James van Riemsdyk’s two goals leads Flyers to victory over Coyotes

On the heels of their first win since Nov. 16th, the Flyers took on the Arizona Coyotes. Scoring five in this one, Philadelphia came away with the 5-3 victory.

THE GOOD

BACK TO BACK: For the first time since October 27th and 28th, the Flyers have won back to back hockey games. And they scored four+ goals in each win. After what turned into a close 4-3 victory over the Knights, Philadelphia came out the next night with a 5-3 win over Arizona. It wasn’t a perfect outing by any means, but they did what they needed to do against a team like the Coyotes. They pounced on their mistakes when need be and stood their ground for most of the evening.

HOT STREAK: After scoring a goal in last night’s victory, James van Riemsdyk decided to kick it up a notch. He notched another power play goal, as well as scoring a goal less than a minute and a half into the game. Known as a streaky scorer, JVR has three goals in his last two games. He is at his best when he’s able to work his way to the front of the net.

BROWN’S FIRST: Karel Vejmelka could not have made this one any easier for Patrick Brown. The 25-year-old netminder came out of his net for the puck and lazily sent a pass to the middle of the ice. Brown was skating the whole way and intercepted it for the easy open net goal. It is his first with the Flyers in his 10th game with the team. He assisted on Max Willman’s first career goal last night as well. He had a strong effort against Arizona.

THE BAD

DEFENSIVE LAPSES: It wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows despite the Flyers coming out with the victory over a team they ultimately should’ve handled easily. The Coyotes had Philadelphia scrambling in their own zone as Martin Jones made a few saves to start the sequence. He ended up almost behind the net, leaving a wide open hole for Jay Beagle. That was 39 seconds after van Riemsdyk opened the scoring.

UNTIMELY TURNOVERS: On Arizona’s second goal, a neutral zone turnover allowed the Coyotes to enter the zone. Cam Dineen fired the first shot on net that was stopped. Max Willman wasn’t able to knock the puck away along the boards, allowing Nick Schmaltz to get the puck at the point. He wristed a high one that beat Jones clean over the shoulder. Jones later admitted that he simply didn’t see the puck.

On the Coyotes third and final goal, the Flyers weren’t able to clear the puck out of their own zone. Rasmus Ristolainen tried to send one around the boards that was stopped by Dineen. Winning the board battle, he found Schmaltz behind the blue line.  He fired a puck to Lawson Crouse at the face off dot as he sniped it in one fluid motion past Jones.

Ultimately these plays didn’t come back to burn them, but doing so against a tougher opponent may not end the same way as it did against the Coyotes did.

The Flyers will finally have a short rest before they head back on home ice for a rematch with the Devils. They’ll take on New Jersey on Tuesday evening.