Postgame 5: Flyers Rally for a Point in Detroit

The final game before the Christmas break was a wild one. The Philadelphia Flyers ultimately lost via shootout to the Detroit Red Wings, 7-6 (2-0) at Little Caesars Arena on Friday evening. The Flyers trailed 5-1 at the first intermission. They pushed back in the second period to draw within 5-3. The Flyers scored three more times in the third period to briefly take a 6-5 lead before Detroit re-tied the score to force overtime. After five scoreless but very eventful minutes of sudden death, the Red Wings prevailed in the shootout as Lucas Raymond and Patrick Kane converted their attempts.

The Flyers received goals in regulation from six different players: Bobby Brink, Sean Couturier, Morgan Frost, Garnet Hathaway, Scott Laughton and Owen Tippett. Travis Sanheim, Egor Zamula and Joel Farabee chipped in two assists apiece. For Detroit, the top line trio Alex DeBrincat (1a, two shots on goal on six attempts), Dylan Larkin (1g, 1a) and Patrick Kane (2g. 1a) were dominant in the first period and surged again in the latter portion of the game.

The Red Wings took a 1-0 lead at 4:30 of the first period. DeBrincat sent a pass to Larkin. The Detroit captain's shot hit the post, The rebound went directly to Kane (3rd goal of the season), who scored. The assists went to Larkin and DeBrincat. The sequence started with a bad line change by the Flyers. Kane scored again (2nd of the game, 4th of the season) at 8:16. The puck went off DeBrincat's skate directly to the goal-scorer.The secondary assist went to Justin Holl.

Philly cut the gap to 2-1 at the 9:00 mark. Brink received a great pass from Farabee after a slick move upon entry into the Detroit zone. Brink (6th goal of the season) attempted to wrist the puck upstairs, partially flubbed on the attempt and the puck fooled goalie James Reimer and went in the net.

Detroit opened a 3-1 lead at 15:05 on the power play.  From near the right post, Daniel Sprong (8th) deflected home a Moritz Seider shot from the point. The assists went to Seider and Raymond.

The score became 4-1 at 15:48. Hart made a save on Joe Veleno after a centering feed from Raymond.  J.T. Compher (7th) put the loose puck into the cage.The assists went to Veleno and Raymond. Detroit made it a 5-1 score at 19:42. The Wing possessed the puck at will in the Flyers zone. Finally, ex-Flyer Shayne Gostisbehere (6th) pinched in and scored. The assists went to Kane and DeBrincat.

At 3:37 of the second period, Sean Couturier (9th of the season) deflected a point shot from Travis Sanheim into the net to cut the deficit to 5-2. The Flyers scored again at 3:59 to make it a 5-3 game. Morgan Frost won a left circle offensive faceoff, as Cam Atkison got the puck back to Sanheim at the point. This time, it was Frost (5th goal of the season) parked in front and had a nice deflection of his own into the net.

Philly drew within 5-4 at 5:51 of the third period. Once again, Philly scored on a deflection. From high in the Detroit zone, Scott Laughton wristed a shot toward the net. From in front, Garnet Hathaway (3rd of the season) tipped the puck out of the air and into the net. The assists went to Laughton and Cam York.

The Flyers made it a 5-5 game at 13:30 of the third period. Tyson Foerster put a shot at the net from 55 feet and Laughton (3rd of the season) cleaned up the rebound. Joel Farabee earned the secondary assist.

Philly took a 6-5 lead at 14:53. Konecny sprung Owen Tippett on a 2-on-1 transition rush with Frost. Tippett (12th of the season) followed the puck to the net and potted his own rebound. The assist went to Konecny and Rasmus Ristolainen.

Detroit struck back with a funky goal at 15:30. From behind the Flyers net, Larkin banked the puck off Carter Hart's blocker and hip to tie the game at 6-6 with Hart down in the RVH. The assists went to Jeff Petry and Moritz Seider.

Hart was strafed for five goals on 13 shots. He then went on to stop 23 of 24 shots over the remaining 45 minutes of regulation and overtime. Hart yielded twice on three shootout attempts. James Reimer earned the win. The Detroit netminder stopped 37 of 43 shots.

The Flyers went 0-for-2 on the power play. The Red Wings were 1-for-3.

FLYERS STARTING LINEUP

74 Owen Tippett- 14 Sean Couturier - 11 Travis Konecny
86 Joel Farabee - 25 Ryan Poehling - 10 Bobby Brink
71 Tyson Foerster - 48 Morgan Fr2ost - 89 Cam Atkinson
44 Nic Deslauriers - 21 Scott Laughton - 19 Garnet Hathaway

8 Cam York - 6 Travis Sanheim
24 Nick Seeler - 26 Sean Walker
5 Egor Zamula - 55 Rasmus Ristolainen

79 Carter Hart
[33 Samuel Ersson]

TURNING POINT

In regulation, the back-to-back goals by Couturier and Frost signified that the rest of the already strange game would be anything but neat and orderly. In the third period, a strong penalty kill by the Flyers triggered a surge that eventually -- but briefly -- gave them their first and only lead of the night. Detroit had the better of play in overtime. It took six saves by Hart to force a shootout finale. This is how the shootout unfolded:

Top of the first round: DeBrincat lost the puck as he deked and moved in toward Hart. 

