Your 16-10-3 Philadelphia Flyers are scheduled to take on the 15-10-4 Detroit Red Wings at the Wells Fargo Center at 7pm ET.
Both the Flyers and the Red Wings have surprised the hockey world as both teams are staying afloat atop their divisions. The Red Wings are currently sitting in 4th place in the Atlantic, but only 2 points out of second behind Toronto. It seems as though even in December, with such tight divisions, every game counts.
Let’s check in on what’s going on with the Red Wings.
A rough 5 games
It hasn’t been pretty for Detroit as of late. After a 3 game win streak they went on to lose 4 of their last 5 games and let up a ton of goals in doing so. In the 5 game stretch, they have let up a total of 25 goals. Certainly something to keep an eye on for tonight’s game, however in Detroit’s last time out on the ice against Carolina they conceded 2 goals in a 2-1 loss.
Looking at their goaltending, you’ll notice the goals against average of Ville Husso at 3.58. Husso has let up over 3 goals 3 times in his last 5 games. A bounce back game against the Hurricanes surely provided some confidence for not only Husso, but the front office. Regardless, it seems as though former Flyer Alex Lyon will get the nod tonight.
Goals per game
Detroit may have lost 4 of their last 5 games but they’re still scoring in bunches. Detroit is second in the league in goals per game with 3.69, only behind the Canucks at 3.83 entering today. In their 3-game winning streak, the Red Wings scored 5 goals in each go their games. Even in 3 of their last 5, Detroit recorded 3 or more goals. The goals haven’t been attributed to just a couple players either. A lot of Red Wings are contributing. Robby Fabbri has 9 on the year, 4 players have chipped in with 7 goals, and Dylan Larkin is still going strong with 11. All good teams need depth and scoring to come from all kinds of places. This team is dangerous in that regard and the Flyers defense must be sharp tonight.
Alex DeBrincat
The Red Wings are putting up goals but one player should be tallying more. When the Red Wings acquired Alex DeBrincat, you knew it was a huge move for the franchise. DeBrincat is a great scorer and proved it with his scorching hot start to the season where he scored 9 goals in the month of October. Well, since then Debrincat has put up only 4 goals. The Red Wings really need Debrincat to catch fire once more and you have to believe his goal total of 13 will rise sharply with how much talent he possesses. His 13 assists to go along with his goal total have him at 26 points and leading the team. But as of right now, Detroit needs Debrincat’s offense to reemerge.
Shayne Gostisbehere
The former Flyers defenseman will return to Philly tonight leading the Red Wings in assists with 16. Gostisbehere spent 7 years of his NHL career with the Flyers, with his best point total coming in the 17-18 season where Gostisbehere recorded 65 points. So far in his first year with Detroit he has collected 21 points in 28 games.
A big Flyers win
The Flyers have now won 5 of their last 6 games and are coming off a huge win against their division rivals in the Washington Capitals. After the Flyers fought back to tie the game at 2, Washington put another up to make the game 3-2 in the 9th minute of the third. However, the Flyers continued to grind and eventually tied the game. After OT, Bobby Brink scored the game wining shootout goal and Sam Ersson backstopped his team to anther win. After such a good win, the Flyers now look to improve to 17 wins on the season.
Sam Ersson
With Carter Hart out tonight due to illness, Sam Ersson once again gets the call. Ersson has been great as of late. His record is a nice 5-0-1 in his last 6 starts. On the season, Ersson holds a 2.80 GAA which the Flyers have to be pleased with. The production out of a backup goaltender that Ersson is giving the team has been highly valuable. It also doesn’t seem as though the Flyers play any differently in front of him as opposed to Carter Hart, which shows their confidence in the netminder.
Joel Farabee
Sometimes, Farabee can get overlooked. He is doing his utmost to make sure you don’t. Farabee has 11 goals and 8 assists on the year and looks completely different from last season. Farabee is a plus-5 on the season and honestly should maybe get some power play looks. He has scored 3 goals in his last 4 games and will look to continue his scoring ways tonight. Coming into the season, the story was how the Flyers lacked scoring talent outside of Travis Konecny. As mentioned before, scoring depth is a huge part to any successful team and Farabee is providing that.
Sanheim, Walker, York and friends
The Flyers defense has been steady all season. Tonight against a team averaging 3.69 goals per game, they will need to continue their steady play.
With Ersson playing at the level he’s been at, the Flyers defense needs to make sure they support him in every which way. That includes hustle plays. Last time out against the Capitals, Tom Wilson was able to outskate Cam York to retrieve a puck along the boards to Ersson’s right side. The missed opportunity to regain possession ultimately led to a Capitals goal. It’s the little things sometimes that play a big factor.
Controlling Larkin and DeBrincat is an obvious strategy but with a Red Wings team that is finding goals from all kinds of players, this defense can’t take their eye off of anyone tonight.
PHI Record: 16-10-3, 35 pts, 3rd in Metropolitan
DET Record: 15-10-4, 34 pts, 4th in Atlantic
When: 7:00pm ET
Where: Wells Fargo Center, Philadelphia, PA
Broadcast Info: NBC Sports Philadelphia, 97.5 The Fanatic
Last Game PHI: 12/14/23, 4-3 SOW vs. Washington
Last Game DET: 12/14/23, 2-1 L vs. Carolina
PHI Goalie: Samuel Ersson (6-3-2, .885 SV%, 2.80 GAA, 1 SO)
DET Goalie: Alex Lyon (4-2-0, .931 SV%, 2.13 GAA, 1 SO)
PHI Projected Lineup
#11 Tyson Foerster – #14 Sean Couturier – #11 Travis Konecny
#74 Owen Tippett – #48 Morgan Frost – #10 Bobby Brink
#86 Joel Farabee – #21 Scott Laughton – #89 Cam Atkinson
#44 Nicolas Deslauriers – #25 Ryan Poehling – #19 Garnet Hathaway
#8 Cam York – #6 Travis Sanheim
#24 Nick Seeler – #26 Sean Walker
#18 Marc Staal – #55 Rasmus Ristolainen
#33 Samuel Ersson
#32 Felix Sandström
Scratches: #5 Egor Zamula, #62 Olle Lycksell
Injuries: #27 Noah Cates, #79 Carter Hart
DET Projected Lineup
#27 Michael Rasmussen – #37 J.T. Compher – #88 Patrick Kane
#93 Alex DeBrincat – #90 Joe Veleno – #23 Lucas Raymond
#14 Robbi Fabbri – #18 Andrew Copp – #17 Daniel Sprong
#24 Klim Kostin – #36 Christian Fischer – #21 Austin Czarnik
#96 Jake Walman – #53 Moritz Seider
#8 Ben Chiarot – #46 Jeff Petry
#41 Shayne Gostisbehere – #2 Olli Määttä
#34 Alex Lyon
#35 Ville Husso
Scratches: #3 Justin Holl, #47 James Reimer
Injuries: #71 Dylan Larkin
Suspended: #57 David Perron
News and Notes
– The Flyers are the betting favorites at -126 odds. The over/under is 6.5 goals.
– The Flyers are scoring 2.97 goals per game, while Detroit is scoring 3.69 goals per game.
– Philadelphia is 6-2-2 in their last 10 games.
– The Red Wings given up 33 goals in last 10 games (3.3 per game).
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