Flyers 4 - 2 Coyotes
Final
  for this game

Coyotes welcome Flyers to the desert

Dec 3, 2011 - 3:55 PM (Sports Network) - The Phoenix Coyotes are coming off an emotional loss in Winnipeg and look to get back on track tonight at home versus the Philadelphia Flyers at Jobing.com Arena.

The Coyotes suffered a 1-0 loss to the Jets on Thursday in what was their first visit to Winnipeg since the original franchise left for Phoenix 15 years ago. Jets goaltender Ondrej Pavelec stopped all 33 shots he faced for his second shutout of the season.

Mike Smith played well between the pipes for Phoenix, giving up just one goal on 31 shots. Smith appeared for the 20th time in the last 24 games.

"Our goaltender did a fine job for us, gave us a chance to win," said Coyotes coach Dave Tippett. "Our puck play, our execution is not what it needs to be."

Coyotes captain Shane Doan received a standing ovation from the crowd during the first period and is the only member of the former Winnipeg Jets still with the franchise. The Coyotes, who have been shut out four times this season, went 0-for-2 on the power play and are 1-for-31 in the past 11 games.

Center Kyle Turris made his season debut with the Coyotes following a long contract holdout. Turris played just under 12 minutes and posted a team-high four shots on goal. Radim Vrbata owns 11 goals in his last 15 games and has six multi-point efforts this season. Ray Whitney is one goal shy of 350 in his career and has 99 power-play markers. He also needs two assists for 600.

After tonight's home game, Phoenix will hit the road again for games at Chicago, Nashville and Detroit.

Philadelphia enters this evening's contest on a hot note, having rallied from three goals down to upend Anaheim by a 4-3 score in overtime last night.

Former Coyotes goaltender Ilya Bryzgalov settled down after a rough start to make 19 saves on 22 shots, while Jaromir Jagr and Scott Hartnell both scored in the third period to send the game into an extra period. Claude Giroux dented the net on the power play with 1:31 left in OT to lift the Flyers, who are 1-1-0 on a four-game road trip and won for the sixth time in nine tries.

"We didn't play well in the first period," Flyers defenseman Kimmo Timonen said. "With a new coach they came out hard, but we deserved the two points tonight."

Jagr finished with two goals and an assist, and needs three goals to pass Brendan Shanahan for 11th place on the all-time list. Jagr had been sidelined recently due to a lower-body injury. The Flyers are even with the New York Rangers for second in the Atlantic Division, three points shy of Pittsburgh (34 pts). They will also visit Buffalo on the swing and sport an 8-3-1 road record in 2011-12.

Giroux moved into second place in the NHL scoring race with 14 goals and 17 assists for 31 points. Flyers goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky could see action tonight if Bryzgalov sits in his return to Phoenix.

Saturday's game between the Flyers and Coyotes is the second and final meeting between the two teams. Philadelphia posted a 2-1 win back on Nov. 17 at Wells Fargo Center, as Matt Read scored with 18.6 seconds to play and Bryzgalov made 30 saves against his former team.

Mikkel Boedker scored the lone goal in that one for the Coyotes, who had a five-game road winning streak stopped at the time and got 40 saves from Smith. These two teams have split the last 10 meetings in the desert, where the Coyotes are 5-1-0 against the Flyers since the 2000-01 campaign.






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