Previously winners of five straight games, the Philadelphia Flyers skated onto their home ice to host the Arizona Coyotes. They were favored on the money-line spreads, which is usually a sign for a trap in this wild world of Philadelphia sports. Even though the Flyers weren’t on the favorable side of the goaltender matchup, the underdog mantra was lifted. In the corner of the Coyotes was Darcy Kuemper, a current Vezina Award candidate. If Philadelphia wanted to live up to being the “favorites” in this game, they needed to be dialed-in and execute their gameplan.
A handful of minutes went by in the first period and the Flyers didn’t look pretty.