Simmonds, revived Umberger spark Flyers
Wayne Simmonds continued to be the Flyers' secret weapon in the shootout.
R.J. Umberger, much maligned earlier in the season, continued his revival.
Together, the veteran wingers helped the Flyers rally past Arizona, 4-3, in a shootout at the Wells Fargo Center on Tuesday night.
Simmonds won it in the third shootout round, scoring after a clever deke left goalie Mike Smith helpless. The lanky right winger also had the game-winner in a 2-1 shootout victory over Ottawa on Jan. 6, ending the Flyers' 10-game shootout losing streak over the last two years. They had been 0-5 in shootouts this season.
Simmonds is 2 for 2 in shootouts this season; he was not a shooter in any of the five shootout losses.
"I just kind of went in and had a move in mind, and stuck with it," Simmonds said after the Flyers opened the post-all-star portion of their schedule with their second straight victory.
As for Umberger, he scored his sixth goal in his last 14th games; he started the season with just three goals in his first 35 games.
"When you get some goals, you start feeling it," said Umberger, who is on a line with Sean Couturier and Matt Read. "Since early December, I kind of stepped into my role and understood it more, and I feel confident out there, skating better and having some chemistry with the line. I'm a little upset that we've been giving up a few goals these past few games, because we had a long stretch where we weren't doing that, but I think we need to take care of that first."
The Flyers fell into a 2-0 deficit after 5:50, at which point coach Craig Berube replaced shaky Ray Emery with Steve Mason (see story).
"I think that was more of a wake-up call for us to keep us on our feet there," Simmonds said. "We pulled it around and then we started playing better hockey and we got results."
"We had a bad start there with two early goals, but we stuck with it and took over the play," said Umberger, whose team outshot the Coyotes, 42-27.
With the win, the Flyers moved to within 10 points of a playoff spot with 33 games left.
"That's our goal," Simmonds said of a playoff berth, "and we're going to stick with it."
Emery or Zepp? General manager Ron Hextall has an interesting decision: Does he keep Emery or Rob Zepp as the team's backup goalie?
Emery is 8-9-1 with a 3.38 goals-against average and .887 save percentage, while Zepp is 3-1 with a 2.92 GAA and .889 save percentage.
Breakaways. Umberger has nine goals _ one fewer than Columbus' Scott Hartnell, the player he was traded for…..Claude Giroux had nine hits….Giroux is 1 for 7 in shootouts this season after firing a shot off the post Tuesday…In his career, Simmonds is 5 for 15 in shootouts….Left winger Petr Straka, filling in for the ill Michael Raffl, made his NHL debut and played 10:08. He recorded a hit, a blocked shot, and had one of his shots blocked….Center Ryan White played 18:35 in his Flyers debut, recording two hits, a blocked shot, and one shot on goal….On Thursday, the Flyers (20-22-7) host Winnipeg (26-15-8), which has an eye-opening 14-6-5 road record, second-best in the NHL.
Follow Sam Carchidi on Twitter @BroadStBull.