Rick Tocchet's Philadelphia Flyers (39-26-12) are in Michigan on Thursday to wrap up their regular season series with Todd McLellan's Detroit Red Wings (40-29-9). The game is a must-win for both clubs.
Game time at Little Caesars Arena is 7:00 p.m. EDT. The game will be broadcast on NBCSP+.
The Flyers and Red Wings have split the first two games of the season series. In Detroit on March 28, the Flyers won 5-3. Philadelphia built a commanding lead, withstood a three-goal push by Detroit and finally regained an insurance goal. Owen Tippett led the way with a hat trick and an assist.
At Xfinity Mobile Arena on April 2, the Flyers came back from a 1-0 deficit and later cut a 3-1 deficit to 3-2. Detroit ultimately prevailed, 4-2.
Entering Thursday's game, the Flyers narrowly retain their automatic playoff spot as the third-place team in the Metropolitan Division. They control their own destiny, not needing help from any other team's outcome in a particular game. In order to maintain the status they've worked so hard to reach,however, the Flyers must keep winning.
With four games apiece remaining, the Flyers (92 points, 25 regulation wins) have a two-point lead on the Columbus Blue Jackets (90 points, 27 regulation wins). Because the Blue Jackets own the tiebreaker advantage over the Flyers, it's vital for Philadelphia to stay at least one point ahead of Columbus and the New York Islanders (89 points, 28 regulation wins) at the end of the regular season.
Doing so would keep Philly in automatic playoff position in the Metro, and avoid the need to worry about the dogfight for the final wildcard spot in the Eastern Conference. That is the situation in which the Red Wings (89 points, 29 RW) find themselves.
Entering Thursday's match, the Red Wings trail the Ottawa Senators (92 points, 35 RW) by three points for the final wildcard spot in the East. The Senators have already clinched the tiebreaker over the Red Wings. Therefore, Detroit in reality has to make up a four-point gap. Their season is not yet mathematically on the line on Thursday but it's a practical must-win game.
Two nights ago, the Flyers rattled off a 5-1 road win over the New Jersey Devils. Trevor Zegras (24th and 25th) and Tyson Foerster (12th and 13th) scored two goals apiece. Matvei Michkov notched a pair of assists to reach the 45-point mark on the season.
The Red Wings, meanwhile, saw their home game against Columbus slip away on Tuesday. Detroit was unable to protect a 3-2 lead in the final 20 seconds of regulation. The Wings later led the shootout but were unable to get one final save to win or prolong the finale. The result was a 4-3 (3-2) loss. The Red Wings really needed two points from the game, not one. The match result also had the effect of preventing the Flyers from having any margin for error on Thursday night.
Here are the RAV4 Things to track in Detroit on Thursday.
1. Don't chase the game
The Flyers have done a greatly improved job in recent weeks of scoring first and taking a lead to intermission. Even if it's just a one-goal edge and the other team eventually knots the score, the game becomes much easier to manage when playing from in front at the end of a period.
The bottom line: When leading after the first period, the Flyers are 19-1-3. Holding a lead at the end of the second period, Philly is 24-0-3.
On the flip side, if they trail at the end of the first period, Philadelphia has an 8-17-5 record. Trailing at the second intermission, it's 6-25-5. Producing at least one point 11 times when trailing to start the 3rd period is a good sign of resilience. However, it's the hardest way to play hockey and it's not sustainable.
How about simply scoring the first goal vs. yielding the opening goal? Leading first, Philly is 21-5-4. When trailing first, the team is 19-21-8.
The Detroit equation: The Red Wings are 25-6-2 when scoring first and 15-23-7 when training first. Leading after one period, they are 17-2-1. Leading at the second intermission has produced a 27-2-3 record. Trailing at the first intermission, Detroit is 9-17-4. Taking a deficit into the third period, it's 5-24-3.
2. Flyers scoring leaderboard
Entering Thursday, Travis Konecny (27g, 39a, 66 points) still holds the Flyers' scoring lead for the season. However, Zegras (25g, 40a, 65 points) has narrowed the gap to a single point. Travis Sanheim leads the defense corps with 36 points (10g, 26a) and all Flyers players with an average 24:16 of ice time per game.
In terms of the second half of the season to date (games 42 to 78), Konecny missed four games with injury but still tops the team with 29 points (14g, 15a). He is followed by Tippett (team-leading 15 goals among his 26 points). Zegras (8g, 16a) is third with 24 points; one more than Christian Dvorak (8g, 15a) and two ahead of Michkov (8g, 14a). In all, 10 Philly players have posted 10 or more points in the second half.
Further narrowing the sample size to the 22 games the Flyers have played since the Olympic break ended, Noah Cates paces the squad with 17 points (7g, 10a). Tippett (9g, 7a), Zegras (5g, 11a) and Michkov (4g, 12a) have 16 points apiece. Dvorak has 15 (5g, 10a). Konecny, who missed three games, has 12 (5g, 7a). A dozen players have scored at least three goals. In the case of Foerster, who only returned from injury last week, his three goals have come in the last four games.
Lastly, let's look at the stretch of the last 10 games the Flyers have played. Zegras tops the club with 11 points (3g, team-high 8 assists). Buoyed by his hat trick and four points last time the Flyers visited Detroit, Tippett leads the team with five goals among 10 points. Dvorak also has 10 points but one fewer goal (4g, 6a). Michkov (1g, 8a) has nine points.
Over his first five games in the National Hockey League, Porter Martone has four points including his game-winning power play tally in overtime against the Boston Bruins this past Sunday.
3. Between the pipes
Here's a look at the Flyers' goalies since the Olympic break. Through a combination of greatly improved team defense in front of them and their own general sharpness in most games, both Dan Vladar and Samuel Ersson have regularly given the Flyers a fighting chance to win.
Czech Olympian Vladar has made 16 starts since the break, posting a 10-5-1 record, 2.27 goals against average and .911 save percentage. Ersson has made six starts and one relief appearance, going 5-1-0 with a 1.86 goals against average and .913 save percentage.
On the Detroit side, McLellan has been running with John Gibson almost exclusively since the Olympic break. He's started 17 of the 20 games Detroit has played, going 6-8-2 with a 2.65 goals against average and .905 save percentage. Gibson has started nine of Detroit's last 10 games (3-5-1, 2.98 GAA, .897 SV%).
4. Contain Kane and company
In the two games the Flyers have played so far against the Red Wings, future Hall of Famer Patrick Kane has compiled five points (2g, 3a). Alex Brincat has scored three goals and Lucas Raymond scored twice (once in each of the two games). Defenseman Moritz Seider had triggered plays on breakouts and from the point. This should not come as a surprise to anyone. These four players, as well as captain Dylan Larkin, are the backbone of the Detroit attack.
Debrincat needs one goal to reach 40 for the season. Raymond is two assists shy of 50 and needs two points to hit 75 for the 2025-26 campaign.
