Preview: Coyotes Close Out Homestand Against Flyers on Thursday

Dec. 7, 2023 | 7:00 pm MST | Mullett Arena, Tempe, Ariz.

WHERE TO WATCH:
• Antenna: 61.1 Phoenix, 9.2 Tucson
• Phoenix Cable: Cox 95
• Phoenix Satellite: DirecTV Channel 61, Dish Network Channel 61
• Bullhead City / Lake Havasu: Optimum channel 6
• Flagstaff: American Cable channel 4, Optimum Cable channel 6
• Maricopa: Orbitel channel 11
• Pinal County: Mediacom channel 13
• Prescott: Sparklight channel 61
• Sedona: Optimum Cable channel 6
• Show Low / Winslow Sparklight channel 61
• Tucson: Cox channel 85, Xfinity channel 1179, Orbitel channel 208

WHERE TO LISTEN:
• Radio: ESPN 620
• Stream: Arizona Coyotes App, NHL Mobile App

Fresh off a 6-0 win over the Washington Capitals, the Arizona Coyotes close out their five-game homestand against the Philadelphia Flyers on Thursday, looking for their sixth consecutive win. A win would also secure the Coyotes’ first 5-0 homestand since March 3 – 12, 2002.

Both Michael Carcone and Nick Schmaltz enter Thursday’s game on goal streaks, as the former has scored five of his team-leading 12 goals over his last four games, while the latter has four goals over his last three games.

Defenseman Michael Kesselring has recorded an assist in four straight games, and has five points in nine NHL games this season.

“I’m just making simple plays using my feet,” Kesselring said. “Both of the last two points I used my feet and gave it to skill guys that made plays. Hopefully I can keep that going, shoot a few more pucks, and hopefully I can find the back of the net soon, too.”

Goalie Connor Ingram continues to shine, as well, as he has won his last five starts and was named the NHL’s First Star of the Week on Monday. The 26-year-old is 11-3-0 with two shutouts, a 2.23 goals-against average and .930 save percentage this season, and he ranks third in SV% and fourth in GAA.

The Coyotes’ special teams has also been playing well as of late, as the power play is 4-for-9 over its last four games – and ranks fifth in the league at 26.83 percent – while the penalty kill ranks 12th and has allowed only 3 power-play goals over the last 10 games.

Arizona and Philadelphia meet once more this season, on Feb. 12 in Philadelphia.

Player to Watch: Carcone continues to have the hot hand, and scored a goal in the only game he has played against the Flyers in his career, on Jan. 5, 2023.

ABOUT THE FLYERS
Philly is third in the Metropolitan Division at 13-10-2, and is coming off back-to-back wins over the Pittsburgh Penguins, 4-3 in a shootout and 2-1 in overtime.

The Flyers are led by Travis Konecny’s 19 points and 12 goals, while Travis Sanheim’s 15 assists are tops.

“[The LA Kings] and the Flyers are the most structured teams we will play against this season,” Coyotes head coach André Tourginy said. “It will be a good challenge, I’m excited, I think it’s good timing for us.”

Carter Hart and Samuel Ersson have split time in net, with the former posting a 7-6-1 record, 2.55 goals-against average and .913 save percentage, while the latter is 5-3-1 with a 2.78 GAA and .885 SV%. Ersson won the first game against Pittsburgh on Saturday, while Hart picked up the victory on Monday on the backend of the home-and-home series.

Hart is expected to start following today’s morning skate at Mullett Arena.

The Flyers rank 22nd in the league with 2.88 goals per game, but play a strong defensive game, allowing the ninth-fewest goals at 2.80. Their power play has struggled at times this season, ranking 28th with a 12.20 percent success rate, but their penalty kill is sixth at 85.37 percent. Philly has allowed just one power-play goal over its last eight games.

“Even on the scoring front, if you look at their numbers, they’re number one in the league in goals off the rush and they’re number one in the league for scoring chances off forecheck,”  Tourigny said. “They don’t give much defensively. They’re really stingy in the neutral zone. It’s tough to have rush chances against them. They play really good in their zone.”

Player to Watch: Konecny has one goal and three assists over his last four games, and has 11 points on three goals and eight assists in 12 career games against the Coyotes.