Ray Emery made 35 saves in the Flyers 4-2 win over the Red Wings on Saturday night. (Photo by Amy Irvin/38Photography)
Craig Berube said it best following the game. The Flyers third win of the season, and first on home ice, was not pretty.
There weren't many positives. But the Flyers still managed to steal a game, defeating the Red Wings, 4-2, on Saturday night.
"We didn’t play a very good game, but two points is two points," Berube said.
The Flyers did have positives in the win. Perhaps the biggest was a strong defensive game, at least from the six defensemen, including Shayne Gostisbehere in his NHL debut.
Ray Emery was even better in goal, up to the task on 35 shots.
Very seldom do you see the Flyers struggle on the offensive front. They generally get chances and find a way to score a couple of goals. In this game, the ice was tilted dramatically.
"There was a commitment in our end to play defense and win the hockey game. Including our goalie, who made the saves," Berube said. "But just from a puck possession and offensive standpoint we weren’t good at all."
Perhaps the most surprising thing was the result. The Flyers were out-shot by the Red Wings, 24-8, through 40 minutes of play. But the scoreboard still read 1-1 following the second period.
"After those first two periods, we were lucky to still be in the game,” Michael Raffl said. "Ray played outstanding. At the end of the day, it’s all about getting the win and we found a way to do that."
Raffl had an assist on Nick Grossmann's game-tying goal in the final two minutes of the second. He also scored the Flyers second goal and iced the game with an empty-net goal. He was among the Flyers best forwards.
But one area where the forwards lacked was on the defensive end. Both Detroit goals were the result of miscommunication or mistakes by forwards. On Riley Sheahan's goal in the first, Claude Giroux slightly collided with Mark Streit, causing Giroux to lose his assignment. On Pavel Datsyuk's goal in the third, the Flyers failed to clear several times before Datsyuk was found wide open in front of the net.
But the Flyers got the energy they needed at the right times. One of those instances was a holding penalty that led to Brayden Schenn's game-winning goal, the first power-play goal allowed by the Red Wings this season.
"We knew that wasn’t our best two periods," Raffl said. "We focused on skating and getting pucks deep and more offense."
The way the Flyers played isn't satisfying. It was very much like the effort that helped them lose their first two games on home ice.
But this time, the Flyers came out on the right end of the scoreboard. Two points is two points, and it's a second win this week that the Flyers have reason to be pleased with the end result even if the performance wasn't up to par.
Kevin Durso is managing editor for Flyerdelphia. Follow him on Twitter @KDursoPhilsNet.
