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The Philadelphia Flyers left Detroit last month with a 7-6 shootout loss to the Red Wings. Their defense hasn’t been any better in their past three games.
The Flyers have allowed 18 goals during that three-game slide heading into their second visit to Detroit on Thursday night.
Following a five-game winning streak, the Flyers lost to the Colorado Avalanche 7-4 on Saturday. The Ottawa Senators downed them the following day, 5-3, and the Tampa Bay Lightning toppled them 6-3 on Tuesday.
The NHL’s leading scorer entering Wednesday’s games, Nikita Kucherov, racked up a hat trick and an assist for the Lighting.
Philadelphia coach John Tortorella was particularly upset with a couple of the power-play opportunities his team allowed, which the Lightning converted into two second-period goals.
“They’re not as deep as they used to be, they rely on their power play quite a bit, and we take two stupid penalties. … We were chasing the game,” Tortorella said. “We fought, we kept on trying to get back in it, but it doesn’t take them much to score a goal on a power play.”
Kucherov’s power-play tally early in the second gave Tampa Bay a 3-0 lead. The Flyers closed the gap 4-3 before the Lightning finished off their victory with two empty-netters.
“Obviously they’ve got a lot of skilled players and they are very good at what they do,” goaltender Samuel Ersson said.
“But I think maybe we made them look good (Tuesday), too. Also for us knowing we had to do a better job of staying out of the box and not taking unnecessary penalties.”
Ersson will get the bulk of the starts for the foreseeable future. Ersson had been sharing duties with Carter Hart, who has been granted an indefinite leave of absence.
“Sam’s played very well,” Tortorella said. “I’m totally confident in Sam.”
Ersson recorded a shutout against Detroit in mid-December. Less than a week later, the Wings scored five first-period goals against Hart. The Flyers rallied to take the lead but Detroit’s Dylan Larkin scored to force the extra session.
Wings forward Patrick Kane scored two goals in regulation and also converted his shootout attempt.
Kane has missed the past four games with a lower-body injury. The Red Wings fell apart in the second period of a 5-4 home loss to Dallas on Tuesday. They allowed 25 shots on goal as the Stars outscored them 4-0 in the period.
“I just didn’t feel like we took care of each other,” Red Wings forward David Perron said. “We didn’t set up the next line. Little details teams like that will make you pay. … They have three good lines that basically could be top lines on almost any team. They’ll make you pay if you make any mistakes.”
Detroit was down 5-2 entering the third. It scored two goals in the last nine minutes but couldn’t finish off the rally.
“With how everything’s been going our way in the past 10-12 games, it would’ve been easy for us to quit in the third,” Red Wings coach Derek Lalonde said. “I think that’s a very good sign for our guys to give that push and give us a chance at the end against a really good team.”
Alex DeBrincat snapped a 10-game streak without a goal. His 18 goals are second on the team to Larkin (19).
– Field Level Media
