Flyers roar back to beat Wings in OT
PHILADELPHIA -- Sixty-four seconds away from ending a 20-year curse in Philadelphia, the Detroit Red Wings saw the Flyers roar back for a 4-3 overtime victory Thursday night at the Wells Fargo Center.
Flyers right winger Jake Voracek ended an exhausting shift by hustling down the ice and depositing center Claude Giroux's pass behind Red Wings goaltender Petr Mrazek to give the Flyers the win 1:41 into overtime.
The Flyers sent the game into overtime when defenseman Mark Streit scored with 1:04 remaining in regulation and goalie Michal Neuvirth pulled for an extra attacker. Streit jammed a Brayden Schenn rebound past Mrazek.
The Red Wings have now lost 12 straight regular season games in Philadelphia dating back to Jan. 25, 1997, the first year of the Flyers' 20-year-old arena.
The Red Wings swept the Flyers in the Stanley Cup Final that season but had lost 11 straight games in Philadelphia since then.
Center Chris VandeVelde and left winger Roman Lyubimov each scored their first goals of the season for the Flyers (5-5-1), who have won two in a row.
Red Wings veteran left winger Henrik Zetterberg scored his first goal of the season 8:18 into the third period to give the Red Wings the lead. Centers Dylan Larkin and Andreas Athanasiou also scored for the Red Wings (6-4-1), who lost for the third straight game.
Neuvirth stopped 22 shots to improve to 3-1-0. Mrazek turned aside 36 shots and fell to 4-3-1.
After the Flyers tied the score 3:51 into the third period on Lyubimov's first NHL goal (on his 11th NHL shot), Zetterberg put the Red Wings ahead when he took a perfectly timed pass from left winger Tomas Tatar and snapped a shot past Neuvirth's catching glove.
Zetterberg's goal was his first since March 17 of last season, a span of 21 games.
The Red Wings received a scare with 4:40 remaining in the second period when defenseman Brendan Smith left the game after taking an elbow to the head by Flyers center Brayden Schenn. The hit was not penalized and Smith returned for the start of the third period and played the remainder of the game.
The Red Wings netted goals 16 seconds apart to take a 2-0 lead.
Larkin, who scored 23 goals as a rookie last season, opened the scoring 13:15 into the game when he snapped a long wrist shot off Voracek and behind Neuvirth. The goal was Larkin's fourth of the season, one behind team leader Gustav Nyquist.
While fans were still watching the replay of Larkin's goal on the scoreboard, the Red Wings struck again on their next shot. Athanasiou carried the puck into the offensive zone and froze Neuvirth with a short-side shot under the crossbar for his third goal of the season.
The Flyers dominated the second period, outshooting the Red Wings 17-6, and drew within 2-1 when VandeVelde scored his first goal of the season with 6:21 remaining. It was VandeVelde's first NHL goal since Dec. 21, 2015, against the St. Louis Blues.
NOTES: Flyers D Michael Del Zotto (left knee), LW Scott Laughton (left knee), LW Michael Raffl (upper body) and C Boyd Gordon sat out with injuries. ... For the Red Wings, LW Thomas Vanek (groin injury), RW Johan Franzen (out for season, concussion), C Joe Vitale (concussion), D Niklas Kronwall (knee) and RW Tomas Jurco (back) were unavailable. ... As part of Hockey Fights Cancer Night, the Flyers wore lavender jerseys during warmups. C Sean Couturier filled out a placard before the game saying he was fighting for his aunt, Nathalie, who began breast cancer treatments last week. ... The Flyers will visit the New York Islanders on Thursday. ... Detroit returns home to play the Winnipeg Jets on Friday.