Bottom of the first round Couturier missed the net on his "Martin St. Louis" move.
Top of the second round Lucas Raymond made a backhand-to-forehand move and scored.
Bottom of the second round: Brink was stopped by the blocker on a backhand attempt

Top of the third round: Kane backed Hart in and snapped a shot past the glove to end the game.

POSTGAME 5

1)  Sanheim blocked a shot on the game's opening shift to erase a Detroit scoring change. At 3:14.  Laughton backhanded a side-angle shot on net for the game's first shot on goal. At the other end of the ice, Deslauriers blocked a shot and broke his stick before play swung the other way.

At 4;30, the Red Wings' Kane scored on what was officially Detroit's first shot on goal of the game. By the time the game was 10 minutes old, the Red Wings had two goals and Philly had one.

With 6:43 left in the period. Reimer gloved down a Hathaway shot after a collision at center ice with Olli Määttä. A scrum ensued after the whistle between Hathaway and Christian Fischer. Hathaway and Deslauriers received roughing penalties for Philly while Fischer and Justin Holl got the same for Detroit. Play stayed 5-on-5.

At 13:53, Sanheim was called for holding behind the Flyers' net. Detroit went on the game's first power play.  Forty seconds into the power play, DeBrincat one-timed a Kane pass on net. At the 58-second mark, Shayne Gostisbehere wristed a center point shot on net. At 15:05, Detroit scored to make it 3-1.

After Compher created a 4-1 lead at 15;38, Konecny had a chance. After the Frost line got hemmed in on a very long shift in their own zone -- including an icing -- the top Detroit line struck yet again to make it 5-1 in the final minute of the period.

Adding further insult to injury, Hathaway picked up a 10-minute misconduct after the buzzer for getting his stick on Fabbri.

2)  Needless to say, the first period was a horror show for the Flyers. They did a lot of puck watching and struggled to clear the defensive zone. Hart was left out to dry time and time again. First period shots of goal were 13-10 in Detroit's favor. Shot attempts were 28-15 Detroit. Scoring chances were 16-9 Detroit. The Red Wings led in high-danger chances, 9-3. Faceoffs were 15-11 in Philadelphia's  favor.

3) The Flyers had a 3-on-1 chance on the opening shift of the second period but overpassed the puck and lost the chance. On the second shift, Sanheim went 1-on-3 and took the puck to the net. 

At 3:01, the Flyers went on their first power play as Fischer hooked Seeler. Fischer came back at Seeler with a late hit. Seeler went right back at Fischer, and dropped the gloves. Seeler received two minutes for instigation, five minutes for fighting, an automatic 10-minute misconduct and then a game misconduct.  Fischer, who mostly received but attempted one punch, got a fighting major. The Couturier deflection goal at 3:37 and the Frost deflection at 4:01 gave Philly more life. 

The Flyers went to the penalty kill at 5:18 as Zamula was called for cross-checking. Hart stopped a DeBrincat one-timer and a Compher follow up.attempt. At 6:17, Gostisbehere received a double-minor for interference on Atkinson and an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty as he pantomimed a dive to accuse Atkinson of embellishment.

When the Flyers finally went on the power play after a stretch of 4-on-4 play, the Flyers had three minutes of power play time. They were unable to capitalize.

At the 14:00 mark the Flyers iced the puck. It wasn't a bad one, though, as the Larkin line was pressuring again. With 56.7 seconds left in the period, Larkin made a nice move on Saheim and tried to elevate the puck inside the short-side post. Hart made the save.

4)  The second period was a roller coaster of emotions. The Flyers set an attacking tone early, though, and shaved their four-goal deficit in half. Second period shots on goal were 14-9 in the Flyers' favor (25-22 Flyers through two periods). Shot attempts were 21-14 Flyers (42-37 Detroit overall). Scoring chances were 8-8 (24-18 Detroit through 40 minutes). The Flyers led in high-danger chances, 6-2 (11-10 Detroit over the first two periods). Faceoffs were 12-9 in Detroit's favor (tied at 23-23 overall).

5) At 1:40 of the third period, Reimer fought off a side-angle shot by Sanheim. At 2:10, Reimer gloved down a Ristolainen slapper aimed high glove. The Flyers' fourth line then produced a strong shift with heavy pressure at 4:54, Hart stopped a Kane backhander on Detroit's first scoring chance of the period. At 5:51, the Flyers cut the deficit to 5-4.

Atkinson was penalized for hooking Michael Rasmussen in the neutral zone at 10:13. On the kill, Walker fired a shot on net from the deep slot. Laughton attempted a rebound. Later, Konecny made a bid at tying the game. Hart made a huge save in the waning seconds. At 13:30, Philly drew even at 5-5.

Tippett's go-ahead goal and the response by Larkin swung the tide back to Detroit favor over the latter minutes of the third period. Larkin's line had two more scoring chances before the horn ended regulation.

Third period shots of goal were 14-9 in the Flyers' favor. Shot attempts were 25-15 Flyers. Scoring chances were 8-6 Flyers. The Flyers led in high-danger chances, 6-0. Faceoffs were 9-8 in the Flyers' favor (32-31 Flyers overall). In overtime, both DeBrincat (twice) and Larkin had golden opportunities to win the game for the Red Wings.