Hart Wins Debut as Flyers Hold Off Red Wings

(Photo: Kate Frese)

By Kevin Durso, Sports Talk Philly editor 

More notable changes were going to have an effect on the Flyers one way or the other. With Scott Gordon behind the bench and Carter Hart in goal, the Flyers turned in a different effort than the ones seen on the road trip that ended with four-straight losses.

Hart made 20 saves, Shayne Gostisbehere and James van Riemsdyk had two points each and Gordon got his first win as Flyers head coach, defeating the Detroit Red Wings, 3-2, on Tuesday night at Wells Fargo Center.

The early part of the game was dominated by penalty time. The Flyers got an early power play, but play went to 4-on-4 with 42 seconds left on the man-advantage. 

Hart wasn't tested early, seeing just one shot in the first 11 minutes of the game, but he finished the period with eight saves after a Detroit power play.

Shortly after the Flyers killed off the Detroit power play, they managed a goal. A shot from center point by Claude Giroux was deflected in by van Riemsdyk with 1:27 left in the opening period.

After 20 minutes, the Flyers led in shots, 11-8.

Hart's shutout bid came to an end with the Flyers back on the penalty kill early in the second. A nice set-up by Dylan Larkin left Dennis Cholowski with room from the slot. With the help of a Thomas Vanek screen, Cholowski went upstairs with the shot to tie the game.

The Flyers responded to regain the lead at 8:52. A pass from Travis Konecny went across ice and eluded Giroux, going to Radko Gudas instead. Gudas fired and scored to put the Flyers ahead. Detroit challenged for goalie interference but the call stood.

With under five minutes remaining in the period, the Flyers got the puck in transition after a turnover at the Philadelphia blue line. Nolan Patrick set up Gostisbehere for the tally, his first in 16 games, to put the Flyers ahead by two.

Hart saw just four shots in the period until the closing seconds, when he made two big pad saves to keep the margin at two.

After two periods, shots were 20-14 Flyers.

The two-goal lead lasted just two minutes for the Flyers. Jacob De La Rose got positioning in front of the net and was able to bury the quick chance off a centering feed from Martin Frk to cut the Flyers lead to one.

The Flyers kept the pressure on and generated 13 shots in the final 20 minutes to eight for the Red Wings.

In the closing seconds, Hart made one more big stop to secure the win, his first in the NHL. He finished with 20 saves on 22 shots.

Jonathan Bernier made 30 saves on 33 shots for Detroit.

The Flyers are back in action on Thursday night against the Nashville Predators. Game time is at 7 p.m.

Box Score

Scoring Summary

1st Period

• PHI James van Riemsdyk (4) (Claude Giroux, Shayne Gostisbehere) 18:33

2nd Period

• DET Dennis Cholowski (6) PP (Gustav Nyquist, Dylan Larkin) 4:12
• PHI Radko Gudas (2) (Travis Konecny, van Riemsdyk) 8:52
• PHI Gostisbehere (4) (Nolan Patrick, Michael Raffl) 15:17

3rd Period

• DET Jacob De La Rose (2) (Martin Frk, Christoffer Ehn) 2:00

Game Statistics