For the second straight day, the Flyers had to face the dreaded shootout and if they would have lost, there would have been at least three plays that would show they deserved a better fate.
Call it poetic justice, but this time the shootout smiled on the Flyers.
Jake Voracek scored the game-winning goal in the third round of the shootout, giving the Flyers a 2-1 win over the Detroit Red Wings on Sunday night from Joe Lewis Arena.
The first two periods were a goalie show. Both teams managed multiple scoring chances in the first two periods with Petr Mrazek and Michal Neuvirth answering all of them.
The Flyers survived an early blow when Ryan White was called for a match penalty for a hit to the head of Tomas Jurco. The Flyers killed off the five-minute power play.
It took until 18:25 of the second period before one of them would be beat. It was Niklas Kronwall firing a shot from the point that hit off of Radko Gudas and rolled over the back over Neuvirth. Neuvirth's glove was hit by a passing Red Wing as the shot came in, and Dave Hakstol challenged the goal for goalie interference, but the call stood.
The Flyers wasted no time getting the goal back early in the third. Voracek's hard work in the corner led to a perfect set-up pass to Claude Giroux, who snapped a shot past Mrazek for the equalizer at 4:24.
The rest of the third featured end-to-end action and some close calls for both sides. The Flyers nearly had a goal on a loose puck in the crease that was whistled dead as referee Dave Jackson lost sight of the puck.
In the final minute of the third, Sean Couturier stole the puck from Brendan Smith on a turnover and went in on a breakaway. He was hooked down, leading to a Flyers power play with 4.8 seconds left in regulation.
Off the face-off, Shayne Gostisbehere fired a shot toward the goal that went in but was immediately waved off for goalie interference on Wayne Simmonds. While contact was made that would have nullified the goal, Simmonds was also given a minor for interference, ending the Flyers power play as the game went to overtime.
After an uneventful overtime that featured three shots for Detroit and only one for the Flyers, the game went to a shootout.
Pavel Datsyuk scored on a backhand in the second round to give the Red Wings the lead, but Giroux answered with a goal to even things up.
Neuvirth made the save on Brad Richards in the third round, and Voracek went the other way and beat Mrazek five-hole to give the Flyers the win.
Neuvirth made 29 saves and one more in the shootout — Detroit's first attempt hit the post — in earning the win. Mrazek was just as good, stopping 30 shots and one more in the shootout in a loss.
The Flyers extended their points streak to six games in the win and won for the fifth time in that stretch.
The Flyers return home on Tuesday night to face the Toronto Maple Leafs. The opening face-off is set for 7 p.m.
Kevin Durso is managing editor for Flyerdelphia. Follow him on Twitter @Kevin_Durso.
