The Philadelphia Flyers lost to the Detroit Red Wings, 3-0, at Little Caesars Arena on Thursday evening. All three of the Detroit goals came in the second period as they scored on a rebound near the net and two deflections off Philadelphia Flyers.
Offensively, Philadelphia seemed a stride off in making plays and struggled to battle through Detroit's checking pressure. The Flyers have lost four straight games in regulation.
Former Flyers goaltender Alex Lyon recorded a 30-save shutout. The team in front of him blocked 25 Flyers shot attempts. Samuel Ersson stopped 14 of 17 shots in a losing cause.
Dylan Larkin (20th), Moritz Seider (6th) and Andrew Copp (SHG, 6th) turned a scoreless deadlock into a 3-0 cushion for Detroit over the first 10:08 of the second period. Lucas Raymond generated a pair of primary assists. The Seider goal was scored off a blocked shot by Morgan Frost that re-directed from a glove side to stick side trajectory. Copp's shorthanded goal deflected off Egor Zamula near the net. In the third period, the Red Wings did a strong closeout job against Philadelphia.
The Flyers went 0-for-3 on the power play. Copp's shorthanded goal was a backbreaker for the Flyers when they'd had a power play opportunity to cut a 2-0 deficit to one goal. The Red Wings were 0-for-4 on the power play. Detroit pressured heavily on their first power play, but the Flyers benefitted from a slew of blocked shots. The Flyers killed off the next two in emphatic fashion. The final one came in the last minute of the game.
Flyers center Scott Laughton was charged with three minor penalties on the night. There was a second period fight between Klim Kostin and Nicolas Deslauriers.
The Flyers (25-18-6) will return to Philadelphia overnight. They will not hold practice on Friday. On Saturday afternoon, following the induction of Mark Recchi into the Flyers' Hall of Fame, the Flyers will host the Boston Bruins in a 12:30 p.m. ET game.
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Flyers 2024 Alumni Game
On Friday, the Flyers Alumni will take center stage at the Wells Fargo Center to celebrate both the reunion of the surviving members of the 1973-74 and 1974-75 teams that captured the Stanley Cup. There will be a 6 p.m. VIP reception will all of the Alumni participating in the Alumni Game (7:00 p.m. start time) against the Boston Bruins Alumni.
Prior to the start of the Alumni Game, there will be a special ceremony with the Stanley Cup trophy and the members of the Flyers' two championship teams. Back in 1974, hundreds of excited fans rushed out onto the ice after the Flyers completed a 1-0 win over the Bruins in Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Final. As a result, the squad was able to take a proper victory lap with the Cup as an entire team. In 1975, the Flyers won the Cup in Buffalo.
Fifty years after the Cup victory in Philly, all of the Alumni will get to lift the Cup and celebrate on the ice with the home crowd in the stands. This will likely be the final team that the team will reunite as a nearly entire group.
The Cup team Alumni will be on hand at the Wells Fargo Center throughout the weekend, including during Saturday's game and Recchi's Flyers Hall of Fame induction. All but three of the living Alumni will be onhand. Simon Nolet had planned to attend but, due a serious illness in his family, he regretfully had to cancel. Neither Ted Harris nor Bruce Cowick will available, either. Otherwise, everyone is there.
In the Alumni Game itself, the Flyers Alumni will be coached by Craig Berube with Robert Esche (unable to play due to a hamstring injury) as assistant coach. Danny Briere, Keith Jones and Dan Hilferty will be honorary coaches and stand behind the Flyers' bench during the first period.
The Alumni put out fan polls on social media to select line combinations and defense pairs they'd like to see appear together in the Alumni game. The fans' selections:
10 John LeClair - 88 Eric Lindros - 8 Mark Recchi 19 Scott Hartnell - 18 Mike Richards - 22 Mike Knuble 26 Brian Propp - 9 Patrick Sharp - 89 Donald Brashear 29 Todd Fedoruk - 32 Riley Cote - 21 Dave Brown
2 Mark Howe - 44 Kimmo Timonen 6 Chris Therien - 36 Dennis Seidenberg 8 Brad Marsh - 29 Daryl Stanley/ 14 Joe Watson
33 Brian Boucher/ 49 Michael Leighton
The Bruins' roster is as follows:
Tomorrow night's @NHLBruinsAlumni game roster. pic.twitter.com/UNrfQyGgxK
— Flyers Alumni (@FlyersAlumni) January 25, 2024
One hundred percent of the proceeds from Friday's Alumni Game will be split between Flyers Charities and the Flyers Alumni Association. Some first-level seats remain available in limited quantities. Use coupon passcode F126SG for $6 off per lower-level ticket. Mezzanine seats are $25 apiece. The upper-half of many mezzanine sections still have ample seating available. However, a strong gameday walkup crowd is expected for the remaining tickets.
Parking is free on Friday. There will be a commemorative Hall of Fame program (written by yours truly) available for sale this weekend. One side is devoted to the two Stanley Cup seasons and reunion. There's also a special feature on Ed Snider. Flip the program over, and the other portion is dedicated to Mark Recchi's Hall of Fame career as a Flyer. The middle of the program has game night rosters and two pages designed for autograph collecting.
Additionally, there will be special merchandise available for sale only this weekend, including a reboot of the "Bruise Brothers" t-shirt (featuring Dave Brown and Daryl Stanley decked out like the Blues Brothers) that was the top-selling Flyers merchandise item of the mid-1980s.
The VIP reception is sold out. If you hold VIP event passes, enter the building at 5:00PM at the Hyundai VIP Suite Entrance (next to the Box Office, facing Center City).
Also, in similar fashion to NHL Game Day, the Flyers Alumni and Bruins Alumni will hold a morning skate. The Flyers Alumni will take to the ice at 10:45 a.m. ET. Following the skate at approximately noon, both the Flyers Alumni and Bruins Alumni locker rooms will be open to media for player interviews.
Lastly, at 4 p.m. ET, the Flyers Warriors team of military veterans will play the Boston Warriors as part of an afternoon/evening hockey doubleheader in tandem with the Alumni Game.