WRAPUP: RED WINGS SOAR OVER FLYERS, 3-0
The Philadelphia Flyers churned out a clunker at the worst possible time, losing a crucial 3-0 decision to the Detroit Red Wings at Joe Louis Arena on Wednesday night. The Wings moved past the Flyers by two points and threw a wrench in the Flyers' quest for a playoff spot.
Detroit outskated the Flyers for most of the game. Philadelphia lost too many 50-50 puck battles. They generated very sporadic forechecking and mostly one-and-done perimeter shots. Philly's power play went 0-for-4 and yielded a backbreaking shorthanded goal.
Plain and simple, the Flyers made costly mistakes. A bad turnover by Shayne Gostisbehere that turned in the first Detroit goal in the blink of an eye, as the puck deflected off the side of the net right to Darren Helm. In the second period, Jakub Voracek turnover that turned into an Andreas Athanasiou breakaway shorthanded goal.
Detroit, conversely, gifted virtually nothing to Philadelphia all night.
Jimmy Howard earned a 30-save shutout. He was only really tested a handful of times but he played the angles and controlled rebounds well. He also handled the tougher saves when they arose as well.
Flyers goaltender Steve Mason saw fewer shots than Howard, stopping 23 of 25 shots, but they were the tougher chances. Three of his saves in particular -- one on Dylan Larkin on a Detroit power play, a Darren Helm breakaway and a Luke Glendenning followup try from point-blank range -- were highlight reel material. There wasn't much he could have done differently on either Detroit goal. The final one was an empty netter.
In order to get back on the playoff track, the Flyers need to beat the Toronto Maple Leafs on Thursday and would prefer if the Red Wings beat the Boston Bruins in regulation. That would reduce the Philadelphia magic number from five to one heading into a brutally difficult back-to-back set against the Pittsburgh Penguins (home) on Saturday afternoon and the New York Islanders (away) on Sunday in what, by the end will be four games in five nights.
The Flyers' legs just were not there against the Red Wings. They had two nights off and a very light practice on Tuesday, so fatigue is not an excuse.
Even so, Philly seemed to be showing the warning signs of a team that is running out of gas near the finish line. They looked like a tired club as the game progressed at home against Ottawa last Saturday but managed to win. They got blown out and often seemed to be a step behind everything the Penguins threw at them on Sunday. Three nights later, the energy still was not there in Detroit.
The Flyers needed to dig deeper into their energy reserves, because the performance was not close to good enough. Not in such a crucial, gut-check game.
In the opening minute of the game, Nick Schultz put a shot through traffic on the net. Howard kicked his pad out and made a save. Wayne Simmonds could not get to the rebound. Mason then made a stop on Tomas Tatar as he attacked with speed.
At 4:02, Mason stopped Henrik Zetterberg from the right slot off a centering pass from Dylan Larkin working against Shayne Gostisbehere.
Simmonds made a good play from his knees in the neutral zone to prevent a potential Detroit odd-man rush a little past the five-minute mark. Shots were 4-3 Detroit through a TV timeout at the 7:31 mark. Detroit was guilty of four icings in that span.
When play resumed, Detroit took a 1-0 lead on an odd play at 7:37. Battling the stick-checking Brad Richards in the corner, Gostisbehere knocked a puck off the side of the net and off Mason where Darren Helm arrived and knocked in an unassisted goal up and over the goaltender.
About two minutes later, Howard (barely) made a big pad save on Streit to preserve the lead.
Voracek took an offensive zone tripping penalty at battling Riley Sheahan for a puck on the walls. Mason came up with a stop in close on Sheahan but the rebound came out in front. The Flyers then came up with a pair of shot blocks by Matt Read and Radko Gudas. The penalty was killed.
Tempers flared at a stoppage of play with 3:27 left in the period. No penalties were cleared.
The Flyers got their first power play at 16:32 as Tomas Jurco tripped up Chris Vandevelde at the center ice circle off a neutral zone faceoff. Philadelphia got nothing going but caught a break when Gostisbehere saved a puck at the point with his glove but then Detroit gained control with a chance to counter. The linesman ruled an offside, which actually benefited the the Flyers. Detroit pressured shorthanded late, with Luke Glendenning occupying the puck.
