Flyers defeat Red Wings for third straight victory

Sean Couturier and Scott Laughton each had a goal and an assist for the Philadelphia Flyers in a 6-1 win against the Detroit Red Wings at Wells Fargo Center on Friday.

"It was a weird game," Couturier said. "The score was 6-1, but I don't think we played that great. It could have went one way or the other earlier in the game. I know first period they were all over it.
"We got opportunities at the right time."
WATCH: [All Red Wings vs. Flyers highlights]
Jakub Voracek had three assists for the Flyers (14-7-5), who have won three games in a row, and Matt Niskanen had two assists in 17:11 of ice time despite getting 15 stitches after being hit in the face with the puck in the first period.
"[Niskanen] took that one -- the puck went off his visor and cut him -- and came back in the second and third periods without really missing a beat," said Carter Hart, who made 32 saves for Philadelphia. "That's just the kind of guy he is."
The Flyers extended their home point streak to 10 games (6-0-4), their longest since they won 10 in a row Nov. 9, 2013-Jan. 8, 2014.
Detroit (7-18-3) has lost six straight and is winless in its past eight (0-6-2). Calvin Pickard, playing in place of Jimmy Howard (lower-body injury), made 28 saves in his Red Wings debut.
"I thought this game was light years better than our (6-0 loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs on Wednesday)," Detroit coach Jeff Blashill said. "We played way faster and we did a lot of good things. We just can't keep making the kind of mistakes that end up in the back of our net."
The Red Wings have been outscored 19-2 in their past four games.
"This is our job, and we have to take pride in it," forward Luke Glendening said. "We know we have to be a lot better than this, and we need to keep working on that. This is unacceptable."
The Flyers took a 1-0 lead at 2:56 of the first period when Laughton took Niskanen's stretch pass, split the Detroit defense and beat Pickard for his second goal of the season.
Robby Fabbri tied it 1-1 at 8:09, slapping home a deflected pass for the Red Wings' first goal in three games.

Philadelphia regained the lead at 19:02, going ahead 2-1 on a power-play goal when Shayne Gostisbehere's pass through the crease deflected in off Pickard's stick.
Gostisbehere was a healthy scratch the previous three games.
The Flyers scored three goals in 69 seconds between the end of the second period and the start of the third.
The surge began when Couturier tapped in his own rebound with 12 seconds left in the second to make it 3-1.
"There's no doubt that [Couturier's] goal really, at the end of the second period, sort of took their will away," Flyers coach Alain Vigneault said.
Kevin Hayes scored by tipping Laughton's pass 27 seconds into the third period to make it 4-1, and Oskar Lindblom scored to give the Flyers a 5-1 lead at 57 seconds.

"I thought they were the better team for two periods," Voracek said. "Obviously, they've got nothing to lose, and sometimes you have a little trouble with that, but you have to find a way to win the game.
"Kudos to us for doing that."
James van Riemsdyk ended a 10-game goal drought when he knocked in a loose puck to make it 6-1 at 17:51.
"It feels nice to get a bounce there and bury one," he said. "I thought we got stronger as the game went on, and we have to carry that over to tomorrow against a desperate (Montreal Canadiens) team."

They said it

"I thought we played pretty well in the first two periods, and we were only down 2-1 before we gave one up in the final 10 seconds. We still felt we were in it, but then a minute into the third period it is 5-1, and the game is over. That just can't happen." -- Red Wings forward Frans Nielsen on the Flyers scoring three goals in 69 seconds
"I think maybe we are keeping it simple early in the game, putting pucks behind their defense, trying to get them tired, and make it tough on them. Maybe we are just wearing them down as the game goes on. We seem to be a pretty good second-period team. I don't have the exact reason, but maybe that is what it is." -- Flyers center Sean Couturier on overcoming slow starts

Need to know

The Red Wings have an NHL-worst minus-50 goal differential (60-110). … Niskanen played the second and third periods with a full cage and gauze stuffed up both nostrils.

What's next

Red Wings: Host the Washington Capitals on Saturday (7 p.m. ET; NHLN, FS-D, NBCSWA, NHL.TV)
Flyers: At the Montreal Canadiens on Saturday (3 p.m. ET; SN, RDS, NBCSP, NHL.TV)