The Philadelphia Flyers hosted the Detroit Red Wings hoping to earn their 27th win of the season.
Coming off an impressive comeback victory over the Minnesota Wild in their last contest, the Philadelphia Flyers looked for their second consecutive win as they played host to the Detroit Red Wings in the first half of a home-and-home series.
Carter Hart received the start from Interim Head Coach Scott Gordon and opposed Jimmy Howard in-net. Howard had a 17-15-5 record coming in, with a 2.74 Goals-Against Average, and a .915 save percentage. The Flyers had to key in on their special teams performance if they wanted their best chance to defeat Detroit.
The Flyers kicked off the first with some decent pressure in Detroit’s zone, eventually leading to Shayne Gostisbehere’s sixth goal of the season to make it a 1-0 game just five minutes in. Nolan Patrick made a terrific pass to set-up Ghost low short side, continuing his rock solid play for Philadelphia as of late.
Detroit responded later on in the period, tying the game due to a deflection goal from Gustav Nyquist in front of the net. Hart had close to no chance to make the save with the Flyers defense failing to cover Nyquist in their own zone. The 20 year-old net-minder did rebound with a couple of nice saves through the final five minutes, keeping everything at one after one period of play.
The second started with the Flyers receiving a power-play opportunity after Hart made a nice save on Nyquist. Philadelphia’s second unit would again come through, as Travis Konecny potted his 16th of the season with seconds remaining on the man advantage to regain a one goal lead for his team. Scott Laughton joined in on the fun not long after, quickly putting the Flyers up 3-1 off an assist from Wayne Simmonds. Neither team found the back of the net again after two periods, with both failing to convert on a power-play during that span as well.
Jakub Voracek and Patrick each began the third with a goal, scoring less than two minutes into the period to enhance the Philadelphia lead to four. Voracek’s tally extended his point streak to nine games and was his third in his last five games. The Red Wings didn’t go down easy, though, getting within two in the matter of 44 seconds thanks to goals from Tyler Bertuzzi and Thomas Vanek. Philadelphia was basically caught sleeping on defense two times, especially in letting Vanek walk his way down easy street for the lead-cutting goal.
Anthony Mantha went on to tip home a Danny DeKeyser wrist shot and put Detroit within one just over halfway through the stanza. Momentum had swung in the opposite direction and the Flyers were desperately clinging on to a 5-4 lead. Mantha scored again with just seven seconds to go, sending the game to overtime tied at five. Detroit pulled their goaltender, leading to the uncovered Mantha deflecting the puck passed Hart.
Konecny bailed the Flyers out with a great wrap-around goal, leading them to a 6-5 overtime victory. While this game should have never made it close to going to overtime, Philadelphia still pulled it out even with a less than stellar performance from Hart between the crease. T.K. had two points on the day, both being goals, and was up there with Patrick for player of the game in my opinion.
The Flyers are now 27-24-7 on the year. Next game is Sunday against the Red Wings in the second part of the home-and-home.