Hayes, Elliott Lift Flyers to Shutout Win in Detroit

By Kevin Durso, Sports Talk Philly editor 

After playing several games over the last few weeks without much respite from the top teams in the NHL, the Flyers found themselves in Detroit on Monday night to take the on the team with the fewest points in the NHL standings. It's a game that has been a challenge for the Flyers. They can run with the best on one night and on the next play down to the opposition.

On this night, the Flyers took care of business, getting a pair of shorthanded goals, including another from Kevin Hayes, while Brian Elliott made 16 saves in another shutout and the Flyers claimed the 3-0 win over the Red Wings.

The Flyers controlled most of the play in the first period, but neither team could score. Shots were 11-5 Flyers through 20 minutes.

Even in the second, the game certainly had moments where play was wide open and both teams committed a few turnovers, but there wasn't anything in terms of offense.

Finally, the Flyers broke through just before the halfway point of the game. Scott Laughton took a pass from Michael Raffl in the slot and fired it low to beat Jonathan Bernier and make it 1-0.

Early in the third, the Red Wings had a chance to find the equalizer by getting a power play. Instead, it was the Flyers getting the crucial next goal. Hayes managed to knock away a pass and jump on the loose puck with a step on a breakaway and fired glove side on Bernier to make it 2-0 with his 17th goal of the season and fourth shorthanded goal of the season, tied for the NHL league lead.

The Flyers kept the pressure on from there, getting several great scoring chances that Bernier stopped. Back on the penalty kill in the final three minutes of the game, Matt Niskanen fired from a distance and scored into an empty net to make it 3-0.

Elliott finished the game with 16 saves for his second shutout in the last two weeks and 40th career shutout. The Flyers also improved to 7-2-1 in their last 10 games with the win.

The Flyers get a couple of days off before facing the New Jersey Devils on Thursday night at Wells Fargo Center at 7 p.m.

Box Score

Scoring Summary

1st Period

• No Scoring

2nd Period

• PHI Scott Laughton (9) (Michael Raffl, Robert Hagg) 9:31

3rd Period

• PHI Kevin Hayes (17) SH (Unassisted) 2:47
• PHI Matt Niskanen (7) SH-EN (Ivan Provorov) 17:43

Game Statistics