PHILADELPHIA _ Memo to Flyers: Games start in the first period, not the second.
The Flyers continued a maddening trend Thursday night, allowing the first goal and falling into a big early hole.
They erased a 2-0 deficit, tied the score, then watched Arizona score two bizarre goals in a 1-minute, 39-second span in the third period en route to a 5-4 Coyotes win at the Wells Fargo Center.
Andrew MacDonald's first goal of the season, a point drive past a screened Louis Domingue, got the Flyers within 4-3 with 11:26 left.
But former Flyer Ryan White secured the win by scoring from a bad angle with 4:19 remaining, enabling Arizona to salvage one win on its six-game road trip.
Wayne Simmonds scored a power-play goal with 14.3 seconds to go to make it 5-4, but it didn't matter.
The Coyotes, the NHL's youngest team, are 2-5. Both wins are against the Flyers, who have received subpar goaltending in the first two weeks.
Twenty-four seconds before MacDonald scored, Brad Richardson deposited a controversial short-handed goal, scored while sliding into goalie Steve Mason, to give the Coyotes a 4-2 advantage with 13:29 to go.
Dave Hakstol used his coach's challenge, claiming goaltender interference. But it was ruled that defenseman Ivan Provorov tripped Richardson, causing him to slide into Mason and dislodge the net, so the goal stood.
Arizona had taken a 3-2 lead on another odd goal as Martin Hanzal scored while Brayden Schenn and Jakob Chychrun were fighting at center ice. The goal counted because the play had not been blown dead.
Nick Cousins and Schenn (power play) scored 5:26 apart in the second period to erase a 2-0 Arizona lead. Schenn scored as he was falling, belly-first, as he poked in a rebound of a Shayne Gostisbehere drive.
The Flyers were on a power play because of a goalie-interference penalty on Laurent Dauphin, whose infraction negated a goal that would have given the Coyotes a 3-1 lead.
Fourteen members of the Flyers Hall of Fame participated in a pregame ceremony as part of the franchise's 50th anniversary season. They then watched the Flyers allow the first goal for the seventh straight game.
Arizona, on goals by Jamie McGinn and Oliver Ekman-Larsson, built a 2-0 first-period lead. That meant the Flyers had been outscored in the opening period this year, 8-1.
"Our starts," said Schenn, who was matched against his brother, Luke, "have to be better."
In their first four home games, the Flyers have trailed 1-0, 2-0, 3-0, and 2-0.
"Obviously our starts haven't been very good, giving up the first goal way too many times," Cousins said. " ... Hopefully this is the last night for that."
Cousins, who was moved back to his customary position, center, scored on a rebound to cut the deficit to 2-1 midway through the second period. Cousins was part of a new third line, with Schenn and Dale Weise, each of whom had assists on his first goal of the season.
Schenn scored the equalizer on the power play and he nudged the puck past Domingue. The Flyers have scored 15 second-period goals _ 14 more than in the opening period.
"Simmy had some traffic," Schenn said, referring to teammate Simmonds, "and the puck was just sitting on the doorstep for me."
Domingue, playing for the injured Mike Smith, took an unsightly 5.04 goals-against average (second-worst in the NHL) and an .851 save percentage into the game.
Smith and Arizona scored a 4-3 overtime win over the visiting Flyers on Oct. 15. The Coyotes then lost the next five games, all on the road, before completing their trip Thursday.
They went home happy.
