Wings Come Back But Fall Short in OT: Detroit 2, Philadelphia 3 (OT)

Detroit made up a 1 goal deficit after two periods, but Travis Konecny wins it in overtime for the Flyers.

Pete Flynn

• 5 min read Front Page

First Period

I was really excited to get to see Joe Hicketts play tonight, but life is a series of disappointments until you die.

OK, that’s a bit extreme. OK, that’s a lot extreme, but I am bummed that I can’t see more of Hicketts.

The game started with a moment of silence for Jim Johannson:

Voracek gets the first good chance of the game, but he rips a wrister over the net from the slot.

The line of Zetterberg - Mantha - Nyquist gets a good chance shortly after.

With just over 4 minutes gone, Bertuzzi makes a nifty move to drive to the net and nearly scores a pretty goal. Nice to see the youngster show a bit of skill at the NHL level.

Larkin nearly puts Detroit ahead from a sharp angle, but the score remains tied. Detroit definitely has some jump to start the game. They are outchancing Philly so far, which is a refreshing break from the last batch of games I’ve recapped.

GOAL!!

Ericsson takes a one-timer from the point and it deflects of Manning’s skate in front and past Elliott. Glendening gets the assist, so if you had Ericsson from Glendening to open the scoring, go buy a lottery ticket

Nyquist and Zetterberg nearly combined for a highlight reel goal. Nyquist found himself all alone in front of Elliott, but when Z got him the puck, he wasn’t in position to get a good shot off, so he dropped it back for Zetterberg who couldn’t get there quickly enough to put it in the open net.

We go to the first intermission up 1-0. Mrazek still has a s....period of time without giving up a goal.

He had a real nice save with about 10 seconds left to keep the score at zero. Detroit has done a good job overall so far of limiting the Flyers’ chances.

Second Period

Oh come on.

Andrew Macdonald ties the game at 1 just over a minute into the period. It looked like the Red Wings didn’t shift over quickly enough and Macdonald had way too much time.

Zetterberg nearly re-gained the lead on the next shift, but Elliott made a huge save on what looked like a sure goal.

Philadelphia goes to the power play as Luke Witkowski realized there hadn’t been a penalty yet in the game and said “Hold my beard conditioner.” The call was charging, but it looked more like interference as he hit Raffl after the puck had gone.

Glendening has a good chance shorthanded, and Detroit does a good job of limiting the scoring chances against. Mrazek has to make one good save. He’s played well overall tonight. Even though they didn’t score, it seems like the power play has given Philly the momentum.

Mrazek is forced to make a huge save, but he’s up to the challenge.

After a shift where it looked like the Flyers set up in Detroit’s zone like they were still on the man-advantage, Manning rings one off the post and we go to commercial.

The ice is now tilted heavily toward the Detroit net. The Flyers are all over the place, and Detroit has no answer right now. Larkin’s line settles things down a bit, then Philly nearly hits Voracek for a breakaway, but luckily for the Red Wings, the Flyer literally hit Voracek with the pass.

Raffl goes to the box, and Detroit goes to their first power play.

The Zetterberg unit gets a few good chances, and has some good puck movement. Larkin doesn’t get a zone entry pass past Couturier, and the Flyer goes the other way. Mrazek makes the save, and the Red Wings have a three-on-two going back towards Elliott. Larkin can’t thread the centering pass through, and the penalty expires.

Athanasiou has some fancy stickhandling moves, then feeds Bertuzzi for a glorious shot in the slot. Elliott makes a fantastic save to keep it tied. Going the other way, Larkin trips Konecny. Voracek scores on the power play to make it 2-1. Detroit challenges for goaltender interference because of course they do, but the goal counts.

The period ends with Detroit trailing 2-1. Detroit had the better of play in the first, but Philly definitely turned the tide in the second.

Third Period

The Flyers are 17-0-3 when leading after 2 periods, but I have a good feeling about this.

Dekeyser throws a puck at the net from behind the goal line. For a second it looks like the loose puck might be jumped on by a Red Wing, but the puck gets covered before that can happen.

Elliott makes a big save on Larkin. Athanasiou sprung 71 on a breakaway, but Larkin couldn’t beat Elliott.

The kid line of Larkin - Athanasiou - Bertuzzi has had another good game offensively, creating chances throughout the game.

GOAL!

Nielsen puts a rebound past Elliott and we are tied at 2. Tatar was right there too.

Oh man, Bertuzzi had a glorious chance to take the lead, but the puck flipped up on him just before he shot:

Hagg sends Detroit to the power play with a garbage hit on Bertuzzi. The Red Wing was facing the boards and Hagg drilled him from behind. Absolutely no need for that. He goes for boarding.

The best chance of the power play came on a slick pass from Zetterberg to Frk who couldn’t get the one-timer off and had to hold the puck before shooting. The penalty expires and it’s still 2-2.

Bertuzzi nearly scored again! He couldn’t get his stick on a puck sitting right in the crease. I don’t know how this didn’t go in.

Even so, Bertuzzi has been involved in everything tonight.

We go to Overtime

Overtime

Philly controls the puck for much of overtime, then Larkin steals the puck and starts to bring it out of the zone. The puck is poked away at the blue line, and Konecny makes a heads-up play to make sure his skate clears the zone before touching the puck with his stick.

Mrazek really should have had this one, but he doesn’t, and the game ends 3-2 in OT.