The Arizona Coyotes have a chance to make the most of a rather extended stay at their cozy home.
Meanwhile, the road has been anything but warm to the Philadelphia Flyers, of late.
The Coyotes aim to win back-to-back games for the first time in roughly a month, while trying to extend the Flyers’ season-high road slide to eight games on Sunday in Tempe, Ariz.
Back from a 4-7-3 road stretch that spanned more than a month, Arizona pulled out a needed 4-3 win over mighty Boston on Friday.
Lawson Crouse’s 12th goal of the season — and second of the game — with 14 seconds remaining broke a 3-3 tie to snap an 0-4-2 skid and allow the Coyotes to improve to 2-2-1 at their 5,000-seat arena on the campus of Arizona State University.
“I think for the most part, we tried to weather the storm as much as we could and capitalize on our chances – which in some games hasn’t been happening,” said Crouse, who has five goals and an assist in those five home games. “It’s nice for that to happen.”
The Coyotes hope that persistence, and then some, continues while trying to win consecutive games at home for the first time this season, and anywhere since a three-game run from Nov. 5-10, that opened that lengthy road span.
Friday’s contest began a stretch that features eight of 10 at home for the Coyotes.
Philadelphia, meanwhile, has managed 16 goals during its current 0-3-4 road rut.
The Flyers recorded just seven, of their 28 total shots on goal, after the second period of Friday’s 2-1 overtime defeat at Las Vegas. The Flyers, 0-5 in overtime this season, are 2-10-4 overall since their 7-3-2 start.
“We put (the Vegas game) behind us, big point, but we definitely would have liked to get two,” said Flyers forward Scott Laughton, who had a goal Friday for his third point in three games. “If we continue to grow our game, in little situations, we’ll get a couple of more wins here.”
Philadelphia won three of its last four trips to Arizona. James van Riemsdyk scored twice and Laughton had a goal during the Flyers’ 5-3 victory there one year ago to the day – Dec. 11, 2021. Laughton has a goal in each of the last two games opposite the Coyotes, and four in his last five against them.
Teammate Carter Hart (2.75 goals-against average) made 32 saves at Vegas, and is mired in a 0-2-3 road slide. He’s stopped 38-of-41 shots in splitting his two career starts versus Arizona. Meanwhile, backup Felix Sandstrom is 0-3-1 with a 4.32 goals-against average on the road this season.
Arizona’s Karel Vejmelka made 43 saves against the Bruins, but has allowed at least three goals in five straight starts. Teammate Connor Ingram, however, is 1-6-1 with a 4.67 goals-against average this season, and yielded every Edmonton goal during Wednesday’s 8-2 road loss.
Coyotes defenseman and ex-Flyer Shayne Gostisbehere has two goals with eight assists in his last eight contests. However, he’s failed to register a point in two meetings against his former team.
–Field Level Media
