th) Shots per game: Flyers 30.6 (T-8th), Coyotes 28.0 (29th) Shots against per game: Flyers 31.3 (26th), Coyotes 31.1 (25th) Faceoff percentage: Flyers 50.6% (8th), Coyotes 54.4% (1st)
Projected lineups (subject to change, will be updated)
Flyers
10 Brayden Schenn - 28 Claude Giroux - 17 Wayne Simmonds 12 Michael Raffl - 14 Sean Couturier - 93 Jakub Voracek 89 Sam Gagner - 52 Nick Cousins - 24 Matt Read 76 Chris VandeVelde - 78 Pierre-Edouard Bellemare - 25 Ryan White
47 Andrew MacDonald - 53 Shayne Gostisbehere 55 Nick Schultz - 32 Mark Streit 23 Brandon Manning - 3 Radko Gudas
35 Steve Mason [65 Anthony Stolarz]
Scratches: Evgeny Medvedev (healthy), R.J. Umberger (healthy), Scott Laughton (healthy), Jordan Weal (healthy), Michael Del Zotto (IR, wrist), Michal Neuvirth (suspected left knee injury).
Coyotes
40 Alex Tanguay - 50 Antoine Vermette - 10 Anthony Duclair 36 Jiri Sekac - 11 Martin Hanzal - 16 Max Domi 8 Tobias Rieder - 12 Brad Richardson - 19 Shane Doan 48 Jordan Martinook - 15 Boyd Gordon - 61 Sergei Plotnikov
23 Oliver Ekman-Larsson - 5 Connor Murphy 34 Klas Dahlbeck - 4 Zbynek Michalek 44 Kevin Connauton - 26 Michael Stone
35 Louis Domingue / 41 Mike Smith
Scratches: Viktor Tikhonov (healthy), Kyle Chipchurra (healthy), Nicklas Grossmann (questionable, lower body), Joe Vitale (IR, fractured orbital bone and concussion), Anders Lindbà¤ck (IR, torn Achilles tendon), Jarred Tinordi (NHL suspension).
FLYERS ALUMNI: BENEFIT FOR OFFICER JESSE HARTNETT
On Sat. March 26 at 3:00 p.m. ET at the Flyers Skate Zone in Northeast Philadelphia, the Flyers Alumni Team will play the Philly's Finest team in a benefit game for Officer Jesse Hartnett and his family.
This game was not originally on the Flyers Alumni game calendar, but when the Philadelphia police officers on the Philly's Finest team contacted the Alumni about the possibility of setting up a benefit for Officer Hartnett, the Alumni acted quickly to add it to the schedule.
On January 7, 2016, Philadelphia police officer Jesse Hartnett, 33, was traveling on his police cruiser at 60th and Spruce Streets. According to reports, 30-year-old Edward Archer approached the vehicle and opened fire on the driver's side. Archer fired 11 shots, three of which struck officer Hartnett.
The story initially received widespread media attention, not only in the Delaware Valley but also on a national level because Archer claimed to be acting in the name of Islam and on behalf of ISIS. Subsequent investigation revealed that he had no direct affiliation with any terrorist group, and was acting alone. When that fact was learned -- combined with the fact that Officer Hartnett survived the senseless attempt on his life -- the story dropped out of media focus despite the ongoing hardships that the policeman faces.
Officer Hartnett has had to undergo multiple surgeries to repair severe damage to his arm. He still faces an arduous road to recovery. Thus, the Philly's Finest Hockey Team approached the Flyers Alumni Association and asked if a game could be set up to raise money for his needs as well to raise awareness of the dangers policemen face on a daily basis.
Admission is $20 at the door, with all proceeds going directly to provide assistance for Officer Hartnett's needs. The admission includes the game, beer donated by the Fraternal Order of Police and food donated by Mission BBQ. The Flyers Alumni with meet and take pictures with fans after the game. However, be aware that space is limited.
For more information, click here.