Detroit Red Wings roar back in Philly but come up just short in OT

The second-period woes continued for the Detroit Red Wings this afternoon in Philadelphia. The Flyers were able to chase Jimmy Howard after he allowed 5 goals, en route to a 6-5 victory over the Wings in overtime.

Everything seemed under control at the conclusion of the first period for the Detroit Red Wings. The teams’ skated to a 1-1 tie after the first period. Shayne Gostisbehere opened the scoring this afternoon with a beautiful snapshot over the right shoulder of Jimmy Howard.

Gustav Nyquist was able to answer shortly after with his 15th of the season. Mike Green and Tyler Bertuzzi who would score later in the contest both assisted on the goal. The shots mainly stayed close the entire afternoon as the game went on.

The Detroit Red Wings forgot to show up for the second period as they do all too often. The Flyers roared into the frame scoring a pair of goals just 4:00 into the second. Travis Konecny and Scott Laughton went back to back for the Flyers and extended the lead to 3-1.

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The third period was much of the same for the Flyers as they once again scored a pair of goals within the first 1:24 of the period to make it 5-1. Captain hook would then come for Jimmy Howard. He gave way to Jonathan Bernier who tried to hold the fort while his teammates tried to chip away at the Philly lead.

Chip away is precisely what the Detroit Red Wings did. The team scored four unanswered goals themselves. The Wings got consecutive goals from Tyler Bertuzzi, Thomas Vanek, and Anthony Mantha (twice). Detroit stormed back to make it a one-shot game with half of the third period left. It’s amazing how often a goaltending change can spark a team. The skaters feel just as bad as the goaltender they’ve left out to dry and often rally around the change to make up for their misfortune or lack of effort.

Although the Detroit Red Wings were able to roar back in this game, they fell just short. The Wings were sloppy in their own zone; I thought having a veteran group on defense was suppose to limit in zone mistakes? Jonathan Ericsson looked flat out lousy today in his own zone. At times I fell terrible for Trevor Daley or whoever is Ericsson’s partner throughout the game. Mike Green struggled at times getting organized with Kronwall. They were caught chasing and having trouble exiting their own zone.

The two best Wings players today were clearly Tyler Bertuzzi who looks like he hasn’t missed a beat after being sidelined with a concussion. Anthony Mantha whose been cold over the last two weeks was a tipping machine today in front of young Cater Hart.

Andreas Athanasiou was a -3 three today as he skated as the second line center in the absence of Frans Nielsen who missed today with the flu. I recently wrote Athanasiou could benefit by playing center, it would create more open ice for him to utilize his wheels.

I was wrong on this front; it seems there are too much defensive zone responsibilities playing center and Andreas doesn’t seem ready for that. He also struggles in the faceoff circle. I think having him play on the wing and limiting his responsibilities allows him to play more within his comfort zone.

Dylan Larkin was somewhat quiet today, although he recorded an assist and played north of 22:00 minutes he didn’t quite stand out as much as he usually does. He played a lot against Sean Couturier which didn’t exactly allow him to get loose.

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There wasn’t much in the way of special teams today. The Flyers went 1-2 on the PP while the Red Wings were 0-1. The Wings did outshoot the Flyers today to the tune on 38-32. The two teams will square off once again tomorrow evening in Detroit at 6 pm. Tomorrow is “hockey day in America” so enjoy the full menu of hockey folks.

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