PHILADELPHIA – The Detroit Red Wings knew collecting as many points as possible on this four-game road trip wasn’t going to come easy. So, even though a 2-1 overtime loss to the Philadelphia Flyers stings, captain Dylan Larkin acknowledged leaving Wells Fargo Center on Tuesday night with one point is better than none at all.
“You got to capitalize on opportunities and when you’re feeling good, you got to accumulate points,” Larkin said. “When it’s not going well, you got to have a night like tonight where we didn’t have our legs. It was a sloppy game, but we found a way to get a point. It would have been nice to get two, especially the way things have been going, but it was a much better effort.”
Goalie Alex Lyon made 24 saves for the Red Wings (21-21-5; 47 points), while netminder Samuel Ersson denied 27 shots for the Flyers (22-20-6; 50 points).
“When we get on the plane tonight, I think we’re making strides in certain areas,” Detroit head coach Todd McLellan said. “We’re a little better in our zone. We’re breaking the puck out a little bit better than we have in the past. We checked through the neutral zone better tonight, and those are all real good things. We didn’t rely on our power play, obviously no chances, but we got to find a way to probably score more than one a night 5-on-5 if we’re going to have success.”
The Eastern Conference foes emerged from the first period scoreless, but the Red Wings were outshot by the Flyers, 8-6. Philadelphia broke the ice 5:21 into the second period when Joel Farabee got Sean Couturier’s pass and put it in on his backhand from up close to make it 1-0.
The Flyers went on the power play with 5:55 to go in the second period, but the Red Wings' penalty kill rose to the challenge and kept the club’s deficit at just one. When the middle frame ended, shots favored the the visitors, 14-11.
“The PK was a huge PK,” Lucas Raymond said. “I think our defensive structure was really good most of the time, especially desperation around our net. Some really good O-zone as well. I think if we get a couple to fall, we’re looking at a completely different game.”
Detroit knotted the score up 1-1 just 30 seconds into the third period. Raymond got the puck from Larkin and cut into the slot from out of the corner before finding Ben Chiarot, sent a wrister from the left face-off circle past Ersson.
“It was huge,” Larkin said about Chiarot’s goal that helped send the game to overtime. “Especially my line, we didn’t have the best second period. We got out there and got on the forecheck, and that was an emphasis coming in after the second – get on the forecheck, make their D turn and that’s exactly what we did. [Raymond] made a heck of a play.”