Flyers at Coyotes
The Philadelphia Flyers hope their good fortune travels well as they leave the festive confines of the City of Brotherly Love to embark on a two-game road trip, beginning Saturday against the Arizona Coyotes. The Flyers have won two straight since the Eagles won Super Bowl LII, but they fell for the fourth straight time to the Coyotes with a 4-3 overtime loss on Oct. 30.
"I don't know if we need to feed off anything," Philadelphia coach Dave Hakstol said. "We've got our own mission that we're on here. ... It's hard not to get caught up in the excitement of the city, no question." Travis Konecny netted his second career two-goal performance in Thursday's 5-3 triumph over Montreal as the Flyers elevated into the top wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference. Arizona has long since stopped looking at the standings, as it resides in last place in the NHL while ranking 30th in goals scored (2.3) and goals against (3.4). Former Flyer forward Nick Cousins scored twice in the Coyotes' 4-3 victory over Minnesota on Thursday to snap his team's four-game losing skid while increasing his point total to five (four goals, one assist) in the past six games.
TV: 8 p.m. ET, NBCS Philadelphia-Plus, FS Arizona
ABOUT THE FLYERS (26-19-9): Captain Claude Giroux recorded his fifth three-point performance of the season on Thursday, one day after telling reporters that "I've got to step up and bring more for the team." The 30-year-old scored one goal and set up two others, with his goals (16), assists (45) and points (61) surpassing his totals from last season (14, 44, 58) when he appeared in 82 games. Fellow forward Jakub Voracek scored in the third period on Thursday to extend his point streak to seven games (three goals, seven assists), although his run of consecutive contests with assists ended at six.
ABOUT THE COYOTES (13-32-9): Rookie forward Clayton Keller, 19, snapped a five-game point drought on Thursday when he scored his team-leading 15th goal - and first since New Year's Eve - at 3:55 of overtime against the Wild. Alex Goligoski set up Arizona's first two goals against Minnesota and netted the last one in the previous encounter versus Philadelphia with the overtime winner. Fellow defenseman Kevin Connauton scored and set up a goal on Thursday to give him four points (three goals, one assist) in the past four games.
OVERTIME
1. Konecny has collected nine goals, eight assists and a plus-8 rating in his last 18 contests.
2. Arizona C Derek Stepan set up a pair of goals on Thursday to increase his point total to five (one goal, four assists) in his last five contests.
3. Philadelphia D Shayne Gostisbehere notched three assists versus Montreal to give him seven points (one goal, six assists) in his last four games.