Analysis: Flyers lose to Coyotes 4-3 in OT

Coyotes Goals

• Jordan Martinook (1), assists: Niklas Hjalmarsson, Brad Richardson
• Christian Dvorak (1), assists: Oliver Ekman-Larsson, Jason Demers
• Brendan Perlini (2)(Power Play), assists: Alex Goligoski, Niklas Hjalmarsson
• Alex Goligoski (1), assists: Clayton Keller, Max Domi

Flyers Goals

• Sean Couturier (8)(Power Play), assists: Claude Giroux, Ivan Provorov
• Jordan Weal (2), assists: Ivan Provorov, Valtteri Filppula
• Sean Couturier (9), assists: Claude Giroux, Ivan Provorov

Wow. That’s really all I can say.  In a game that they should have been very strong contenders to give the Coyotes their 11th loss of the season, they instead give the Coyotes their first win of the season. Here’s my 5 Takeaways.

5 Takeaways from Coyotes vs Flyers

• We’ll start with the very, VERY sloppy first and second periods from the Flyers. They were sloppy with their passes, and sloppy in their own zone. Flyers have now been outscored 7-3 in the first period in the last four games, and have been outshot 39-35. They NEED to get a strong start in the first period and keep it consistent. They cannot rely on the result that happened tonight consistently and finding their offense in the third period. For most of the better teams in the league, like the next two teams that they are facing in the Blackhawks and the Blues, they need all three periods to be strong or else the game could get out of hand very quickly.

• The Flyers showed up a little more in the third period, mostly in the last ten minutes of the game. Sean Couturier scored the Flyers first goal of the game when the Flyers managed to get their only power play opportunity of the game. Elliott was then pulled from goal in the final few minutes so the Flyers would have an extra attacker. Jordan Weal brought the game to within one on a rebound attempt on an initial shot from Ivan Provorov. Couturier then tied the game with less than 15 seconds left and the Flyers headed to overtime. I have to  admit, the final few minutes were well fought and very aggressive but it would have been better to see that throughout the game and not the final few minutes.

• Speaking of overtime, the Flyers had success already this season when they managed to win in overtime against the Ducks in the first road trip of the season, but were unsuccessful in their second attempt. It was just not good defense from Travis Sanheim that gave up the game winner.

• I’m not usually one that argues or complains when the referees are bad, but oh man, were the referees bad in this game. I’m not going any further than that.

• Ivan Provorov had three assists in this game including a secondary assist/keep that helped Giroux find Sean Couturier for the game tying goal. The fact that Provorov was able to help on the offense with Ghost missing from the game is a good sign. But man did they miss Ghost.

Additional Notes

• Mark Alt made his first appearance of the season vs. the Coyotes. Samuel Morin was originally supposed to play in this game because Ghost would not be able to go. However, the Flyers learned that Morin was injured and brought up Mark Alt instead.

• Nolan Patrick was still out for this game with an upper body injury and is considered day-to-day. Shayne Gostisbehere is also day-to-day with an upper body injury.

Star of the Game

It’s Sean Couturier.  You know it’s Sean Couturier. I know it’s Sean Couturier. The Flyers wouldn’t have collected a point had he not scored the game tying goal.

Flub of the Game

The first few minutes of the first period where the Coyotes score their first goal and it kicks in off Brian Elliott’s pad and past him. After the solid performance on Saturday vs the Maple Leafs, I was hoping that he would continue to have another good performance in net in his 2nd straight start. He did not.

Flyers start another two-game road swing with two tough teams in Chicago and St. Louis. While they managed to get a point vs the Coyotes, they will need to clean up their passing or this road trip is going to be a nightmare.