The Philadelphia Flyers’ third period comeback was all for naught on Wednesday as the Detroit Red Wings hung on for the 6-4 win.
After a sleepy effort their last time out, the Flyers returned to the ice after 4 days with very little jump in their step. Shots and chances were few and far in between tonight but they managed to light the lamp 4 times, unfortunately it wasn’t enough.
Travis Konecny opened the scoring in the first 67 seconds of the game before J.T. Compher tied the game late in the period. Alex DeBrincat then gave his club the lead in the second period before Noah Cates responded 25 seconds later, however the Wings wound up with 2 more goals to close the period at 4-2.
The Flyers juggled their lines to start the third – including Cam York being benched – but they tied the game with goals from Ryan Poehling and Owen Tippett less than 2 minutes apart.
Patrick Kane scored the go-ahead goal a little past the midway mark of the period before Lucas Raymond iced the game with an empty net tally.
Samuel Ersson allowed 5 goals on 23 shots while Alex Lyon secured the win despite allowing 4 goals on 19 shots.
After going 8-2-2 to end the month of November, the Flyers have stumbled a little of late with 2 wins in their last 6 games but they would be playing a familiar foe in the Red Wings, who they defeated just last week off the back of Scott Laughton’s 4-goal performance.
The lineup remained the same, which meant that Emil Andrae was a healthy scratch for the third consecutive game; a slightly strange move from John Tortorella and the Flyers considering his immediate impact, team’s winning record when he plays, and the compliments they threw his way. Samuel Ersson earned his 14th start of the year.
As for the Red Wings, they lost 6 of their last 8 contests but entered Wednesday on the heels of an important divisional victory against the Toronto Maple Leafs their last time out on Saturday.
Former Flyer Alex Lyon earned the start coming off the heels of an injury as he looked to improve on his 4-4-0 record, 2.74 GAA, and a .911 SV%. Offensively the Wings were powered by Lucas Raymond’s 31 points, Dylan Larkin’s 24 points, and Alex DeBrincat’s 23 points – all 3 players were also tied for the team-lead in goals with 12.
FIRST PERIOD
It only took the Philadelphia Flyers 66 seconds to strike as Travis Konecny finished off his breakaway attempt through the wickets of Alex Lyon. Sean Couturier did a fantastic job along the boards at the neutral zone finding Joel Farabee at the blue-line before he set up the goal.
With the Flyers hemmed in their own zone, Travis Sanheim was called for a holding minor against Vladimir Tarasenko at the 12:16 mark of the period. Detroit fired 4 shots on goal in the first minute of the man advantage but fortunately for the Flyers, Samuel Ersson was in form.
A minute or so after the expiration of Sanheim’s minor, Owen Tippett was guilty of a high sticking double-minor against Jeff Petry just outside of the Wings’ blue-line on an attempted dump-in.
With 1:41 remaining in the period, J.T. Compher tied the game for the Red Wings with assists going to Dylan Larkin and Lucas Raymond. The Wings’ leading point scorer found Larkin alone in the face-off dot, which allowed him time and space to find Compher at the front of the net for the deflection.
The period came to a close with both teams tied at 1-apiece and the Wings up 11-4 on the shot clock. The Flyers had 3 shots on goal in the early stages of the period but were unable to create much of anything in latter half.
SECOND PERIOD
10:15 into the period, the Red Wings jumped to a 2-1 lead after an inexplicable Cam York turnover from his own end yielded a 3-on-1 opportunity. Patrick Kane found Alex DeBrincat, who finished the one-timer past a sprawling Ersson for his 13th of the season.
25 seconds later, Noah Cates tied the game on the Flyers’ second shot in over 20 minutes of game time. It was a great response from the Flyers’ third line after Tyson Foerster’s spin-around shot from the slot hit Cates, who was parked in front of Lyon. The screen did the trick and Cates earned his third goal of the season.
At the 16:05 mark the Red Wings retook the lead after Michael Rasmussen wired a shot right off the faceoff past a surprised Ersson. Compher won the draw cleanly and directed the puck right to Rasmussen, who fired a quick snap-shot low-glove for his sixth of the season.
Then 1:22 later, the Red Wings doubled their lead after another egregious turnover. Joe Veleno and Christian Fischer raced on a 2-on-0 odd-man rush before Veleno finished the one-timer past Ersson, who really stood no chance.
Scott Laughton bumped into Ryan Poehling at the blue-line but the former dished a dangerous pass to no one in particular just before the collision, which allowed the Wings to jumpstart their breakout and add another tally to the scoreboard.
The period came to a close with the Red Wings outscoring the Flyers 3-1 as they took a commanding 4-2 lead into the intermission break. Detroit also outshot Philadelphia 7-5 in the period and 18-9 through 40 minutes of play.
THIRD PERIOD
3:50 into the final frame and with the lines having gone through a blender, the Flyers cut deficit to one off a Poehling deflection at the front of the net. Couturier’s strong-body play into the slot allowed him time and space before setting up Poehling with a nifty spin-around pass for his second of the season.
Less than two minutes later, Tippett tied the game for the Flyers after bodying his way around Petry before sliding it past Lyon for his 10th of the season. Laughton set up Tippett with a pass from his own end before the latter did the rest with his speed and skill to get past both defenseman and goaltender.
As expected, York was benched to begin the period after his turnover led to the Red Wings’ third goal.
At the 7:22 mark, Kane wired a shot low-blocker for his fourth of the season, first in 11 games, and career goal number 475. It was a bad shift all throughout with the Flyers letting the Wings keep the puck due to a delayed offside, which then led to an ill-advised line change that allowed the veteran to sneak past the Flyers’ gaze and retake the lead for the Wings.
At the 11:53 mark, the Flyers were seemingly called for for a too many men on the ice minor after Ersson – and the rest of the team – believed there was a minor penalty being called against Detroit. Matvei Michkov was taken down, which forced one of the officials to raise his arm raised before he quickly brought it back down. After a lengthy review the referees conferred and agreed no penalty was going to be called.
However, on the next shift, Kane was called for a tripping minor against Poehling, finally sending the Flyers onto their first power play of the night with 7:51 remaining. Unfortunately, the Flyers couldn’t take advantage of the Wings’ 31st-ranked penalty kill (67.47%) as they weren’t even able to record a shot on goal.
With 1:12 remaining in regulation and the Flyers floundering in the offensive zone with the net empty, the Red Wings pounced on a turnover committed by Sanheim with Raymond doing the rest by icing the game with his 13th of the season.
UP NEXT
The Flyers return home to face the Los Angeles Kings on Thursday night (7:30pm; ESPN+/Hulu).
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