The Philadelphia Flyers lost to the Detroit Red Wings 6-4 in Wednesday’s contest. The Flyers beat the Red Wings only a week ago 4-1, with Scott Laughton scoring all four goals in Philadelphia. However, the home teams found success last night. Philadelphia went to Detriot after a brutal 4-1 loss to the Minnesota Wild. Despite what the results suggest, the Flyers have been playing better hockey lately.
Emil Andrae was healthy and scratched yet again. Here’s how the Flyers shaped up for the Detroit game:
Farabee-Couturier-Konecny
Tippett-Frost-Michkov
Foerster-Cates-Brink
Laughton-Poehling-Hathaway
York-Sanheim
Zamula-Ristolainen
Seeler-Drysdale
Ersson
A strong start for the Flyers
The first line continues to make an impression. A minute and six seconds into the contest, Travis Konency scored. Both of Konencny’s linemates recorded an assist. This would be Philadelphia’s only lead of the game, and one that only lasted until the end of the first frame as J.T. Compher scored on the Detriot power play. Despite Philadelphia not playing as great on the PK, they still rank 14th in the NHL with a 79.8% PK percentage. After 20 minutes, the score was squared up, one goal a piece.
Red Wings take flight
The second frame was ugly for Philadelphia as Detriot was carrying the momentum. The home team took at the midway point of the frame and would never look back. Alex DeBrincat scored a birthday goal with a strong feed from Patrick Kane after he intercepted the attempted clear by Cam York. This was a sloppy play for York, but it was soon forgotten.
Noah Cates, 25 seconds later, was able to tie up the game for the second time. But that was shortlived too, with the Red Wings quickly scoring two back-to-back goals thanks to Michael Rasmussen and Joe Veleno. The Red Wings now had a 4-2 lead over Philadelphia after 40 minutes. Besides Cates’ goal, the second frame is purely Detriot’s game.
Too little, too late
In the final frame, Philadelphia showed signs of life which they lacked throughout most of the contest. A few minutes in Ryan Poehling was able to pick up his second goal of the season. Sean Couturier was maneuvering around the Flyers’ offensive zone and could send the puck to the net, which Poehling was able to tip in.
The Flyers now have a one-goal deficit to come out of. Owen Tippett tied up the contest for the third and final time. Tippett’s goal was his best of the season. It displayed his excellent stick-handling skills. Not only could he maneuver around Detriot’s defense, but he also displayed his strong backhand skills before finding an open space in the net to send it in.
The Red Wings didn’t waste much time until Patrick Kane regained Detriot’s lead, and with a minute remaining, Lucas Raymond scored on Philadelphia’s empty net.
With Detriot winning 6-4, the Flyers did battle hard within the first half of the third frame. This wasn’t a good night for the Flyers’ defense, as many sloppy plays were made between York, Zamula, Drysdale, etc. The Flyers don’t have much time to reflect on the loss since they are back on home ice Thursday night to take on the LA Kings.
