The Phoenix Coyotes will look to extend their winning streak to a season-long on Tuesday night, when they visit the Philadelphia Flyers.
With a win, the Coyotes will have run their win streak up to eight, tops for them this season. They won seven back in November. However, they'll have to do so facing perhaps their toughest test of this streak to date.
The Flyers are the East's top team, and are two points behind the league-leading Vancouver Canucks, with 83 points. Last year's run to the Stanley Cup finals have primed this group for another run, and they look like they mean business. Their recent acquisition of Kris Versteeg shows that they might be ready to hoist that Cup by season's end.
Despite the fact that the injury bug has bitten the Coyotes on more than one occasion in the past week, they still look poised to continue that streak.
Ed Jovanovski is still on injured reserve, while Ray Whitney was added to the list of wounded, but isn't expect to miss much outside of Tuesday's game in Philly. Adrian Aucoin is also questionable after missing two games with a lower-body injury.
To replace these guys, Phoenix recalled Kyle Turris, who was surprisingly sent down prior to Saturday's game against the Predators. David Schlemko is also back with the big club after seeing some time in San Antonio for conditioning purposes following his own upper-body injury.
Most of Phoenix's success in the City of Brotherly Love will come down to Ilya Bryzgalov. Bryz is one of the league's hottest netminders of late, giving up more than three goals in only one of the seven games that Phoenix has won in a row.
Tuesday will be a special game for Scottie Upshall, who is making his first appearance in Philadelphia since the Flyers dealt him to the desert in the '08-'09 season. Upshall has 27 points in his second season with the Coyotes, and his first season that he is completely healthy in Phoenix.
This is a true test for the Coyotes. They've won games against quality teams during this streak, but have also kept struggling clubs down, like the Atlanta Thrashers and Colorado Avalanche. They'll be facing a Flyers team that is returning home for the first time in four games, having won three of those four on the road.
It's hard to call a game like this crucial, but it would certainly prove that the Coyotes belong where they are in the Western Conference standings.