The Philadelphia Flyers made a grueling three-game trip through Canada with victories over the Edmonton Oilers and Vancouver Canucks coupled with a loss to the Calgary Flames.
Despite falling 4-0 to the Flames in their most recent game, the Flyers will return home with plenty of momentum as they prepare to host the reeling Arizona Coyotes on Tuesday night.
“It’s disappointing when the team puts an effort like that in front of (Carter Hart) when realistically he’s the only reason it ended up the score it was,” Travis Konecny said of Hart’s 32-save performance. “He made some unbelievable saves.”
Hart struggled mightily at times last season, but he has responded with several strong games thus far.
“He gave us a chance. Without him, there’s obviously no game,” Flyers coach Alain Vigneault said. “He was the best player on the ice, for us, in this game. He gave us a chance, and we were unable to follow up.”
Captain Claude Giroux was held without a point for the first time this season. But heading into just their eighth game, the Flyers already appear to be improved over last season.
Their 4-2-1 record is an indication of that. Last season they went 25-23-8 and didn’t make the playoffs.
“When the team plays that way, you’ve got to make plays offensively,” Vigneault said. “Your execution has got to be at its best, and obviously they (Flames) took that away from us. They made it very difficult.”
The Flyers’ success has been even more impressive considering the fact that key defenseman Ryan Ellis missed the whole road trip with an undisclosed injury.
Ellis is listed as day-to-day, and it’s unclear whether he’ll be available against the Coyotes.
“Everything’s progressing as we expected,” Vigneault said of Ellis.
The Coyotes will search for their first win in their 10th game when they battle the Flyers.
Arizona dropped its opener to the Columbus Blue Jackets, then earned one point in a 2-1 defeat against the Buffalo Sabres. The Coyotes have since lost seven straight, most recently 2-1 to the Carolina Hurricanes on Sunday.
The narrow loss against the Hurricanes was arguably their best effort all season.
“Everybody in the room is working; that’s what maybe makes it kind of worse,” said Christian Fischer, who scored Arizona’s lone goal. “It’s frustrating; you just try not to let it linger on so long.”
After allowing five goals in consecutive losses to the Florida Panthers and Tampa Bay Lightning, the Coyotes have given up two goals each in back-to-back games to the Washington Capitals and the Hurricanes.
But they have no points to show for their work.
“It’s two games in a row that the game is right there. It’s frustrating stuff,” Arizona coach Andre Tourigny said. “We repeat that seemingly after every game. They’re proud athletes, they’re competitors. They want to win. They fight hard. They work as hard as we can, hope and dream, but right now we have nothing to show for it. It’s frustrating.”
The Coyotes’ stop in Philadelphia will be the team’s fifth game of a six-game trip.
–Field Level Media
