After earning much-needed wins earlier this week, the Detroit Red Wings and Philadelphia Flyers hope to build on those performances Thursday when they face off in Pennsylvania.
Detroit snapped a season-high five-game losing streak Monday with a 6-5 victory against the Buffalo Sabres. The Red Wings trailed 5-3 with under 10 minutes left in regulation before tying things up and eventually prevailing in a shootout.
“It was a massive win for us,” said Detroit’s Dylan Larkin, who had two assists in regulation before netting the decisive goal in the shootout. “… It was good for our hockey team to score some goals, to be down and come back and win like that.”
Andrew Copp added two goals for the Red Wings, while Lucas Raymond scored once in regulation and again in the shootout. The headliner for Detroit, however, was Sebastian Cossa, who relieved Ville Husso in net after the first period and went on to earn the win in his NHL debut.
It’s been a grueling stretch for the Red Wings, who have played 11 straight games decided by two goals or fewer. During their five-game losing streak, each of those defeats came by a single goal, including twice in overtime.
“We needed one to go our way,” Detroit coach Derek Lalonde said, adding that his team was “a little sloppy tonight, but we produced some offense. Give a lot of credit to the guys (for hanging) in there.”
The Red Wings’ story actually sounds similar to what the Flyers have gone through in November. Philadelphia had lost three in a row prior to authoring a solid performance in Tuesday’s 5-3 road victory over the Columbus Blue Jackets.
Travis Konecny had two goals and Owen Tippett tallied for the fifth time in as many games for the Flyers, who play eight of their next 10 games on the road after Thursday’s contest.
“We needed that win,” Konecny said. “We’ve been going in the wrong direction for a few games, so it was good to turn it around.”
Philadelphia, like Detroit, has had a long stretch of games decided by two goals or fewer — nine in a row.
“I felt it was an important game for us to get back to playing with energy,” Flyers coach John Tortorella said.
The Flyers and Red Wings have one other commonality in that they have not reached the postseason in several years. Detroit has missed the playoffs in each of the last eight seasons (and has an uphill battle to reach the postseason in 2025). Philadelphia, meanwhile, has a decent shot to end its four-year playoff drought.
That said, the Flyers players are aiming to take things one game at a time.
“I think it’s still a little early to look at standings and movement and stuff, but, obviously, you know when the big games are, when you play in your conference and division,” Tippett said. “Those are the points that matter coming down to the end.”
This is the first meeting of the season between the teams, who will face off again next week in Detroit and then once again in Philadelphia on Jan. 21.
–Field Level Media