Philly Sports Jabronis
Report From Philadelphia Flyers
* The Flyers earned their second shootout win of the season and are now 2-5 in shootouts this year. They’ve won their last two after losing 10 in a row.
* The Flyers had two penalty minutes, which is the fewest they’ve had in a game this year. The last time the Flyers had two PIM in a game was April 8, 2014 when they had two PIM vs. Florida.
* The Flyers and Coyotes combined for just six PIM, which is the fewest total PIM in a Flyers game this year. The last time the Flyers and their opponent combined for that low of a PIM total was Dec. 31, 2013 when the Flyers (4) and Calgary (2) combined for six PIM.
* Claude Giroux led the Flyers with nine hits.
* Sixteen of the Flyers’ 18 skaters had at least one shot on goal, while nine different Flyers recorded a point in tonight’s game, with no Flyers recording two points.
* Petr Straka made his NHL debut, playing 10:08. He recorded a hit, a blocked shot, and had one of his own shots blocked.
* Ryan White played 18:35 in his Flyers debut. He recorded two hits, a blocked shot, and one shot on goal.
GAME RECAP
PHILADELPHIA — Wayne Simmonds scored the only goal of the shootout, giving the Philadelphia Flyers a 4-3 win against the Arizona Coyotes on Tuesday at Wells Fargo Center.
The Flyers’ third shooter, Simmonds skated up the middle of the ice, got in close to the net, slowed down and when Coyotes goalie Mike Smith went down, Simmonds shot the puck over him.
Simmonds also had a goal in regulation, and R.J. Umberger and Michael Del Zotto also scored for the Flyers (20-22-7).Steve Mason made 22 saves in relief of starter Ray Emery through overtime, and then denied three Coyotes in the shootout.
Emery was removed 5:50 into the game after allowing two goals on four shots. It was Mason’s first game since sustaining a lower-body injury in the first period of a game Jan. 10 against the Boston Bruins.
Martin Erat had a goal and an assist for the Coyotes, and Connor Murphy and Tobias Rieder also scored. Smith made 39 saves.
The Coyotes (16-25-6) outshot the Flyers 3-1 in overtime. Their best shot to win it came on a 2-on-1 break, but Sam Gagner shot over the net in the final minute of the extra period.
A scoreless third period ended with the Flyers outshooting the Coyotes 12-9.
The Coyotes’ best opportunity came with 11:57 left when a Luke Schenn turnover resulted in an open look for David Moss between the circles, but Mason came out aggressively and got his left pad on the shot.
Philadelphia’s best chance came with 29 seconds remaining when Matt Read had a whack at the rebound of a Schenn shot but couldn’t put it past Smith.
Rieder tied the game 3-3 with 37.1 seconds left in the second period. Antoine Vermette tipped the puck away from Schenn in the Arizona end, and Shane Doan chased down the loose puck. He sent a long pass just out of the reach of Philadelphia’s Pierre-Edouard Bellemare that allowed Rieder to skate in alone on Mason. Rieder beat Mason over his glove for his seventh goal.
Del Zotto’s fifth goal, with 1:01 left in the second period, gave the Flyers a 3-2 lead. Jakub Voracek carried the puck into the Coyotes zone and pushed it ahead to Del Zotto. The Flyers defenseman picked the top corner, off the underside of the crossbar.
“[Voracek] made a great play, kind of holding on, making their [defenseman] respect him in the middle of the ice,” Del Zotto said. “I timed it wide, and he made a great pass. I just tried to throw the puck high-blocker and was lucky enough to score.”
The Flyers tied the game 2-2 on Umberger’s ninth goal. Umberger had a chance from the left side of the Coyotes zone, but Smith stretched to stop the shot with his blocker. The puck stayed in the zone and found its way back to Umberger, whose second chance from the right faceoff dot beat Smith at 13:55 of the second.
“It was a good shift by our line,” Umberger said. “Everybody was involved. We got a few good chances. [Smith] made a great save on me backdoor. We were able to win the puck on the rebound, and the puck found its way to [Andrew MacDonald]. I stayed in that same spot, and he found me. I just wanted to get it on net and was able to find that top corner.”
The Flyers got on the board on Simmonds’ power-play goal at 9:02 of the first. Smith stopped Mark Streit‘s point shot, but Simmonds muscled his way to the net to bang in the rebound. It was Simmonds’ 17th goal, but his first in nine games.
“We moved the puck really well during the power play,” Simmonds said. “[Streit] was able to get a good shot off, I tipped the puck and was able to follow up on my own rebound and put it in.”
The Coyotes took a 2-0 lead in the first 5:50 of the game on goals by Murphy and Erat.
Murphy started the run with his third goal of the season at 3:33. Coyotes defenseman Andrew Campbell forced MacDonald to turn over the puck at the Flyers blue line. Erat grabbed the loose puck and skated through the Philadelphia zone and dropped a pass for Murphy. His shot from the right circle was stopped by Emery, but it popped in the air over Emery’s shoulder, landed behind the Flyers goalie and trickled over the goal line.
Erat made it 2-0 at 5:50 when he scored his seventh of the season. Oliver Ekman-Larsson’s shot from the left point was stopped, but Emery kicked the rebound into the slot and Erat one-timed it past him.
