Flyers Score 6, Down Struggling Red Wings

By Kevin Durso, Sports Talk Philly editor 

The Flyers were out-shot 13-2 in the first 13 minutes of game action on Friday afternoon and only locked in a 1-1 tie thanks to their goaltender. A late goal on the power play in the first period and another late goal in the second proved to be the difference-makers that set the Flyers on their way to another win.

The Flyers finished Friday's game strong with Sean Couturier scoring with 11.9 seconds remaining in the second period to give the Flyers a two-goal lead. Three goals in the third period capped off a 6-1 win over the struggling Detroit Red Wings on Friday afternoon at Wells Fargo Center.

The Flyers struck for the game's first goal after a big save by their netminder. Carter Hart stopped a quality chance from Brendan Perlini off the rush with the pad. That set the stage for Matt Niskanen to lead a pass to Scott Laughton for a breakaway. Laughton beat Calvin Pickard through the five-hole to make it 1-0 with his second goal in the last two games at 2:56.

The Red Wings kept the pressure on and tied the game off a transitional rush. Andreas Athanasiou entered the zone with speed and tried to put a chance toward the net that deflected back perfect to a trailing Robby Fabbri. Fabbri fired a slap shot that beat Hart to tie the game at 8:09.

For the first 13 minutes of the period, Detroit dominated the possession game and opened up a 13-2 lead in shots. Hart kept the score tied with a few great saves, including an incredible glove save on Filip Zadina from the slot with Detroit on a power play.

Late in the period, the Flyers got a power play chance of their own and cashed in. On a rebound, Shayne Gostisbehere put a chance on goal and it rolled up the stick of Pickard and into the net to break the 1-1 tie and give the Flyers the lead with 57.1 seconds remaining in the period.

The Flyers took the last seven shots of the period to bring the margin back to 13-9 in favor of Detroit.

Both sides got their share of scoring chances in the second period. The Flyers outshot the Red Wings, 17-14, in the middle period, and each team had another power play.

In the final minute of the period, again the Flyers took advantage of a scoring chance. Niskanen led a rush up the right wing and centered for Couturier. Couturier's initial shot was stopped by Pickard, but he stayed with the rebound to give the Flyers a two-goal lead with just 11.9 seconds left in the period.

The Flyers opened the third with two more quick strikes. Laughton set up Kevin Hayes with a nice pass to the side of the net just 27 seconds into the period to start the scoring. Just 30 seconds later, Oskar Lindblom poked in a rebound to make it 5-1, his team-leading 10th goal of the season. With the addition of the Couturier goal, it was three goals in 1:09.

The Flyers maintained the lead for most of the rest of the period before another late goal with added in the final three minutes. James van Riemsdyk scored for the first time in 11 games to make it 6-1 with 2:09 to play.

Hart finished the game with 32 saves in the win. Pickard made 29 saves in the loss.

Jake Voracek had three assists in the game. Niskanen, Couturier and Laughton each had two-point games.

The Flyers return to the ice on Saturday afternoon with a quick turnaround against the Montreal Canadiens. Game time is 3 p.m.

Box Score

Scoring Summary

1st Period

• PHI Scott Laughton (2) (Matt Niskanen) 2:56
• DET Robby Fabbri (5) (Andreas Athanasiou, Valtteri Filppula) 8:09
• PHI Shayne Gostisbehere (2) PP (Jake Voracek, Sean Couturier) 19:02

2nd Period

• PHI Couturier (8) (Niskanen, Voracek) 19:48

3rd Period

• PHI Kevin Hayes (7) (Laughton, Joel Farabee) 0:27
• PHI Oskar Lindblom (10) (Ivan Provorov, Voracek) 0:57
• PHI James van Riemsdyk (5) (Tyler Pitlick, Robert Hagg) 17:51

Game Statistics