Patrick, Neuvirth help Flyers beat Coyotes 4-3

GLENDALE — The Philadelphia Flyers got their first shootout win of the season after losing the first four, and neded their backup goalie in to finish it off.

Nolan Patrick scored in the seventh round of the overtime shootout and Michal Neuvirth came off the bench to stop five shootout attempts, leading the Flyers to a 4-3 win over the Arizona Coyotes on Saturday night.

Flyers goalie Brian Elliott left the game after the second attempt of the tiebreaker when Arizona’s Clayton Keller inadvertently hit Elliott near his face with his stick on the follow-through. Elliott was helped slowly off the ice, and the Flyers said he suffered a lower body injury despite where the contact was, with an update to come on Sunday.

Neuvirth entered, the first time he’d ever had to come in under such circumstances, and did not allow a shot to get by him.

“It’s one of those situations, crazy stuff,” Neuvirth said. “I was just focusing on myself.”

Flyers coach Dave Hakstol noted that shootout wins have been hard to come by for his team.

“Nice to see (Patrick) go out there with that kind of confidence and make the play,” Hakstol said. “‘Neuvy’ came in tonight and he proved how important he is to our team.”

The Flyers won their third straight and have points in four consecutive games. Shayne Gostisbehere had two assists and Elliott finished with 24 saves.

“It’s pretty unfortunate what happened to (Elliott),” Gostisbehere said, “but for Neuvy to step in there pretty cold and make big saves for us was huge.”

Jason Demers, Alex Goligoski and Zac Rinaldo had the goals for Arizona, which has lost five of six. Antti Raanta stopped 40 shots, including key stops in the third period and overtime. Nick Cousins scored in the first round of the shootout.

The Coyotes tied the score 3-3 on Rinaldo’s rocket of a shot from the right circle at 1:59 of the third.

The Flyers had opportunities to re-take the lead and outshot the Coyotes 16-4 in the third period, but couldn’t beat Raanta.