(Kate Frese/SB Nation)
The Philadelphia Flyers will need to avoid falling into a classic trap game tonight at 7 against the winless Arizona Coyotes from the Wells Fargo Center.
By Dan Heaning, Sports Talk Philly staff writer 
The Philadelphia Flyers are looking to earn back-to-back wins for the second time this season while avoiding falling into a dreaded trap game against the winless Arizona Coyotes tonight at 7 p.m. from the Wells Fargo Center.
The Orange and Black rebounded nicely after a controversial loss to the Ottawa Senators on Thursday night with a solid effort against the Toronto Maple Leafs this past Saturday. However, any momentum from that bounce-back effort will be lost if the Flyers play down to the Coyotes level and drop this one tonight.
There is precedence for concern against the Desert Dogs. The Fly Guys drew Arizona twice last October and dropped both games and earned only one point against one of the league’s lower echelon clubs. Rick Tocchet’s squad is desperate for its first win of the season but has injury concerns in net that the Flyers should be able to expose.
Team Leaders
| Philadelphia Flyers | GP | G | A | P | Arizona Coyotes | GP | G | A | P |
| Jake Voracek | 11 | 2 | 14 | 16 | Clayton Keller | 11 | 8 | 4 | 12 |
| Sean Couturier | 11 | 7 | 6 | 13 | Max Domi | 11 | 1 | 7 | 8 |
| Shayne Gostisbehere | 11 | 1 | 12 | 13 | Derek Stepan | 11 | 2 | 5 | 7 |
| Claude Giroux | 11 | 6 | 6 | 12 | Oliver Ekman-Larsson | 11 | 1 | 5 | 6 |
| Wayne Simmonds | 11 | 6 | 3 | 9 | Anthony Duclair | 11 | 3 | 2 | 5 |
| Player to Watch | |
| 93 Jake Voracek | 9 Clayton Keller |
| Last 5 Games: 2 G, 4 A, 6 P, +2 | Last 5 Games: 5 G, 3 A, 8 P, -3 |
| Goalie Matchup | |
| 37 Brian Elliott | 40 Scott Wedgewood |
| 5-2-0, 3.14 GAA, .885 SV% | 0-0-0, 0.00 GAA, .000 SV% |
Brian Elliott, like his team, bounced back against Toronto on Saturday. The Flyers will hope he can continue his solid play without allowing yet another bad goal. Stopping the stoppable stops has been something of a bugaboo for Elliott in the opening month. Despite his two "really bad starts," Elliott has turned in five "quality starts." While his advanced metrics are still far below that of Michal Neuvirth's, a contest like this may allow Elliott to catch up a bit.
After waiving Louie Domingue, placing Antti Raanta on IR, recalling Hunter Miska and trading for Scott Wedgewood, the Coyotes are a complete mystery in net. It appears after speculation that Raanta was close to returning that Wedgewood will make his first start of the season. Wedgewood only has one game under his belt in the AHL while playing for the Binghamton Devils, surrendering only one goal in the victory, but has played in 16 games total since 2015-16 across National, American and East Coast Hockey Leagues. Wedgewood's last NHL experience game in 2015-16 with the New Jersey Devils. He went 2-1-1 with a 1.27 goals-against average and a .957 save percentage. Three of his starts qualified as "really good starts." He spent all of 2016-17 with the Albany Devils and played in 10 games going 5-3 that season.
Flyers Projected Lineup
Injuries: Nolan Patrick (upper-body), Shayne Gostisbehere (upper-body), Andrew MacDonald (lower-body), Sam Morin (undisclosed)
Scratches: Dale Weise
| Left Wing | Center | Right Wing |
| 28 Claude Giroux | 14 Sean Couturier | 93 Jake Voracek |
| 40 Jordan Weal | 51 Valtteri Filppula | 17 Wayne Simmonds |
| 24 Matt Read | 15 Jori Lehtera | 11 Travis Konecny |
| 20 Taylor Leier | 21 Scott Laughton | 12 Michael Raffl |
| Defense | ||
| 9 Ivan Provorov | 8 Robert Hagg | |
| 6 Travis Sanheim | 3 Radko Gudas | |
| 23 Brandon Manning | 39 Mark Alt | |
| Goalie | ||
| 37 Brian Elliott |
Lineup Notes
Nolan Patrick is still sidelined with an upper-body injury. Shayne Gostisbehere appears to be unlikely to go for tonight with an upper-body injury as well. Dale Weise remains a healthy scratch. Andrew MacDonald is out with a lower-body injury. Sam Morin was supposed to make his regular-season debut for 2017-18 tonight but due to a nagging injury, Mark Alt will be recalled from the Phantoms to play in his place.
Coyotes Projected Lineup
Injuries: Jacob Chychrun is recovering from offseason knee surgery and is out. Antti Raanta is out with lower-body injury. Oliver Ekman-Larsson has a concussion and is listed as questionable.
| Left Wing | Center | Right Wing |
| 16 Max Domi | 21 Derek Stepan | 9 Clayton Keller |
| 11 Brendan Perlini | 18 Christian Dvorak | 8 Tobias Rieder |
| 34 Zac Rinaldo | 29 Mario Kempe | 10 Anthony Duclair |
| 25 Nick Cousins | 15 Brad Richardson | 48 Jordan Martinook |
| Defense | ||
| 23 Oliver Ekman-Larsson | 55 Jason Demers | |
| 33 Alex Goligoski | 4 Niklas Hjalmarsson | |
| 44 Kevin Connauton | 2 Luke Schenn | |
| Goalie | ||
| 40 Scott Wedgewood |
Lineup Notes: The Coyotes waived Domingue, traded for Wedgewood, recalled Miska and placed Raanta on the injured reserve making their goaltending situation something of a mess. Also, that's a lot of ex-Flyers in there.
Game Notes
- Power Play: Flyers (9th, 19th at home), Coyotes (T-15th, 11th on road)
- Penalty Kill: Flyers (T-17th, 10th at home), Coyotes (31st, T-26th on road)
- Recent History vs. Predators
- Oct. 27, 2016 – Coyotes 5, Flyers 4
- Oct. 15, 2016 – Coyotes 4, Flyers 3 (OT)
- Milestone Watch
- Wayne Simmonds needs one assist to reach the 200 mark.
- Shayne Gostisbehere needs two points to reach 100 in his career.
Where to Watch
TV: NBC Sports Philadelphia
Radio: 97.5 The Fanatic
