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Flyers-Coyotes Preview

Nov 21, 2009 - 7:35 AM By MATT BEARDMORE STATS Writer

Philadelphia (12-6-1) at Phoenix (12-9-1), 8:00 p.m. EDT

After failing to do much against the NHL's top team, the Philadelphia Flyers look to bounce back from one of their worst efforts of the season.

They'll get that chance Saturday night against the Phoenix Coyotes, who have won four of five at home in this matchup.

Philadelphia (12-6-1), which had won seven of eight overall, is coming off a 6-3 loss at San Jose. It was the most goals allowed by the Flyers since a 7-6 shootout loss to the Sharks on Oct. 22, 2008.

"(The Sharks) beat you every which way you can imagine," Flyers coach John Stevens said Friday.

Philadelphia's Ray Emery, who opened the season 10-3-1 with a 2.18 goals-against average, lost for the second time in three starts.

After making his first career start versus the Sharks, Emery could do the same versus the Coyotes.

If not, Brian Boucher would make his second start in three games. In his second appearance this season, Boucher stopped 37 shots in Wednesday's 3-2 victory in Los Angeles to open a five-game road trip.

Boucher recorded five consecutive shutouts while with the Coyotes in 2003-04, and his scoreless streak of 332:01 is the longest in the league's modern era. Overall, he won 28 games for the club from 2002-06, and is 0-2-1 with a 2.53 GAA in his last three games in Arizona.

Philadelphia travels there for the first time since a 4-0 loss on March 12, 2007.

The Coyotes (12-9-1) return home after being beaten for the first time in three games after regulation this season with a 3-2 defeat at St. Louis on Thursday. Ilya Bryzgalov gave up Erik Johnson's game-winner 17 seconds into overtime.

"I didn't see it when he released the puck," said Bryzgalov, who is 1-0-0 with a 2.32 GAA in two career games versus Philadelphia. "I only found the puck when it was close to my pad and it was too late."

Radim Vrbata looks to extend his goal-scoring streak to three after tying Scottie Upshall with his team-high seventh score Thursday.

Upshall, who has found the back of the net just once in the last five games, will face his former team for the first time. Picked sixth overall by the Flyers in the 2002 draft, Phoenix acquired him and a draft pick in March for Dan Carcillo.

"There's an opportunity to be in the spotlight and to have a chance to show a team that had you on their lineup only five or six five months ago, that maybe it was a bad decision," said Upshall, who had 27 goals and 37 assists in 134 games with Philadelphia.

In the teams' last meeting, Carcillo scored for Phoenix in a 4-3 overtime loss in Philadelphia on Nov. 22. Captain Mike Richards scored the game-winner off an assist from Jeff Carter.

Richards will try to extend his points streak to five after assisting on Claude Giroux's second goal of the game Friday.

After scoring the game-winner in four of his previous five contests, the Flyers' James van Riemsdyk assisted on Giroux's first goal. Van Riemsdyk is second among rookies with 18 points in 16 games.

Philadelphia's last road victory over Phoenix was 5-4 on Oct. 18, 2003.

Coyotes defenseman Ed Jovanovski has missed the last six games with a lower body injury, and is questionable for this contest. He's second on the club with 13 points.