Photo Credit: NHL.com
On Wednesday night the Flyers (14-13-4) took the ice in Detriot to face off against the Red Wings (12-14-4) for the second time in a week. Scott Laughton scored four goals and led the Flyers to a 4-1 win last Thursday against Detriot. That game was followed by a 4-1 loss to the Minnesota Wild on Saturday with the only Flyers goal coming from Travis Sanheim. The Flyers had three days off following the loss and looked to get back on track against the Red Wings. Sam Ersson started in net and rookie defenseman Emil Andrae was scratched for the third straight game. Alex Lyon was in net for the Red Wings as opposed to Cam Talbot, who started and played very well against the Flyers last week.
First Period
The Flyers came out on the attack early with a goal just 1:06 into the game. After a great play by Sean Couturier in the neutral zone and a beautiful pass from Joel Farabee, Travis Konecny had a breakaway. Konecny skated in and went five-hole on Red Wings goalie Alex Lyon giving the Flyers a 1-0 lead on the first shot of the game. Konecny scored his 16th goal on the year remaining red hot over the last couple of weeks. After the hot start, the Flyers had multiple turnovers that resulted in chances for the Red Wings. A holding call on Travis Sanhiem gave the Red Wings their first power play of the night with 7:44 left in the first period. Sam Errson made multiple stops on the power play to help the Flyers kill off the penalty.
Moments after, Owen Tippett caught Red Wings’ Jeff Petry with a high stick, drawing blood from the mouth of Petry. That resulted in a double-minor penalty assessed to Tippett and a four-minute power play for the Red Wings. After the Flyers killed off the first two minutes of the power play, the Red Wings had constant pressure in their offensive zone. After Sam Ersson made two big stops the pressure became too much for the Flyers. Lucas Raymond would set up Dylan Larkin, who zipped a pass to JT Compher on the doorstep, leading to an easy goal to tie it up 1-1. Compher scored his fourth goal this season, second on the powerplay, with 1:41 left in the first. The Flyers had a chance to clear the puck moments before the goal, but a great play by Moritz Seider kept the puck in the zone to help contribute to the goal. After being outshot 11-4 in the first period, the Flyers were lucky to get a few big saves from Samuel Ersson to help limit the damage.
Second Period
The Flyers’ play at the beginning of the second period reflected their play at the end of the first. Costly turnovers led to prime scoring chances for the Red Wings. Sam Ersson stepped up for the Flyers and bailed them out of a handful of high-leverage situations. A terrible pass from Cam York was intercepted by Patrick Kane and led to a 3-on-1 for the Red Wings. A pass from Kane to Alex DeBrincat gave the Red Wings a 2-1 lead marked at 10:15 into the period. DeBrincat scored his 13th goal of the season. 25 seconds later, the Flyers won a puck battle against the boards in their zone that set up an opportunity for Tyson Forerster to throw the puck on net. His shot hit Noah Cates who was standing in front and had deflected the puck with his leg, getting it to squeak past Alex Lyon. Cates’ second goal of the season tied the game right back up 2-2.
With 3:55 left in the period, Red Wings’ Michael Rasmussen scored his 6th goal of the season off a faceoff win by JT Compher. The shot from a little above the right face-off dot beat Ersson giving the Red Wings a 3-2 lead. Moments after another giveaway for the Flyers resulted in a 2-on-0 for the Red Wings. Christian Fischer fed Joe Veleno, who slammed home the one-time opportunity giving the Red Wings a 4-2 lead. Veleno’s goal marked his second on the year as the Flyers turnover woes continued. Throughout the first 40 minutes of play, the Flyers were being outshot 18-9 and had committed multiple key giveaways that led to scoring opportunities for the Red Wings. They played sloppy hockey and just seemed to lose a step after the early goal by Travis Konecny.
Third Period
The Flyers began the third period shaking up some of the lines in hopes of finding an offensive spark. The change caused steady pressure in the Flyers’ offensive zone leading to multiple scoring chances early on in the period. A beautiful spin-o-rama pass from Sean Couturier found Ryan Poehling at the side of the net and deflected in, cutting the Red Wings lead down 4-3. The highlight pass from Couturier gave Poehling his second goal of the season. A few minutes later, a beautiful pass from Scott Laughton hit Owen Tippett in stride leading to a beautiful move and score from Tippett. Tippett used his speed and puck skills to deke away from the Red Wings defender and then goaltender, leading to his 10th goal of the season. It was another highlight play from Tippett that showcased how fast of a skater he truly is. After 40 minutes of sluggish play, the Flyers came out with a different jump in the first half of the third period. Two early goals by the Flyers tied the game up 4-4.
The tie did not last long, as a pass from Red Wings Moritz Seider set up Patrik Kane across the ice, hitting him at full speed. Kane skated in and snapped one past Sam Ersson, giving the Red Wings a 5-4 lead 7:21 into the third period. It is Kane’s fourth goal of the season as he continues to haunt the Flyers throughout his career. With about 8 minutes left in the game an awkward play that appeared to be a tripping penalty against the Red Wings, resulted in one referee putting his arm up and then down immediately. The Flyers bench saw the initial arm go up and waved Ersson off the ice. Play was stopped after the confusion on the ice resulting in no penalty call on either side. Flyers head coach John Tortorella was irate on the bench wondering how the ref could single for a penalty and immediately throw his arm down. Moments after, a penalty was officially called on the Red Wings giving the Flyers their first and only power play. The Flyers’ power play would amount to nothing as the score remained 5-4 with 5 minutes to go.
With just under two minutes left, the Flyers pulled Sam Ersson in favor of an extra attacker. 1:41 remained on the clock when John Tortorella called his timeout to try and draw up one last play to give the Flyers a late goal. The Flyers would end up giving up an empty net goal to Lucas Raymond, his 13th of the season to ice the game and give the Red Wings a 5-3 lead.
Giveaways Galore
Despite the early goal from Travis Konecny the Flyers’ play for the rest of the game was sluggish and resulted in a slew of turnovers. Multiple times throughout a game a bad turnover for the Flyers would result in great scoring chances for the Red Wings. Cam York who had a terrible turnover leading to the Red Wings’ second goal, was benched for the entire third period. Collectively the Flyers did not play very well in the first two periods getting outplayed and outshot. The turnovers ultimately cost them the game as they mostly resulted in 2-on-1 or even 2-on-0 opportunities for the Red Wings. Giving a team like Detroit multiple opportunities in a game at those kinds of chances is not a winning recipe. The offense came alive briefly in the third period, battling back to tie the game. Sean Couturier had a two-point game and 11 different Flyers registered a point in the loss.
After two losses in a row, the Flyers fall to (14-14-4) with 32 points in just as many games. The Flyers have less than 24 hours to flush away the loss as they play at home Thursday night against the Los Angeles Kings at 7:30 pm EST.
Check out our Flyers Nitty Gritty Store
