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Wrap: Flyers Lose Ugly to Detroit, 6-3 |
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In the first game after the NHL All-Star break, the Philadelphia Flyers lost to the Detroit Red Wings, 6-3, at the Wells Fargo Center on Wednesday night. Early on, it was a sloppy contest with the teams trading off goals so frequently -- Detroit scoring and the Flyers quickly responding -- that several tallies hadn't even been announced by Lou Nolan before the next one was put in the net.
Ultimately, though, the Flyers were outskated and outworked by the Red Wings, and the final score reflected it. Philadelphia was not sharp mentally or physically. Detroit wasn't great by any means and was guilty of some horrific gaffes of their own but at least they had their feet moving consistently and took advantage of the time and space they gained.
Three times in the game, the Flyers scored on the very next shift after a Detroit goal. The Flyers were massively outplayed in the second period, but the game was only 3-2 Red Wings entering the third period. The Flyers did not muster any sort of meaningful push in the third period and wound up losing by three goals.
In the first period, Detroit goals by Dylan Larkin (24th goal of the season, PPG) and Lucas Raymond (12th) were each responded to on the net shift. Isaac Ratcliffe (1st NHL goal) and Travis Sanheim (3rd) respectively tied the score at 1-1 and 2-2. In the second period, Pius Suter (11th) and Robby Fabbri (13th) built a 4-2 edge for the Red Wings. Scott Laughton (8th) immediately narrowed the gap to 4-3. The Flyers had power play chances but were unable to pull even by the end of the period.
Givani Smith (4th) added an insurance goal as Detroit opened a 5-3 lead in the third period. Vladislav Namestnikov (13th) tacked on an empty net goal in the final minute of the game.
Carter Hart yielded two goals he'd ordinarily stop among the five that eluded him on 33 Detroit shots. Alex Nedeljkovic got the win, needing to make only 21 saves on 24 shots. He looked very shaky early but settled in enough to earn a W.
The Flyers went 0-for-5 on the power play and looked awful in doing so. At the nadir of the night's poor performance, the Flyers second power play unit had only four skaters on the ice for an inordinate amount of time on a 5-on-4. Gerry Mayhew failed to jump out on the ice as his man was coming off. The Flyers then yielded a shorthanded 2-on-1, which Hart denied. Still, for an additional five or six seconds even beyond the Detroit 2-on-1, Philly only four skaters on the ice. Mike Yeo said after the game that the bench was aware there were too few players on the ice and communicated it but (without naming Mayhew specifically) said the player was inattentive. On the other end of special teams, the Flyers went 3-for-4 on the penalty kill.
Philadelphia Flyers Blogger •NHL.com • 
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