Photo Credits: FNG’s Rob Windfelder
The Flyers defeated the Red Wings in Detroit on Saturday night by the score of 5-3.
And just like that the Philadelphia Flyers are only 3 points out of a wild card spot in the East with 10 games remaining in the regular season. When the NHL 2025-26 schedule was being written up who could have guessed that having Philly play Detroit three times in the final weeks of the regular season could turn into this kind of excitement?
Things are shifting so quickly in the Metropolitan Division. The Columbus Blue Jackets, who started the week in 2nd place in the division are now 4th and are currently sitting in the final wild card spot in the East with 87 points. Ottawa and Detroit are hot on their heels in contention for that final spot with 86 points. The Flyers are currently just two points behind with 84.
Saturday night marked the first meeting this season between The Flyers and the Red Wings. They will meet up again this Thursday in Philadelphia and then again two weeks later in Detroit on April 9th. Both teams are in striking distance of a wild card spot and these next few games are in such close proximity it will play out almost like a series.
The Carolina Hurricanes are soundly hold 1st place in the Metro with 98 points. The Islanders are in 2nd with 89, Penguins 3rd with 88, the Blue Jackets are in 4th with 87. The Flyers will play the top three as well as the Bruins who hold the top wild card spot before the season is over. This could be a very exciting finish as long as the Flyers can keep winning hockey games.
Philly vs Detroit
Saturday night the Flyers tied a franchise record by winning their 8th consecutive road game. The final score may lead you to believe this game in Detroit was much closer than it actually was. It was all Flyers before the Red Wings rallied in the final moments.
Tippett on a Tear
You gotta figure these two teams are going to grow very unfond of each other over the next 10 days. Things started out cranky right after the opening faceoff. The Flyers started right in with some heavy hitting and hard work along the boards in the Red Wings zone. Tempers started to flare just minutes into the match when Denver Barkey cross-checked Ben Chiarot into the boards and no call was made.
The Flyers were running an aggressive fore-check. Trevor Zegras picked up a turnover in the neutral zone and made a blue-line to blue-line pass to Owen Tippett springing him in on a breakaway.
Tippett fired a shot that went under goalie John Gibson’s pads as he was dropping to the ice. It was Tippett’s 25th goal of the season tying him with Travis Konecny as the team’s leading scorer. The Flyers took the early lead on their 1st shot on goal 4:07 into the game. They didn’t register their 2nd shot until more than halfway through the period.
2nd Period
Dan Vladar took a shot to the dome that knocked his mask off. Then later when going side to side he hooked his foot on the post and pulled the blade out of his skate. Other than that things were going well for him in the Philadelphia net.
Owen Tippett scored his 2nd goal of the night 12:28 into the middle period. Denver Barkey made some crafty moves skating the puck into the offensive zone before leaving a drop pass for Tippett. Tippet fired a shot from the circle that caught the goalie in the naughty bits, dropped behind him, and dribbled over the goal line.
With the Flyers on the powerplay Noah Cates picked a puck out of the pack in front of the Detroit net and put it past the sprawling netminder with 3:52 remaining in the period.
With just 1:41 remaining in the 2nd period Amil Andrae took a tripping penalty. Detroit appeared to score on the power-play but the goal was reviewed and called back due to an offsides on the entry. Andrae was more than happy to return to the box.
3rd Period
The Flyers started the final period by scoring a goal that was also reviewed and called back. Alex Bump sent Christian Dvorak in on a breakaway just 1:16 into the period but the goal did not stand due to an offsides infraction on the entry.
7:19 into the third Owen Tippett skated the puck from end to end before splitting the defense and firing a rocket over the netminder’s shoulder. This shot gave the Flyers a 4-0 lead, Tippet the hattrick, and John Gibson the rest of the night off.
Cam Talbot took over in the Detroit net. With 6:17 remaining in regulation Mason Appleton scored what looked to be the spoiler goal. It was his first in 30 games.
Not so fast
Rejuvenated by snapping the shutout the Red Wings pulled their goaltender and began an all out assault on the Flyers net. Dan Vladar made several saves before Alex DeBrincat beat him high blocker side cutting the lead to 4-2.
Less than a minute later Lucas Raymond fired a puck through traffic that beat Vladar high glove side. After being frustrated all night long and sending half their fans to the parking lot the Red Wings scored 3 goals in just under 4 minute to come within a goal.
Detroit continued to attack with their goaltender pulled. The Flyers could not clear the puck out of their own zone. The Red Wings put up a valiant effort. Finally Owen Tippett ended up with the puck in the neutral zone. He passed it to Sean Couturier who took the shot into the empty net. Final score Flyers 5 Red Wings 3.
Owen Tippett ended the night with 3 goals, an assist, and a team leading 7 shots on goal. He has been playing some monster hockey as of late receiving praise from head coach Rick Tocchet for his play down the stretch.
Extra Credit: Until situations become mathematically impossible no one actually knows for sure how things are going to shake out. Some folks assume that there is some sort of credibility that comes along with being perpetually negative. There’s not.
Up Next: The Flyers are right back at it hosting the Dallas Stars in Philly Sunday night at 7PM
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