Flyers zip by Red Wings in 4-3 win

Sean Couturier #14 of the Philadelphia Flyers celebrates his third period goal against the Detroit Red Wings with his teammates on the bench on December 20, 2017 at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Len Redkoles/NHLI via Getty Images)

Just when it looked as if consistency was in the works for the Red Wings, the Flyers got into action to beat them. A strong third period from Philadelphia allowed them to dictate the end result which finished in a 4-3 win for the Flyers at Wells Fargo Arena Wednesday night. Goals due to strong line pass plays gave them a win that broke Detroit’s two game winning streak.

Detroit’s two game winning streak was a pleasant sight for them as they added one from Tuesday’s strong fight against the New York Islanders. Despite a battle of scoring goals, the Red Wings managed to stay ahead of them in the third period to win 6-3. Having a back to back against the Flyers put them on an even keel as they lost to the Los Angeles Kings Monday. With Howard in net for Detroit and the team vying for their first three game streak this season.

They began the game with a production of many scoring chances in the Flyers zone that goaltender Brian Elliot dealt with. Detroit didn’t stop and kept their chances plentiful in the search for a game leading goal. Philadelphia turned possession get time in the Detroit end and create their own opportunities to score first. By the ten-minute mark, the Flyers got three with two that nearly had the Red Wings beaten. Howard somehow made some serious saves with a wide-open spot to his left where he got a glove on the puck while near flat on the ice.

It was just what the Flyers needed as they made good on the second half of the period and rallied to fire away at Howard. With 4:41 left in the first Philadelphia’s Radko Gudas fired a shot wide that ended up behind the Detroit net. Dale Wiese got to it setting him up with a wraparound attempt that gave him his fourth of the year and the lead for their team.

The Red Wings got a power play to try and level the score before the period. They did it with 1.3 seconds left with Dylan Larkin adding another assist to his name setting up Martin Frk with a goal. It was Frk’s eighth goal the second straight in back to back games. Detroit successfully outshot the Flyers 11-10 making a strong finish after twenty minutes.

The remainder of their man advantage didn’t work out for them but gained a four-minute power play. During their time, Flyers defenseman Ivan Provorov took a puck to the hand that took him off the ice but not away from the bench. While he was being tended to, the Flyers PK unit took care of killing a lot of time from the Red Wings but Mike Green had other ideas as he set up near the back end before firing one through for his fourth. He became the second player from the Red Wings to reach a scoring streak through two games.

The Flyers fought to get back into contention and did so tying the game five minutes later with a great play that began with Flyers captain Claude Giroux. While Giroux made the long pass to Jakub Voracek, Wayne Simmonds set himself up to the right of Howard where his reception of the puck gave him a quick chance to score his 11^th of the year. The Red Wings made a statement 41 seconds later with a fight from Gustav Nyquist where he beat the Philadelphia defense to make it a 3-2 lead for Detroit and his tenth becoming the third to go on the scoring streak.

Robert Hagg got the Flyers tied up again with a drive that thread itself through plenty of players in front of Howard to gain his first of the season with five minutes left on the clock. The fight was still on high for both teams as they found themselves in another stalemate. When the second period concluded, the Flyers took their chances in the Detroit zone but the Red Wings had them covered. Detroit outshot them 13-11 with the notion that they weren’t going to make it easy for their Eastern Conference rivals.

The Flyers struck first in the third which had Sean Couturier finishing the play with his 16^th goal at 5:57. With ten minutes left in the game, they produced seven shots on goal while the Red Wings struggled to get their first in the period. Detroit captain Henrik Zetterberg got his team on the board but the late start had them struggling to not only fight Philadelphia but also recover the lost ground.

The Flyers weren’t making it easy as they continued to pressure the Red Wings and dominate the period. At one point, they had Howard overwhelmed to the point that he found himself using teammate Tomas Tatar’s stick to keep the margin at one goal. Once a break came to Detroit, they had five minutes left in regulation showing desperation in their performance.

Two minutes were left on the clock and before Howard could be taken off the ice for an extra man, they got a power play to close out the game with a minor for elbowing. Unfortunately, there was a matching penalty to Andreas Athanasiou for diving making it 4 on 4. Howard came off to bring on a fifth where they hoped it would be enough to send things into overtime. The Red Wings tried everything to get shots in front of Elliot but the Flyers did work to stop them, blocking shots and taking away the puck to bring it to an end.

Elliot picked up his 13^th victory this season making 25 saves on the night for a .893 save percentage. Howard had a strong night despite the loss in which he stopped 27 of 31 for a .871. He and Detroit would not let the close defeat get to them as they get another shot to taking on the Boston Bruins which takes place Saturday.