Konecny scores twice, Flyers beat Arizona 4-1 to end Coyotes' winning streak at 5
TEMPE, Ariz. (AP) — Travis Konecny scored twice, Carter Hart made 25 saves and the Philadelphia Flyers beat Arizona 4-1 on Thursday night to end the Coyotes' winning streak at five.
Cam York had a goal and an assist and Joel Farabee and also scored for the Flyers. They have won three straight, four of six and nine of 13.
“We've worked a lot on coming together and building something special,” said forward Sean Couturier, who had an assist on Konecny's first goal. “Guys are buying in. We just have to keep building and start believing in ourselves. I think we are out to prove people wrong. There doesn't seem to be much pressure on us. I don't know if we are just naive or young, but we just go out and play hard and aggressive hockey.”
Lawson Crouse scored for the Coyotes, who made NHL history by beating the last five Stanley Cup champions during the winning streak.
Connor Ingram, who made 22 saves, also had his five-game winning streak broken. He gave up only five goals during the streak, which included each of his two shutouts this season.
Philadelphia killed all three of its minor penalties and limited the Coyotes to one shot on the power play.
“I thought it was an ugly hockey game, both clubs,“ Philadelphia coach John Tortorella said. ”I didn't think it was that fast by either team. I didn't think there were a lot of great plays by either team. It was just one of those games that you have to figure out how to win, and we did that."
Konecny opened the scoring off a faceoff midway through the first period. Couturier won the faceoff at the right circle and passed the puck back between his legs to Konecny, whose one-timer bounced off Ingram’s left shoulder and into the net. Couturier has a four-game points streak.
“We set that one up for a shooter,' Couturier said. ”It just worked out perfect."
Farabee made it 2-0 three minutes later when he skated in alone hit an open left side from right in front after a cross-ice pass from Cam Atkinson.
Crouse cut it to 2-1 on a wrist shot from the slot after a pass from Matias Maccelli late in the first. The goal came three seconds after a penalty to Travis Sanheim expired. Crouse, who had 10 goals in November, had his first in three December games.
Konecny scored a short-handed goal for a 3-1 lead at 15:22 of the second.
“It's been that way this year,” Tortorella said. “The aggression of the (penalty kill), of them all moving together, has given us some great momentum in the games. That was a big goal for us tonight.”
Defenseman York skated into the left circle unimpeded and scored through Couturier's screen for a 4-1 lead two minutes into the third.
“I want to be shifty out there,” York said. “I want to be able to make moves that other ‘D’-men maybe can't. It's been a good stretch of hockey for us. Kind of a weird building to play in, not going to lie. Especially for an NHL game. It can kind of be a trap game sometimes but I thought we managed it well.”
Arizona State University's Mullett Arena has a capacity of 4,400, the smallest building in the league.
“We didn't start the game with enough urgency,” Coyotes coach Andre Tourigny said. “We gave them free looks, they scored, and that's a tough team to play against. It took too long for us to adjust and play a simple game."
Coyotes first-line defenseman Sean Durzi missed a game for the first time this season after leaving in the first period of a 6-0 victory over Washington on Monday night because of a lower-body injury.
UP NEXT
Flyers: At Colorado on Saturday night.
Coyotes: at Boston on Saturday night.
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