Detroit Red Wings bounce back with blanking of Philadelphia Flyers, 3-0
A snoozer of a first period turned into a sleeper hit as the Detroit Red Wings rebounded back into the victory column.
The Philadelphia Flyers, whose toughness and work ethic has them inside the playoff picture in the Metropolitan Division, were at Little Caesars Arena on Thursday for the third and final meeting of the season series. The Wings had luck on their side as they banked a 3-0 victory.
It's the second straight time the Wings (25-18-5) have responded to a loss by winning.
Alex Lyon made 29 saves in his second shutout of the season. Dylan Larkin scored his 20th goal of the season to make it 1-0. Moritz Seider and Andrew Copp also scored in the second period; in both cases, the puck deflected into the Flyers' net. Klim Kostin got the brunt of fighting Nicolas Deslauriers near the end of the second period.
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The teams split the first two games of the series in December, with the Flyers winning 1-0 in Philadelphia in the middle of the month and the Wings winning 7-6 in a shootout a week later in Detroit.
No carryover
The thinking was the Wings' previous game, a 5-4 loss to the Dallas Stars on Tuesday, was something to build off after nearly rallying with a two-goal third period But that didn't hold up Thursday: They were on their heels early, forced by the Flyers to play defense and try to keep the puck away from Lyon. When the Wings did gain the Flyers' zone, Alex DeBrincat's giveaway ended that jaunt. A power play materialized at 7:26, but the best the Wings managed was when Dylan Larkin's shot clanked off the crossbar. Flyers goaltender Samuel Ersson only had to make four saves in the first period, while Lyon made nine.
That's more like it
Larkin continued his path towards what would be a third straight 30-goal season when he scored early in the second period. Lucas Raymond fired a shot from the right side that Ersson deflected to the left, and Larkin caught the bouncing puck and sent it bar-down into the net. That was Larkin's 20th goal this season, his second straight game with a goal and his 10th straight game with a point. It sparked the Wings, who responded by out-chancing their opponent while killing a soft call on Olli Määttä; Jake Walman began the penalty kiull by skating the puck up ice and firing a shot at Ersson and then going back to his own zone an and blocking a shot by Travis Sanheim. Seider kept the momentum going when he took a pass from Raymond, took a couple steps in from the blue line and fired a shot that deflected in to make it 2-0, at 7:15.
Good hustle
Seider, a top penalty killer, had to watch the next celebration from the penalty box, where he was serving 2 minutes for boarding Tyson Foerster. Credit Michael Rasmussen for shaking off two defenders behind Philadelphia's net to win the puck battle and get the puck out front, where Copp turned the pass into a shorthanded goal and a 3-0 lead with his 100th career score. Walman was key in protecting that when Lyon strayed from the net, keeping the puck away from the open-door invitation long enough for Lyon to get back into position.
Contact Helene St. James at hstjames@freepress.com. Follow her on Twitter @helenestjames.
Her latest book, “On the Clock: Behind the Scenes with the Detroit Red Wings at the NHL Draft,” is available from Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Triumph Books. Personalized copies available via her e-mail.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit Red Wings shut out Philadelphia Flyers, 3-0, at LCA
