October 7, 2014
Tonight sees the Arizona Coyotes get their home opener against the Philadelphia Flyers (0-1-0) who is coming off of 4-2 season opener loss to the LA Kings.
Good news for the Coyotes as they get 2nd line RW and Captain of the team
Shane Doan back, sending rookie
Henrik Samuelsson back down to the AHL Portland Pirates. The Coyotes are again seeing a beat up team in the Flyers as they are missing their Captain
Chris Pronger and veteran LW
Vincent Lecavalier. The Coyotes will use this to their advantage while facing this very strong and rested Flyer team. Coach Wells has told the media that he is excited to see his boys come out and fight again in another game and that people should be expecting to see the Coyotes come out with a bit of fire in their step tonight at home.
The first period sees a very defensive game to start and a very slow start for the Coyotes who are unable to put up a shot until 10:20 into the game. However tender
Mike Smith holds the team in there against the Flyers squad who gets off a total of 10 shots to end the period. The Coyotes killed their first penalty of the game and also got two really good scoring opportunities on their own PP but neither team was able to come away with a goal and the score is still tied at 0-0. The Coyotes will start the second period on the PP with over 1:30 remaining in that penalty.
The second period starts out at a much faster pace then the first, something that Coach Wells seems very pleased out on the bench. The Flyers finish off killing the penalty they started the period with and shortly after going to 5 on 5 hockey get lucky as a
Max Domi shot rings off the post, leading to a rush the sees the Flyers net the first goal of the game (
S. Couturier 3:06). That is not long lived as the Coyotes come back firing hard in the fifth minute of playing as
Cal Heeter has trouble handling a
David Moss shot and the rebound goes out and the Coyotes get a nice wide open tap in to get the game tied up (
M. Domi 5:34). The Coyotes do not stop there and 30 seconds later add a second goal to go up 2-1(
L. Lessio 6:04). The teams start to tighten up defensively after the short volley of shots and when the Coyotes are given the chance on the PP they get their third past
Cal Heeter (
M. Hanzal 9:46). The Coyotes end up dominating the Flyers in the second period holding them to 8 shots and getting 14 shots on net themselves. The Coyotes take the 3-1 lead into the second intermission and look to keep up the solid play.
The third period sees the Flyers and Coyotes exchange shots at each other in a back and forth third period that sees neither team gaining the advantage until a break at the 5:50 that sees an amazing play by
Rundblad and
Ribeiro that sets up the Arizona goal (
R. Klinkhammer 6:00) to take the 4-1 lead.
Mike Smith then is tough in goal for the Coyotes and turns away the 10 shots he faces, and gets lucky on the last minute hit post, and the Coyotes finish this game off with the win at home!
After the game Coach Wells speaks to the media and had this to say about the game, "We came out very flat in that first period and we have to thank Mike for standing on his head in the first 20 minutes, but after that little hiccup I feel like we stepped up our game and just clicked all together and really won this one as a team." When he was asked about another great night from rookie
Max Domi his reply was simple, "Kid has got skills, he has 4 points now in the last two games and he is starting to get his line mates going as well. This is a great thin to see and I couldn't be happier for the kid."
Notes- Mike Smith ended the game stopping 27 of 28 shots and finished with a .964 SV%
- No Coyote player finished the game with a +/- in the negatives
- Young Lucas Lessio finished the game with 1 goal and 2 assists to get him the top point totals in this game
- The Coyotes went 1 for 3 on the PP (33%) and killed off their only penalty for the second straight game in a row
- Cal Heeter is the Flyers backup tender, who was called up last year from their AHL team