Game 16 Preview: Flyers vs. Coyotes
Dave Hakstol's Philadelphia Flyers (7-7-1) are at home on Thursday evening to take on Rick Tocchet's Arizona Coyotes (7-6-0). Game time at the Wells Fargo Center is 7:00 p.m. ET.
The game will be televised on NBCSNP. The radio broadcast can be found on 97.5 FM The Fanatic with an online simulcast at
FlyersRadio247.com.
This is the back end of a home-and-home set between the teams and the second and final meeting of the season between the inter-conference teams. On Monday in Glendale, the Coyotes carried the play for significant portions of the game but the Flyers built a multi-goal lead and went on to win, 5-2.
Claude Giroux (5th and 6th goals of the season, one assist), Shayne Gostisbehere (power play, 2nd goal of the season, one assist), Sean Couturier (5th goal, one assist) and Oskar Lindblom (empty net, 4th) scored for the Flyers. Cal Pickard played an excellent game in goal. He made clutch saves whenever needed and had no chance on either of two goals on 36 shots.
Alex Galchenyuk (power play, 2nd) and Richard Panik (3rd) scored for Arizona, who saw a five-game winning streak come to an end. Darcy Kuemper took the loss, stopping 29 of 33 shots.
On Monday, the Flyers were 1-for-3 on the power play. They went 3-for-4 on the penalty kill. As often happens late in the front end of home-and-home when the first game's outcome is already determined, things got a little testy late in Monday's game.
Flyers Outlook
The Flyers are coming off a successful four-game road trip, in which they went 3-0-1 and grabbed seven of eight possible points. Most notably, the Flyers never trailed at any point of regulation in any game during the trip.
The young second-line duo of Nolan Patrick and Lindblom recorded points in every game of the trip, including Patrick's game-winning goal set up by Lindblom late in the third period of the Oct. 30 game in Anaheim. Patrick also scored in a 4-3 OT loss in San Jose, with assists in the other two games. Lindblom, who had back-to-back multi-point games in Los Angeles and San Jose, finished the trip with two goals and five points. In the Arizona game, meanwhile, the Flyers' top line came alive and generated three goals before Lindblom's late backhanded empty net goal extended both his own and Patrick's point streaks.
In both the San Jose and Arizona games, Lindblom painfully blocked shots off his foot and hobbled off the ice. However, he practiced just fine at the Skate Zone on Wednesday, at one point scoring on a diving followup of his own shot off an initial cross-ice pass from Patrick.
After sitting out Monday's game in Arizona following an abbreviated practice outing on Sunday in which he was shaken up in a collision with teammate Travis Konecny, goaltender Brian Elliott returned to practice at the Skate Zone on Wednesday. At one point during the session, Elliott took a Voracek shot off his mask, which left him momentarily dazed. However, he got up, finished practice and was fine afterwards. Elliott said that he was uncertain if he'd play on Thursday because he'd been off the ice (except for his abbreviated Sunday practice) beforehand for several days.
Nevertheless, Elliott had a strong practice and is at least fine to back up on Pickard on Thursday, even if Pickard is rewarded for his solid back-to-back efforts with another start. Following Wednesday's practice, the Flyers returned goalie Alex Lyon to the AHL's Lehigh Valley Phantoms. They also sent down winger Tyrell Goulbourne, who had served as the 13th forward during the road trip.
Through 15 games, the Flyers have scored 47 goals but yielded 56. At five-on-five, the Flyers have scored 33 times but yielded 34 opposition goals. The power play comes in at 15.7 percent (8-for-51, ranked 24th) with two shorthanded goals yielded. The penalty kill enters at 69.1 percent (38-for-55, ranked 30th).
Statistically, second periods have been Philly's best from a goal differential standpoint. The Flyers have been outscored 15-13 in first periods, outscored opponents 20-18 in second periods, and are in red by eight goals (14 GF- 22 GA) in third periods.
Coyotes Outlook
The Coyotes saw their overall five-game winning streak and opportunity for an unblemished five-game homestand come to an end at the hands of the Flyers on Monday. Now it the Coyotes embarking on a road trip. After the game in Philly, the club faces a back-to-back set in Pittsburgh and Washington.
