The Detroit Red Wings were right back at it early Sunday evening in Philadephia, trying to wash the bad taste out of their mouths following a very uninspiring effort Saturday afternoon in New York, losing 4-1 to the Islanders.
No professional team deserves a pass, but perhaps the ‘shock’ of Friday’s NHL trade deadline played a role in the Red Wings’ lack of energy and effort against New York. Dylan Larkin didn’t even have time to celebrate his new eight-year contract extension before seeing his good friend Tyler Bertuzzi shipped off to Boston.
Detroit Red Wings general manager Steve Yzerman also sent Filip Hronek to Vancouver, Oskar Sundqvist to Minnesota, and Jakub Vrana to the Blues. It’s clear Yzerman will be aggressive in either direction, but right now, it’s in more of a negative context as a seller rather than being a buyer. Hopefully, shortly, Yzerman will be moving draft capital to buy rather than continue to acquire future assets. Right now, it feels like one step forward and two steps back for this organization, but it’s clear Detroit isn’t ready to make a Stanley Cup run, so making transactions with the long-term future in mind is undoubtedly the priority.
The Detroit Red Wings losing streak extends to six games as they fall 3-1 to the Philadelphia Flyers.
The Detroit Red Wings got some good news on Sunday; starting goaltender Ville Husso returned to the cage for Detroit. Aside from Husso, the Detroit Red Wings went with the same lineup as Saturday in New York but juggled the lines a bit. Husso was fantastic in the first period making 13 saves. A couple of them were nothing short of extraordinary.
Detroit got off to a good start in Philadelphia, finishing the first period with a 1-0 lead. Head coach Derek Lalonde rewarded Filip Zadina for his solid play of late, elevating him to the top line with Dylan Larkin and Lucas Raymond. David Perron found twine after a nice give-and-go with Andrew Copp; it was Perron’s 16th goal of the season. Perron ripped a firm wrist shot past goaltender Carter Hart from the hash marks. Perron recently welcomed a child to the world and displayed some ‘dad strength’ on that goal.
The Flyers would tie the game at 6:53 of the second period. Tough guy Nicolas Deslauriers scored his fifth goal of the season. It was a short-handed goal on a breakaway thanks to a terrible turnover by Jake Walman at Philadelphia’s blue line. This was the 11th short-handed goal Detroit had allowed this season, which is completely inexcusable.
Things continued to go poorly for the Red Wings in the second period. Noah Cates scored his 10th of the season by redirecting what looked to be a harmless point shot from Nick Seeler past a helpless Husso, making it 2-1 Flyers.
Moritz Seider abandoned his post on the play and perhaps would have been better positioned to defend the play if he had stayed with Cates rather than skating to the circle.
The Detroit Red Wings totaled just five shots in the second period for a total of 15 through two periods to Philadephia’s nine and 23 total. Detroit’s turnovers continued to hinder their transition play. Jordan Oesterle tried to go up the middle from the right of Husso and was picked off by Owen Tippett, who had a glorious scoring chance but was denied by Husso.
The final goal was an empty netter from Scott Laughton, who was absolutely robbed by Husso on a breakaway moments before. It’s Laughton’s 15th of the season. Moritz Seider’s stick exploded as he attempted a point shot which left him utterly defenseless on the play.
Detroit was outshot 37-26 and went 0-2 on the power play but was a perfect 3-3 on the penalty kill. Detroit dominated the faceoff circle, winning 61.1% of the draws but was unable to take advantage of it.
Next up for Detroit is a date with the Chicago Blackhawks on Wednesday at home. The puck is scheduled to drop at 7:30 for that one.