The Red Wings came out of the All-Star break still allowing too many goals — but Wednesday, they scored just enough to win.
The Wings began the second half sprint to the end of the season with a 6-3 victory over the Philadelphia Flyers.
The two teams meet again Saturday at Little Caesars Arena.
The Guelph line of Pius Suter, Robby Fabbri and Tyler Bertuzzi continued their hot stretch with five points. Suter and Fabbri both scored a goal and assisted on one, and Bertuzzi had one assist.
Dylan Larkin (power play, his 24th goal), Lucas Raymond (12th), Givani Smith (fourth) and Vladislav Namestnikov (empty net, his 13th goal) added goals, as the Wings moved back to .500 (21-21-6).
Goaltender Alex Nedeljkovic stopped 20 shots, as the Wings held the Flyers to only four shots in the third period.
Smith's goal, at 8 minutes 46 seconds of the third period, gave the Wings the two-goal cushion (5-3). Namestnikov capped the scoring with an empty-net goal.
Joe Veleno, just recalled to the Wings after a productive two-game stint in Grand Rapids during the break, found Smith racing down wing and Smith sniped a shot past goaltender Carter Hart.
Isaac Ratcliffe (first NHL goal), Travis Sanheim, Scott Laughton had the Flyers' (15-23-8) goals.
The victory was a rare one for the Wings in Philadelphia. The Wings hadn't won in regulation time in their last 15 games in Philadelphia, since January 1997 (not counting the Wings' two victories in the 1997 Stanley Cup Finals).
Coach Jeff Blashill wasn't concentrating on the Wings' struggles in Philadelphia after Wednesday's morning skate.
“There’s not much to talk about, it’s in the past,” Blashill said. “It’s been a couple of years since we’ve been here (because of COVID-19 scheduling). In the, end we have to play a good hockey game. Both teams are coming off a break, (so) what team can get to their game the quickest?"
Neither team looked sharp defensively early.
Philadelphia answered a Wings' goal three times with goals within 24 seconds.
Larkin opened the scoring with a shot off a Flyers' skate leg and past Hart at 2:43. But Ratcliffe scored his first NHL goal 20 seconds later, when Zach MacEwen's shot banked off Ratcliffe past Nedeljkovic.
The Wings regained the lead on Raymond's goal. Raymond went to the net and put back his own rebound at 6:02, giving the Wings a 2-1 lead.
But again the Flyers responded, Claude Giroux setting up Ranheim alone near the dot for Ranheim's third goal, just 23 seconds after Raymond's goal.
The Suter line took over the second period.
Suter scored his 11th goal, capping a dominant shift by the Guelph line, at 6:12, Bertuzzi finding Suter alone in the slot.
Fabbri extended the lead to 4-2 with his 13th goal, at 11:00, snapping a shot off Hart's blocker and shoulder and into the net.
But the Flyers answered again, 21 seconds later, with Laughton scoring his eighth goal, after a scramble in front of Nedeljkovic.
Despite the Flyers' struggles, injuries have decimated their lineup, playing Philadelphia on the road still remains difficult.
“It’s a hard building, it’s a momentum building," Blashill said. "Obviously they haven’t had the year that they wanted but they’re still a good hockey team and it’s still a really hard place to play.
“There’s no doubt they’re a great fanbase. They’re extremely passionate. They can obviously be extremely hard on both the home and the visiting team. They deserve their reputation, in a positive way for me. Their passion is outstanding and makes it a real hard place to play.”
The Wings were off for a week, which showed at times, especially early, as the Wings reestablished defensive systems.
"Sometimes timing, just the habits within your system," said Blashill, of what usually needs time for teams to reclaim after a lengthy break. "So you're playing as a five-man unit without thinking. Some of it is conditioning. It's nice for us we play a game and have a few days between games, so it's not like we're playing back to back right out of this."
