Red Wings-Flyers Tweetcap: could’ve, would’ve, should’ve

The Detroit Red Wings hoped to build upon Friday night’s win over Buffalo as the Wings hosted the plucky Philadelphia Flyers, with whom the Red Wings will play 3 times over the final 4 weeks of the regular season.

On Saturday night at Little Caesars Arena, the Red Wings displayed both sides of a Jekyll-and-Hyde personality that has caused them so much trouble this season.

John Gibson had a rare “off game” in surrendering 4 goals on 22 shots against, and Philadelphia built up a 4-0 lead over the course of the game’s first 53 minutes…

But Mason Appleton, Alex DeBrincat and Lucas Raymond scored goals just under 3 minutes apart (in total), giving Detroit a 4-3 deficit…

With the Wings seeing Flyers captain Sean Couturier salting away a 5-3 result with an empty-netter with 2:04 remaining in regulation time.

Had the Wings started on time, or gotten better goaltending, or better defense…

You can make up a lot of, “What if’s?” about this one, but the truth is that the game was lost, and that makes the Wings’ climb back toward a playoff spot much harder.

Detroit will have two more chances to make the Flyers feel the sting of loss, starting on Thursday in Philly.

PREGAME: John Gibson and Dan Vladar led their respective teams out onto the ice…

The Philadelphia Inquirer’s Jackie Spiegel posted the Flyers’ lineup as the Flyers themselves only post starters:

And the Red Wings posted their lineup just prior to puck drop:

1ST PERIOD:

The teams dressed the following starters and lineups:

In the milestone department…

GOAL: Both Moritz Seider and Simon Edvinsson pinched at center ice, not knowing that both were the last man back on defense, and their bad communication yielded an Owen Tippett breakaway, as Trevor Zegras took a Seider turnover at center ice, slid the puck to Tippett, and he was gone behind the Wings’ D, putting an easy shot through Gibson’s legs.

Philadelphia 1, Detroit 0: Tippett (25) from Zegras (36) at 4:07 of the 1st period.

2ND PERIOD:

PENALTY: Lucas Raymond was tripped by Jamie Drysdale, yielding an interference minor at 7:12.

GOAL: Owen Tippett took a drop pass from Barkey and as John Gibson was screened by Simon Edvinsson, Tippett ripped a shot off both goal pads and through the 5-hole to make it 2-0 Philadelphia.

Philadelphia 2, Detroit 0: Tippett (26) from Barkey (9) and Drysdale (21) at 12:22 2nd period.

PENALTY: Dylan Larkin high-sticked Trevor Zegras at 15:48 of the 2nd period.

GOAL: On the power play, the Flyers won the faceoff, cycled around the point to Zegras, he regained control and Konecny and Zegras played catch until Noah Cates was able to get a bad bounce off Ben Chiarot and sweep the puck through John Gibson on his 2nd try.

Philadelphia 3, Detroit 0: Cates (17) from Michkov (23) and Konecny (36) at 16:08 2nd period, power play goal.

PENALTY: Emil Andrae was called for tripping Emmitt Finnie at 18:19 of the 2nd period.

GOAL: Philadelphia won their faceoff again and got the puck out to center ice, but Detroit walked the puck into the zone, and Moritz Seider ripped a heavy shot through Dan Vladar at 18:44…

But the goal was CHALLENGED by Rick Tocchet and the Flyers’ coaching staff, and Alex DeBrincat was offside.

3RD PERIOD:

With the Red Wings’ power play unit still out there, Christian Dvorak scored his 16th goal of the season from Alex Bump, who walked around Moritz Seider, and Travis Konecny, to make it 4-0…

But Detroit CHALLENGED and the goal was OFFSIDE.

PENALTY: Mason Appleton was called for roughing at 6:05 of the 3rd period.

GOAL: Owen Tippett scored a hat trick goal by walking through both Ben Chiarot and Andrew Copp, and before Justin Faulk could catch up, Tippett flickered a shot over John Gibson’s glove to make it 4-0.

Philadelphia 4, Detroit 0: Tippett (27) from Drysdale (22) and Konecny (37) at 7:19 of the 3rd period, PPG.

GOALIE PULL: Cam Talbot relieved Gibson at 7:19 of the 3rd period.

PENALTIES: Marco Kasper and Matvei Michkov were called for roughing minors at 8:21 of the 3rd period.

PENALTY: David Perron was called for a 10-minute misconduct at 11:49 of the 3rd period.

GOAL: Mason Appleton got a fantastic pass from Justin Faulk, who rimmed the puck off the boards to Appleton, got off the ice, and Appleton riffled the puck past Dan Vladar to ruin his shutout at 13:43 of the 3rd period.

Philadelphia 4, Detroit 1: Appleton (6) from Faulk (23) at 13:43 of the 3rd period.

GOAL: With the Wings buzzing late, Patrick Kane fed Alex DeBrincat in the slot and he roofed a shot over Dan Vladar with an Andrew Copp screen at 15:10 of the 3rd period.

Philadelphia 4, Detroit 2: DeBrincat (37) from Kane (32) and Seider (43) at 15:10 of the 3rd period.

GOALIE PULL: The Red Wings pulled Cam Talbot with 4:36 left in the 3rd period.

GOAL: Lucas Raymond was the beneficiary of a tremendous number of cycling plays by the Wings’ D and as Andrew Copp screened Vladar again, Raymond scored through the screen at 16:12 to make it 4-3.

Philadelphia 4, Detroit 3: Raymond (24) from Seider (44) and Kane (33) at 16:14 3rd period.

GOALIE PULL: With 3:33 left, Talbot headed back to the bench.

GOAL: Sadly, Sean Couturier was able to take a pass from Owen Tippett and Couturier fired the puck into the empty net at 17:55.

Philadelphia 5, Detroit 3: Couturier (10) from Tippett (21) at 17:55.

GOALIE PULL: Detroit pulled Talbot gain.

END OF GAME: Detroit lost 5-3.

STATISTICS: Here are the Game Summary and Event Summary:

Published by

George Malik

My name is George Malik, and I'm the Malik Report's editor/blogger/poster. I have been blogging about the Red Wings since 2006, and have worked with MLive and Kukla's Korner. Thank you for reading!