POSTGAME 5: Flyers Down Detroit, 3-1
The Philadelphia Flyers skated to a 3-1 win over the Detroit Red Wings at the Wells Fargo Center on Sunday evening
David Perron (16th goal of the season) notched the only tally of the first period. In the second period, the Flyers struck back for a Nicolas Deslauriers shorthanded breakaway goal (5th) and a Noah Cates deflection goal (10th) to take a 2-1 lead into the final 20 minutes. Scott Laughton (15th) added an empty net goal at 18:12 of the third period.
Carter Hart earned the win with 24 saves on 25 shots. Ville Husso stopped 34 of 36 Philadelphia shots in a losing cause.
The Flyers went 0-for-3 on the power play. The Red Wings were 0-for-2.
Laughton played in his 500th career NHL game. Tanner Laczynski returned to the lineup from a 36-game stint in IR. Brendan Lemieux made his Flyers debut, registering five hits, one shot on goal and a plus-three.
FLYERS STARTING LINEUP
86 Joel Farabee - 48 Morgan Frost - 74 Owen Tippett
25 James van Riemsdyk - 13 Kevin Hayes - 57 Wade Allison
21 Scott Laughton - 49 Noah Cates - 22 Brendan Lemieux
44 Nicolas Deslauriers - 58 Tanner Laczynski - 20 Kieffer Bellows
9 Ivan Provorov - 45 Cam York
6 Travis Sanheim - 55 Rasmus Ristolainen
24 Nick Seeler - 77 Tony DeAngelo
79 Carter Hart
[32 Felix Sandström]
TURNING POINT
This is an easy selection: Deslauriers' shorthanded breakaway goal, which tied the game at 1-1 in the second period was the clear-cut jump-off point for the Flyers the rest of the game.
MELTZER'S TAKE
1) The Flyers had eight of the game's first 12 shots on goal and the better of the early territorial play going straight at the Detroit defense on the forecheck but the Red Wings claimed the first goal at 4:51. Frost turned over the puck high in the offensive zone. In transition, Copp passed back to Perron, who beat Hart on a leaky goal from above the right dot.
The Flyers caught a break when Robby Fabbri hit the post. At the other end, Husso made a pair of outstanding saves on Farabee. On the first, Frost made a nice play to set him up at the doorstep. The latter was a mini breakaway sprung by Tippett.
The Flyers earned the game's first power play at 12:56. Dominik Kubalik tripped York. They were unable to convert but Cates had a prime scoring chance.
After five-on-five play resumed, Hart stepped up to deny Joe Veleno on a breakaway after he blocked a Laczynski shot.
Ex-Flyers Robert Hägg blocked a shot -- for the third time -- about 14 minutes into the first period.
Larkin turned over a puck in the Flyers zone. Farabee had another decent chance -- set up by Frost -- in the closing seconds of the period.
2) The Flyers, by far the more rested team, controlled the decided majority of the first period but came away with nothing but the 1-0 deficit to show for it. Tippett had a very active period.
Shots on goal were 13-10 Flyers. Shot attempts were 33-19 Flyers. Scoring chances were 17-9 Flyers with a 9-4 high-danger edge for the Flyers. Faceoffs were 9-6 Detroit.
3) The Red Wings had the better of the territorial play to start the second period. Shots on goal were 2-0 Red Wings through five minutes.
Seeler was called for hooking Copp in the defensive zone at 5:10. At 6:53, the Flyers tied the game while shorthanded. Lemieux won a board battle and sent the puck up the wall. The puck was momentarily held in but Deslauriers quickly intercepted a cross-ice pass attempt, went off on a breakaway and beat Husso low to the glove side.
The Hayes line generated strong pressure two shifts after five-on-five play resumed. Husso held for a stoppage.
Cates started and finished a shift with good plays: first in his own zone and about 24 seconds later by deflecting a Seeler point shot from the left slot into the net at 12:57. The assists went to Seeler and Ristolainen.
Tippett skated the puck down the ice in transition and fired off a shot from the right shot. The shot produced a rebound but no teammates were near where it came out. Double-shifting, he came out with the fourth line, Tippett then picked off an outlet pass up the middle and fired off a shot on Husso.
The Farabee-Frost-Tippett line had a good forechecking shift, which generated two looks at the net. The Red Wings iced the puck at 17:49.
4) Second period shots on goal were 9-5 Flyers. Shot attempts were 16-8 Flyers. Scoring chances were 9-5 Flyers. High-danger chances were 3-1 Flyers. Through 40 minutes, faceoffs were 18-14 Detroit. Newcomer Lemieux was credited with five hits over the first two periods.
5) Through the first 3:15 of the third period, the only two shots on goal belonged to the Flyers. There were no scoring chances.
At 5:40, Joel Farabee was called for tripping Adam Erne. Moments earlier, Frost was taken down by Hägg with no call. Hart made a glove save on Larkin (first Detroit shot of the period, and first since the final 8:04 of the second period). In the closing seconds of the kill, Tippett painfully blocked a shot. He briefly went up the tunnel and then returned.
At 10:09, amid a puck battle on the wall behind the Flyers' net, the whistle blew. Perron was called for hooking Sanheim. Tippett set up a chance for a pinching DeAngelo. Nothing further developed.
The Flyers went right back to the power play at 12:38. Allison set up near the net and was high-sticked by Seider. On the second half of the power play, after a jumbled start, Frost set up a point blank chance for Farabee off a JVR rebound. A scrum broke out after the whistle, and Laughton and Erne received coincidental roughing minors.
After 5-on-5 play resumed again, Larkin had a seemingly point-blank chance but Cates got enough of his stick on the shot to send the puck over the net. With about four minutes left, Allison teed up a chance from the right slot for Frost. The rising shot hit Husso in the mask.
With 2:37 left after a Detroit chance at the other end, Cates fed Laughton to send him in toward Husso. The play was broken up at the end.
The Red Wings pulled Husso for an extra attacker. With 2:06 left, the Flyers iced the puck. At 18:12, after Seider broke his stick on a point shot, Laughton scored an empty net goal from the red line. The goal was unassisted.
Third period shots were 14-10 Flyers. Shot attempts were 16-16. Scoring chances were 9-8 Detroit. High danger chances were 3-2 Flyers. Final faceoffs were 33-24 Detroit.
