TEMPE, Ariz. — Clayton Keller completed his first NHL hat trick with 23 seconds left in overtime for the Arizona Coyotes in a 5-4 win against the Philadelphia Flyers at Mullett Arena on Sunday.
“It’s cool. I mean, it’s the first one [hat trick] and it’s nice to get it out of the way,” Keller said. “I’ve had a few close ones. It’s nice to celebrate that with a win.”
Video: PHI@ARI: Keller nets 10th goal of season in OT
Nick Ritchie had a goal and an assist, Jack McBain scored, and JJ Moser and Nick Schmaltz each had two assists for the Coyotes (9-13-4), who won their second straight after losing six in a row. Karel Vejmelka made 37 saves.
Morgan Frost and James van Riemsdyk each had a goal and three assists for the Flyers (9-13-7). Owen Tippett had a goal and an assist, and Carter Hart made 24 saves for Philadelphia, which lost its third straight and 15th in 17 games (2-10-5).
Ritchie gave Arizona a 4-3 lead at 7:27 of the third period after intercepting a Flyers forward Travis Konecny‘s pass and scoring on a breakaway for his first goal since Nov. 5. Konecny tied it 4-4 at 17:43 after putting in a loose puck.
“It was a good way to fight back and [get] a point at the end, but obviously we want to start winning some games,” Frost said.
Video: PHI@ARI: Ritchie goes five-hole for lead in 3rd
Philadelphia is 0-7 in overtime games this season.
“We’ve got to get that figured out,” coach John Tortorella said. “We battled back three times tonight. Now we’ve got to figure out end of games, figure out how to score that goal.”
Coyotes coach Andre Tourigny is encouraged with wins against the Boston Bruins and Flyers after Arizona won only once in the final 11 games (1-7-3) of a 14-game road stretch.
“Give the Flyers credit, they were physical and hard-working… and came here and took a little bit of advantage of maybe our mental fatigue,” Tourigny said. “But we like the resilience of our group. We found a way to win the game.”
Keller put the Coyotes ahead 1-0 at 12:46 of the first to end a 10-game goal drought with a wrist shot from the high slot on the power play.
Arizona was 1-for-29 on the power play in its previous 10 games.
“He is playing differently than he did at the beginning of the season,” Tourigny said of Keller, who missed the final month of last season with a broken leg. “He’s playing with more pace, he has more speed, he puts more pucks on the net. In my opinion, he’s back to where he was last year.”
Video: PHI@ARI: McBain scores in 2nd period
Frost tied it 1-1 at 2:09 of the second period off van Riemsdyk’s backhand pass from behind the net. Van Riemsdyk then made it 2-1 at 4:08 on a 2-on-0 break with Frost.
“He’s obviously a veteran guy and super smart, and it’s always good to play with him,” Frost said. “When you get him the puck around the net, good things are going to happen.”
The van Riemsdyk-Frost-Tippett line combined for nine points and scored all but one Flyers goal.
“We move `Tip’ on that line… I thought they checked well and that’s a big reason why they had the puck,” Tortorella said. “With `Frosty,’ if his legs are moving and he just allows himself to play, he’s a pretty effective player.”
Video: PHI@ARI: Vejmelka stops Sedlak in 3rd period
Keller, who double-shifted at times, tied it 2-2 at 7:45 with a backhand on a breakaway off Nick Schmaltz’s feed. McBain made it 3-2 at 10:21 when Moser’s pass deflected to him off a Philadelphia defenseman. Justin Braun‘s skate.
The Coyotes didn’t get another shot the rest of the period, and Tippett tied it 3-3 at 18:42 with a wrist shot from just inside the blue line.
“We had a good first period and maybe we got a little overconfident and they had us down there,” Keller said. “But [Vejmelka] was great there and kept us in the game, and we were able to come back.”
NOTES: The Flyers allowed the opening goal for the 22nd time in 29 games. … Philadelphia is 2-10-4 since starting the season 7-3-2. … Keller has 10 career multigoal games. He has 11 points (five goals, six assists) in nine games against the Flyers… The Coyotes didn’t allow at least one power-play goal for the first time in eight games. They gave up 10 in their previous five.
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