Arizona is dealing with some injury issues. Most notably, star goaltender Antti Raanta tweaked something during practice on Tuesday and had to leave the ice. On Wednesday, the team placed him on the injured reserve list. That means the Flyers will almost certainly once again face Kuemper. Hunter Miska will serve as the backup goalie while Raanta is out.
Kuemper, while not as good as Raanta, is a capable netminder. He played better on Monday than his stats would suggest. He had little chance on Giroux's first goal through a heavy screen and no chance on a Shayne Gostisbehere power play goal that deflected off the stick of Arizona's Derek Stepan. Couturier's goal happened on a play where Michael Grabner accidentally took bumped into his own goalie near the blue paint and sent him careening behind the net, leaving Couturier with a wide open net. Giroux's second was a great finish off an odd-man rush feed from Wayne Simmonds. The final goal by Lindblom was an empty netter.
The Coyotes are also a bit banged up on the blueline. Veterans Alex Goligoski and Jason Demers played through nagging injuries in Monday's game against the Flyers but then took respective maintenance days off from practice the following morning. However, it seems likely that both will be OK to play on Thursday. The team has recalled Dakota Mermis from the AHL for roster depth during the road trip and also has Ilya Lyubushkin available.
Highly regarded young Coyotes defenseman Jakob Chychrun has yet to play this season due to off-season knee surgery. He is now close to being ready for clearance to play but it does not sound likely that it will be in time for the game in Philadelphia.
The Coyotes have yielded 29 goals through 13 goals while scoring 36. At 5-on-5, the club has scored 21 goals and given up 20. Arizona's 23rd-ranked power play has not done much damage (6-for-38, 15.8 percent) but their penalty kill (37-for-41, 90.2 percent) tops the NHL and has already struck for seven shorthanded goals; a desirable full-season total for most teams.
In terms of period-by-period breakdown, the Flyers first-period success against the Coyotes on Monday has not been the norm in the early part of this season. Arizona has more than doubled up its opponents (15 GF - 7 GA) in first periods. Second periods have been the most problematic, with Arizona getting outscored 13-8. Third periods have seen the Coyotes score 12 goals while yielding nine.
PROJECTED LINEUPS (Subject to change)
FLYERS
28 Claude Giroux - 14 Sean Couturier - 11 Travis Konecny
23 Oskar Lindblom - 19 Nolan Patrick - 93 Jakub Voracek
22 Dale Weise - 40 Jordan Weal - 17 Wayne Simmonds
21 Scott Laughton - 15 Jori Lehterä - 62 Nicolas Aube-Kubel
9 Ivan Provorov - 8 Robert Hägg
53 Shayne Gostisbehere - 26 Christian Folin
6 Travis Sanheim - 3 Radko Gudas
33 Cal Pickard
[37 Brian Elliott]
Scratches: 47 Andrew MacDonald (healthy), 30 Michal Neuvirth (IR, lower body), 12 Michael Raffl (IR, lower body), 10 Corban Knight (IR, collarbone), 25 James van Riemsdyk (IR, lower body), 5 Sam Morin (ACL surgery).
COYOTES
14 Richard Panik - 17 Alex Galchenyuk - 9 Clayton Keller
11 Brendan Perlini - 21 Derek Stepan - Christian Fischer
40 Michael Grabner - 15 Brad Richardson - 13 Vince Hinostroza
67 Lawson Crouse - 20 Dylan Strome - 25 Nick Cousins
23 Oliver Ekman-Larsson - 55 Jason Demers
44 Kevin Connauton - 4 Niklas Hjalmarsson
33 Alex Goligoski - 82 Jordan Oesterle
35 Darcy Kuemper
[1 Hunter Miska]
Scratches: Josh Archibald (healthy), 43 Dakota Mermis (healthy), 46 Ilya Lyubushkin (healthy), 18 Christian Dvorak (IR, lower body), 6 Jakob Chychrun (IR, knee surgery), 32 Antti Raanta (IR).
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