Pavel Datsyuk celebrates with his teammates after scoring in the third period of the Flyers 5-2 loss to the Red Wings.
The Flyers played like the team that wanted it more offensively. They fired 34 shots on Jimmy Howard and the Red Wings.
But the defense and goalie Ray Emery struggled and the offense couldn't finish.
More of what has plagued the Flyers all season continued on Saturday, as the Flyers capped off a weekend with back-to-back losses, falling to Detroit, 5-2, at Joe Lewis Arena.
The Red Wings would strike first, marking the fourth game this season that the opponent has scored first on the Flyers, at 7:13, as Todd Bertuzzi finished off a wrap-around for the opening goal.
Detroit picked up the second goal as well on the power play at 11:08 of the second, as some quick passing resulted in a goal for Niklas Kronwall. Just 34 seconds later, Erik Gustafsson, starting in place of Andrej Meszaros, scored on a long shot from the point to beat Howard and cut the lead to one.
The Red Wings would score again just three minutes into the third with Pavel Datsyuk getting on the board with a strong backhander from the slot. Again, just two minutes later, another new addition to the lineup, Tye McGinn, scored to cut the lead to one. Claude Giroux assisted on McGinn's goal to finally record his first point of the season.
Henrik Zetterberg would score twice in the final seven minutes of the game, including one empty-net goal, to cap the scoring.
The Flyers struggled on the penalty kill as the Red Wings went 3-for-7 on the power play. The Flyers took seven minor penalties in the game, including one by Wayne Simmonds that negated a Flyers power play. The Flyers were 0-for-4 on the power play for the second straight night, moving to 0-for-15 in power-play chances in their last four games.
Emery also made 25 saves on 29 shots on the night. Four members of the Red Wings – Datsyuk, Zetterberg, Kronwall and Daniel Alfredsson – recorded three points each in the game.
The now 1-5-0 Flyers are off until Tuesday when they are visited by the Vancouver Canucks.
Kevin Durso is a contributor for Flyerdelphia. You can follow him on twitter @KDursoPhilsNet.
