Photo Credit: FNG’s Rob Windfelder
The Flyers were in Detroit Thursday night to take on the Red Wings. There is no denying these are turbulent times for the Flyers organization and the distractions are piling up right now.
Philly vs Detriot
The last matchup between the Flyers and Red Wings was a real barn burner that Detroit won 7-6 in the shoot-out. Obviously neither team is looking for a replay of that one where each team allowed six goals in regulation.
The 1st period did in fact show an increased focus on defensive play for both teams. Philly edged the shot totals 8-4. Detroit’s low shots for the period wasn’t caused by a lack of trying. The Flyers were sacrificing themselves blocking shots, 5 of them during Detroit’s first power-play alone. This would be a good time to mention how valuable Ryan Poehling and Garnet Hathaway have proven to be to the team.
At the beginning of the season there was a bit of grumbling about free agents possibly blocking opportunities for the youth. Poehling, Hathaway, and Sean Walker have all been able to take the grind and keep doing the hard work that is being asked of them. This 1st period was a great example of that.
Stop the puck
Samuel Ersson got the start in net for the visiting Flyers tonight. At the other end of the ice was former Flyer Alex Lyon. Lyon is seeing a lot of work with the Wings this season and is making a good go of it. In his 19 starts this year he has a 2.52 GAA and a .923 SV%. Another former Flyer currently playing for Detroit is Shayne Gostisbehere. In 47 games this year he’s tallied 7 goals and 25 assists. Ghost was sharing the same side of the ice as Flyers Nicolas Deslauriers who greeted the Red Wings defenseman with a booming check early on just to set the tone. Neither team could seal the deal and the game went into the first intermission tied at zero.
One two three
Detroit wasted no time opening the scoring in the 2nd period. Dylan Larkin picking up a rebound and roofing it short side less than two minutes in. Ersson had stopped Larken point blank earlier but had no chance on this one. At 7:15 Moritz Seider fired a shot that hit Morgan Frost and changed direction dramatically. Ersson had his glove out awaiting the puck as the shot went by him blocker side.
Three minutes later with the Flyers on the power-play Egor Zamula gave the puck away behind the Flyers net. Rasmussen hit Andrew Copp with a pass out front. Copp fired a shot wide which redirected off Zamula and past Ersson. Just that quick this game had completely changed personalities and the Flyers were down 3-zip halfway through the 2nd.
Spark it up
As the period was nearing its end Nick Deslauries was looking to mix things up and started throwing checks at everyone he could get a bead on. He was looking for trouble and he finally found it in Klim Kostin. Both of them pulled their own helmets off and squared up. There were many attempted punches but not a lot landing. Both players had a pretty good defensive grip on each other. As soon as Kostin’s knee briefly touched the ice the officials jumped in to end it. The best punch of the fight was when Garnet Hathaway popped Shayne Gostisbehere while everyone was watching the main event.
Thinking outside the box
The Flyers went into the 3rd ahead in shots 19-12 but down where it counts 3-0. The period started with penalties still yet to expire. Deslauries and Kostin five for fighting and two each for removing their hats before the brawl, which is now called unsportsmanlike conduct. Hathaway and Ghost each got two for roughing.
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Olle Lycksell who has been up with the Flyers showed off some really crafty but unsuccessful stick work just before Scott Laughton took a penalty for taking down Shayne Gostisbehere (his name sure is coming up a lot). The Flyers killed that penalty and got back to playing catch-up. This was exactly the type of situation where they were missing a healthy Owen Tippett who has scored a few really clutch goals this season. It’s also hard to play catch-up when you won’t stop taking unnecessary penalties.
Alex Lyon
The Flyers got another power-play opportunity 6:54 into the 3rd. The PP looked good but Lyon looked better. Frustration was settling in as time was winding down and Detroit was skating away with a 3-0 shutout. The Flyers outshot the Red Wings 29-17. Alex Lyon played a fantastic game, Samuel Ersson was solid but was forced to live with two very unfortunate accidental redirections that completely changed the course of the game.
This is the Flyers fourth regulation loss in a row. They play one more game before the All Start break this Saturday afternoon against Boston. The break couldn’t come at a better time. Reset, heal up, regroup. As John Tortorella said after the game “it’s not about getting down on them, we gotta stay together”.
Extra Credit: Before this season started conventional wisdom predicted a rebuild year without many glimpses of success, more downs than ups, and nothing remarkable in the near future. We are getting just the opposite of that. The twists and turns in the plot so far have been off the charts. As far as the rest of the season after the All Star Break? …who knows, the future is unwritten.
