Pluses, minuses for Red Wings, Flyers

Each Wednesday throughout the regular season, Kevin Weekes will be offering his pluses and minuses for the teams competing in the NBCSN Wednesday Night Rivalry game in his Weekes on the Web blog. Weekes also will assist fans with three must-watch elements of the game.

After losing nine of 10 games, the Detroit Red Wings have won two straight, including an impressive 6-3 win against the New York Islanders on Tuesday in which they scored the final four goals of the game.
The Philadelphia Flyers, who lost 10 straight games, won six in a row before a 4-1 loss to the Los Angeles Kings on Monday.
Each team is on the outside of the Stanley Cup Playoff picture looking in, and every point is critical from here on out when the Red Wings (13-13-7) visit the Flyers (14-12-7) at Wells Fargo Center on Wednesday (8 p.m. ET; NBCSN, NHL.TV). Here's my breakdown of the game:

Red Wings

Pluses: Captain Henrik Zetterberg leads by example on and off the ice. He may be 37 but has still been producing. Zetterberg had three assists Tuesday and has a four-game point streak (one goal, six assists). Dylan Larkin is playing better. He's not quite at the offensive pace he was his rookie season but had three assists Tuesday and has been more of a playmaker than a goal-scorer. He's got five goals and 22 assists this season and has gotten his teammates involved in the play.
Although they haven't scored with great pace overall, the Red Wings' power play has been good this season. They are converting on 21.3 percent of their chances, eighth in the NHL, and have scored with the man advantage in each of their past three games. If they can draw more penalties, they'll give themselves a better chance of winning because of how effective the power-play has been.
Lastly, they are playing on the road, where they have had better success. Detroit is 7-7-1 on the road; they have six wins in 18 games (6-6-6) at Little Caesars Arena.

Minuses: The Red Wings seem to go through stretches where they have lapses in how they defend. Although they won the game, they were outshot 23-4 by the Islanders in the second period Tuesday. The Red Wings rank in the bottom third of the League in terms of goals-for and goals-against. It's not a good combination when you aren't scoring enough and are also allowing too many goals.
The Red Wings are still trying to forge and establish a new identity. That's going to take some time for a team that's been as good as they have for the past 25 years, but missing the Stanley Cup Playoffs last season signaled it was probably time to rebuild. Although the young guys are getting chances, it's still been a process and there have been growing pains along the way.
Neither goalie has been above average. Jimmy Howard and Petr Mrazek each has a goals-against average of at least 2.83, and Mrazek has the Red Wings' lone shutout. This isn't what we've come to know and expect from the Red Wings goalies over the years.

Flyers

Pluses: For the Flyers, it starts with the top line. Jakub Voracek leads them with 41 points, and leads the League in assists with 33. Sean Couturier has had a breakout offensive season with 30 points and has already tied his NHL career high in goals with 15. Claude Giroux (36 points) is playing the way we know he's capable of playing. The bottom line is, they have one of the best top lines in the League.
Goalie Brian Elliott has been a big reason for their recent turnaround. He was the NHL's Third Star of the Week two weeks ago and the Second Star last week. He's 6-1-0 with a .936 goals-against average in his past seven starts and his looked more confident and been making most of the saves he's needed to make.
The Flyers have played better overall defensively. They gave up 25 shots on Monday and have allowed 28 or fewer shots in five of six games. In their past seven games, they've allowed a total of 13 goals. This is the way they need to play if they're going to turn it around.

Minuses: The Flyers have been inconsistent overall. They are probably where we'd expect them to be in terms of the makeup of the team. Prior to the 10-game losing streak, they hadn't won or lost more than two games in a row. We'll see where that goes as the season progresses, but they've been playing good hockey recently.
Another challenge for them has been getting production from up and down the lineup. Besides the top line, they need others to contribute. Defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere is their fourth-leading scorer (25 points). After him, it's Wayne Simmonds, who has 10 goals but only one in his past five games. I think he's been playing with an injury but hasn't complained. He's a 25-30-goal scorer and isn't at that pace right now, so I think he may be dealing with something.
Lastly, trading center Brayden Schenn looks like a mistake. I know they got draft picks, but with what he's doing in St. Louis right now, they could use him. Schenn is among the League leaders in points with 38 (16 goals, 22 assists), is third in the League at plus-22 and is tied for first with six game-winning goals. That's a great all-around presence who could have helped the Flyers.

THREE THINGS TO WATCH

1. Who will Detroit coach Jeff Blashill match up against the Giroux line?
   2. Can the Red Wings keep their power-play success going?
   3. How do the young guys on each team fare?