{coyotes} FLYERS (20-17-4) at COYOTES (20-11-9)

Friday, 3 January 2014

{coyotes} FLYERS (20-17-4) at COYOTES (20-11-9)

Doctor Sleep - Stephen King

Saturday, January 4, 2014

8:00 PM ET

FLYERS (20-17-4) at COYOTES (20-11-9)

TV: CSN-PH, FS-A PLUS

Last 10: Philadelphia 7-2-1; Phoenix 3-3-4

Season series: It's the second and final game this season between the Philadelphia Flyers and Phoenix Coyotes. On Oct. 11, Oliver Ekman-Larsson's power-play goal with 13 seconds left in the second period held up as the game-winner in a 2-1 Coyotes win in Philadelphia.

Big story: The Flyers' recent run of success has been led by a top line of Claude Giroux centering Jakub Voracek and rookie Michael Raffl. However, that line won't be together Saturday for the first time since it was put together for a Dec. 12 game against the Montreal Canadiens. Raffl will be out with a concussion sustained during the Flyers' 2-1 loss to the Colorado Avalanche on Thursday.

In 10 games together, Giroux, Voracek and Raffl combined for 11 goals and 25 assists. The Flyers also are 7-2-1 in that span.

The Coyotes could be missing a key player of their own. Defenseman Oliver Ekman-Larsson left in the first period of the Coyotes' 2-0 loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets with what the team called an upper-body injury, and is listed as day-to-day.

Team scope:

Flyers: While they were disappointed with the end of their four-game win streak Thursday, the Flyers believed they did everything they could to get a win.

"The effort was there," Giroux said. "We played a good game. We had a lot of chances to tie it up. The puck was on the goal line. A lot of chances. I think we've just got to keep our heads up."

The difference in the game was Ryan O'Reilly's second-period goal that barely trickled through Flyers goalie Steve Mason. Philadelphia pushed with 10 shots on goal in the third in an attempt to tie it but couldn't get anything past Avalanche goalie Semyon Varlamov.

"It was a pretty [bad] break," Mason said. "The effort was there [Thursday]. We had a lot of chances to get back and take the lead but the puck wasn't bouncing the right way for us [Thursday]. I thought the guys were working hard to create chances."

Coyotes: After playing five straight games past regulation, Phoenix then had to handle the loss of Ekman-Larsson, who averages a team-high 24:39 of ice time per game.

Losing Ekman-Larsson forced coach Dave Tippett to extend the ice time of some players who probably didn't need it. Keith Yandle played a season-high 30:37, and David Rundblad and Rostislav Klesla, who haven't seen much ice time recently, saw their amounts rise. Rundblad, playing his first game since Dec. 6, played 21:50; Klesla, out since Dec. 23, skated 24:09.

"We're trying to get Klesla and Rundblad up and going a little bit, so it wasn't ideal," Tippett said.

However Tippett wasn't ready to accept any excuses for his team's play Thursday.

"We didn't play well enough," he said. "We didn't execute well enough. We didn't compete hard enough."

Who's hot: Flyers forward Scott Hartnell has two goals and five assists during his current streak of six straight games with a point. ... Coyotes defenseman Keith Yandle has two goals and three assists in his past four games.

Injury report: Raffl (concussion) and defenseman Erik Gustafsson (knee) are out for the Flyers. Forward Matt Read (upper body) is questionable. ... The Coyotes are missing forward Shane Doan (illness) and defenseman Zbynek Michalek (lower body). Ekman-Larsson (upper body) is questionable.

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Team Stats