Detroit got a forechecking set up in the Flyers end late in the period but play was halted as Giroux and Abdelkader grappled. Manpower moved to 4-on-4 with just over 26 seconds left in the period. Shots in the first period were 9-6 Detroit.
Streit got a side-angle shot on net in the opening seconds of the middle frame.
Schenn and Abdelkader battled for a loose puck in the neutral zone and Abdelkader was called forinterference at 2:06. Voracek mishandled the puck and Athanasiou jumped it. He went off on a breakaway and beat Mason with a move to the left and tucked the puck inside the post just ahead of Mason's outstretched skate to make it 2-0 at 3:15. Howard stopped a Couturier blast on the lone Philadelphia shot.
After the penalty, Howard stopped a Schultz shot that bounced on net through traffic.
Gudas went to the penalty box for slashing at 7:28. Detroit applied furious pressure and moved the puck around at will. Mason made great saves on Larkin and Richards along the way.
Mason made brilliant saves on a Helm breakaway and a Glendenning followup at 10:11 to keep the deficit at 2-0.
At 12:13, Datsyuk went off for tripping Cousins. The Flyers went on their third power play. This time, Philadelphia got strong pressure from the top unit. Voracek hit the crossbar. With penalty killer Helm playing without a stick, the Flyers were unable to put one on net as Voracek twice missed the net.
Howard fought off left side angle shots by Couturier and then Voracek, not allowing any rebounds. Time ticked down to 3:40 left in the period.
The Flyers top line put on the team's best shift of the game, getting extensive offensive zone time. The Wings hung on. With 2:06 left in the period, Detroit got its third power play on a slashing penalty called on Raffl. Philly killed most of the penalty in good shape and then Mason made a long-range stop on a Zetteberg rising wrister with 10 seconds left in the penalty. He held for a stoppage. Giroux beat Larkin cleanly and the Flyers cleared the zone.
Shots in the second period were 12-10 Flyers; 19-18 Red Wings through two periods.
Play started out methodically in the first few minutes apart from one shift where the Flyers got to running around their own end. VandeVelde's deflected shot was fought off by Howard. Detroit took an icing at 3:16. Detroit called timeout.
Giroux turned a puck over as he fell down in his own zone. Mason erased the mistake with a save on Zetterberg at 4:01. The Flyers were called for back-to-back icings at 4:46 and 4:54. The Flyers had trouble getting the puck out of their own zone on the next shift but no damage was done as play was kept to the perimeter until Nyquist pulled off a spin-o-rama in the right circle to pull away from Read and Mason got a piece of a dangerous shot. Mason got up slowly but seemed OK.
Philadelphia received a crucial power play at 8:06. Schenn take an accidental Dan DeKeyser high stick to his face. Detroit never had true control of the puck on the delayed call, and Philly was well set up. Giroux tucked an open shot side of the left post near the midpoint of the power play. Detroit blocked a pair of shot attempts. Read had plenty of time and space late in the power play but could not get his shot through traffic. The power play was wasted again.
At 10:45, Simmonds and DeKeyser went off for roughing each other in front of the Detroit net. Play went to 4-on-4. Voracek found Streit for an open right circle slap shot. Howard came out to challenge and turned it into a routine-looking save. Mason stopped a similar 25-foot left circle shot by Helm at the other end.
With 5:15 left, Abdelkader and Raffl went off for roughing near the benches after an initial scrum between Raffl and Larkin. But Simmonds also took a penalty -- a bad one -- and the Wings got a power play out of it. Philly nearly scored shorthanded as Giroux fired a shot over the net going against the grain; Howard got a piece of it With the teams back at full strength, Read nearly sneaked a severe angle shot into the short side. Howard barely got it before it crossed the line. The puck seemed to tick right off the post and then to Howard.
The Flyers pulled Mason for an extra attacker with 2:03. Detroit iced the game with a long distance empty net goal with 1:43 left. Quincey got the 186-foot goal, goaltender Howard got the assist. The puck eluded Gostisbehere on a deflection off the board and the puck slid straight into the net.
Shots in the third period were 12-7 Flyers; 30-26 Red Wings for the game.