PHILADELPHIA – The Philadelphia Flyers are needing to keep pace in the Metropolitan Division and Eastern Conference if they intend to make an appearance in the post season.
On Saturday, Claude Giroux returned from a three-game absence due to an upper-body injury to lead the Flyers to a 4-2 win over the struggling Arizona Coyotes.
“You want to be part of the boys and be able to help them win,” Giroux said. “To be back and get a win like this it feels good.”
Giroux returned and Jakub Voracek was out with a lower-body injury.
“He (Giroux) touches every aspect of the game,” Flyers’ Sam Gagner said. “Not many guys in the League that does what he does in terms of all-around game, whether it be faceoffs, penalty kill, power play. He’s a big scorer for us at 5-on-5. He touches every aspect of the game. Those guys are guys you can’t replace. Nice to have him back in the lineup and it definitely helped tonight.”
Michal Neuvirth made 29 saves for the win.
Scott Laughton, Gagner and Pierre-Edouard Bellemare also scored for Philadelphia.
“There’s a lot of things in this game that are exactly how we want to play,” Coyotes coach Dave Tippett said. “… We put a lot of good work into this game. We played in the offensive zone a ton. Couldn’t capitalize on the chances we got and then we started chasing the game and that fourth goal was a killer.”
Brad Richardson and Oliver Ekman-Larsson scored for Arizona who fell to 27-29-6.
In the Metropolitan Division race Saturday, the Pittsburgh Penguins and New York Rangers both won afternoon games.
“I’d be lying if I said there wasn’t [extra motivation],” Gagner said. “But at the same time we’re fighting to get back into the playoff race here and every game is important. I just wanted to approach it as another game and then obviously when you score there it’s a little added excitement.”
2016-2-27 NHL PHI vs ARI
Defenseman Connor Murphy (#5)
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