Red Wings 3, Flyers 0
DETROIT -- Jimmy Howard made 30 saves for the shutout, and the Detroit Red Wings beat the Philadelphia Flyers 3-0 Wednesday to move closer to their 25th consecutive Stanley Cup playoff appearance.
Detroit (41-28-11) is third in the Atlantic Division, two points ahead of the fourth-place Boston Bruins (41-30-9) and two points ahead of the Flyers. Philadelphia (39-27-13) holds the second wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference and has a game in hand.
The Red Wings can clinch a playoff berth with any kind of win at Boston on Thursday.
Darren Helm, Andreas Athanasiou and Kyle Quincey scored for Detroit, which played its last home game of the regular season. It was Howard's second shutout of the season and the 22nd of his career.
Steve Mason made 23 saves for Philadelphia.
Helm gave Detroit a 1-0 lead 7:57 into the first period with an unassisted goal. He put a loose puck -- after a turnover by Philadelphia defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere -- off Mason and into the net from in front. It was Helm's 13th goal.
Athanasiou's short-handed goal 3:15 into the second period made it 2-0. He picked up a loose puck around the Red Wings' blue line along the left wing boards for a breakaway.
He made a move and slid a forehand short side past Mason. It was Athanasiou's eighth goal and Detroit's second short-handed goal of the season.
Quincey got an empty-net goal with 1:43 left for his fourth of the season.
Mason stopped Helm on a breakaway and Luke Glendening on the rebound with a little less than 10 minutes left in the second period.
Philadelphia's Jakub Voracek hit the crossbar with 6:45 left in the second period.
Mason stopped Henrik Zetterberg from the bottom of the right circle 3:33 into the game.
NOTES: The Flyers missed the postseason the past two years and three of the past four. ... RW Tomas Jurco replaced rookie RW Anthony Mantha in the Red Wings' lineup. ... Philadelphia was without G Michal Neuvirth (lower body) and D Andrew MacDonald (upper body).