Flyers stay hot with victory over Red Wings
PHILADELPHIA -- Sean Couturier scored his career-high 16th goal early in the third period and it stood up as the game-winner in the Philadelphia Flyers' 4-3 victory over the Detroit Red Wings on Wednesday night at the Wells Fargo Center.
Dale Weise, Wayne Simmonds and Robert Hagg also scored for the Flyers (15-12-7), who won for the seventh time in eight games following a 10-game losing streak.
Goaltender Brian Elliott made 24 saves in his ninth consecutive start to improve to 13-7-6.
Martin Frk, Mike Green and Gustav Nyquist scored for the Red Wings (13-14-7), who lost in regulation for the first time in five games (2-1-2). Jimmy Howard stopped 27 shots.
Couturier netted his game-winner 5:57 into the third period when he took a pass from Simmonds and jammed his own rebound under Howard for his team-high 16th goal. Couturier's previous career high of 15 goals came in 2014-15.
After evenly dividing two goals in the first period, the Flyers and Red Wings twice exchanged leads in the second period to enter the third period locked in a 3-3 tie.
Detroit took leads of 2-1 and 3-2 on second-period goals by Green on the power play and Nyquist at even strength, but the Flyers fought back with goals from Simmonds on the power play and Hagg at even strength.
Green's fourth goal of the season was also his second in as many nights and came with Jordan Weal serving a double-minor for high sticking Frans Nielsen. Simmonds netted his 11th goal of the season and fifth on the power play 4:58 later when he converted a pass from NHL assist leader Jakub Voracek, who picked up his 34th assist in his 34th game.
Nyquist restored the Wings' lead when he netted his 10th of the season on a strong move to the net, but the Flyers tied the score again on Hagg's first NHL goal, a blast from the point that darted through Detroit defenseman Trevor Daley and past Howard.
In the opening period, Elliott stopped Nyquist and Andreas Athanasiou on breakaways in the opening six minutes before Weise gave the Flyers a 1-0 lead with his fourth goal of the season with 4:41 remaining in the period. Weise hunted down an errant point shot by defenseman Radko Gudas and beat Howard to the far post on a wraparound stuffer.
The Red Wings tied it with 1.3 seconds remaining in the period when Martin Frk snapped a pass from Dylan Larkin inside the near post for his eighth goal of the season and his fourth on the power play.
NOTES: Red Wings D Luke Glendening appeared to injure his hand while blocking a shot in the first period and did not return. ... Flyers LW Taylor Leier (upper-body) sat out his first game because of injury this season. Leier had played in 28 of Philadelphia's first 33 games and had one goal and three assists. He was replaced by LW Jori Lehtera, who had been a healthy scratch the previous seven games. ... The Red Wings continue their four-game road trip Saturday in Boston, return home for Christmas, then head to New Jersey for a game Wednesday. ... The Flyers play their sixth set of back-to-back games Friday and Saturday when they visit the Buffalo Sabres and Columbus Blue Jackets. They are 2-2-1 in the front end and 2-2-1 in the back end. ... Scouts from the Golden Knights, Penguins, Blackhawks, Predators, Senators, Panthers, Blues, Stars and Islanders were in attendance prior to the NHL's 11:59 p.m. roster freeze.