Red Wings at Flyers
THE STORY: The Detroit Red Wings are nearly invincible in the Motor
City but have been surprisingly average on the road, going 16-16-1.
That’s bad news with the home side winning 10 of the past 11 meetings
entering Tuesday's game with the Flyers in Philadelphia. The Flyers are
putting a rough February behind them with two wins to begin March.
Philadelphia will try to win three in a row for the first time since a
seven-game winning streak in mid-December.
TV: 7 p.m., FS Detroit (Red Wings), CS Philadelphia (Flyers)
ABOUT THE RED WINGS (43-20-3): Detroit lost No. 1 goaltender Jimmy
Howard to a lower-body injury during its 2-1 setback to Chicago Sunday.
Howard said he is day-to-day, leaving backup Joey MacDonald to man the
crease. MacDonald filled in when Howard went down with a broken finger
in February and boasts a 7-2-1 record and slim 1.69 goals against
average. Injuries are piling up for the Red Wings, who also lost
defenseman Jakub Kindl to an upper-body injury. Detroit is already
missing blueliners Nicklas Lidstrom and Jonathan Ericsson, along with
center Pavel Datsyuk.
ABOUT THE FLYERS (36-21-7):
Philadelphia also limps into the game with injuries to defensemen Kimmo
Timonen and Andrej Meszaros. The team announced that both will be out
indefinitely, with Timonen nursing a bad back and Meszaros dealing with
an upper-body injury. The Flyers are already thin on the blueline with
veteran Chris Pronger done for the season because of a concussion. Coach
Peter Laviolette is turning to Andreas Lilja and Erik Gustafsson to
fill those gaps, but it will be a while before he irons out his
defensive pairings. Philadelphia allowed 3.31 goals per game during
February – tied for fourth most in the NHL.
OVERTIME:
1. Timonen’s back injury forced him out of Sunday’s contest, snapping a streak of 248 consecutive games.
2. The Flyers’ 1-0 victory over Washington on Sunday was the first time in nine games they didn’t allow the first goal.
3. Detroit allows only 1.76 goals per home game – second lowest in the NHL – but gives up 2.82 goals per road outing.