Philadelphia Flyers' Struggles Continue in Strange Loss to Coyotes
Another bad start, followed up by a sloppy third period, cost the Philadelphia Flyers another game, this time to the struggling Arizona Coyotes
New lines, but it’s still the same story. The Philadelphia Flyers trudged through another sleepy first period. The Flyers trailed 2-0 after one, bring their season first period goal difference count to 8-1 against.
True to form, the Flyers came back to tie the game in the second period. Nick Cousins celebrated his return to the center spot by banging in a rebound. Later, the Flyers benefited from a few close goals, when Arizona had a called taken away for goaltending interference. Instead, the Flyers got a power play and tied the game.
The third period is where things got really interesting. In a crazy sequence, Brayden Schenn drilled Coyotes defenseman Michael Stone. Jakob Chychrun jumped to his defense, starting a fight. The officials, however, were slow to blow the play dead, and the Coyotes scored on a rush. This broke the tie game. Things got even worse 2 minutes later as the Flyers conceded a weird shorthanded goal.
After a few more goals, the teams settled into a 5-4 final. This is very disappointing for the Flyers. They’ve just completed 2 home games against 2 of the weaker teams in the NHL, and have been outplayed in 4 of those 6 periods.
Forwards
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Goaltending and Special Teams
The good news is that the Flyers scored 2 more power play goals. Both were the type of plays you want to see: Simmonds finishing from the doorstep, and Schenn lurking around the net. That’s 4 power play points from Schenn in the last 2 games, and the Flyers power play is top-5 in the NHL.
This power play success was undermined by conceding the odd shorthanded goal mentioned above.
As for goaltending, Steve Mason will not be happy conceding 5 goals on 25 shots. I suppose no one goal was especially egregious (though the Ryan White goal comes close), but it’s more the sum of all the goals against.
Up Next
Despite the struggles, things get harder from here. The Philadelphia Flyers have back-to-back games coming up this weekend, the first of which against the Pittsburgh Penguins. The Penguins currently lead the Metropolitan division, and Crosby has recently rejoined the lineup from injury. The second one is a rematch against the Hurricanes.
It’s anyone’s guess what Hakstol will do with the lines and pairings after another disappointing game, but it’s probably a safe bet that Mason and Neuvirth will split the starts in net.
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