Flyers winless streak reaches nine games with 2-1 loss to the Red Wings
Philly is 0-6-3 and have scored just 11 goals this season, tying them with the Los Angeles Kings for the fewest in the NHL.
DETROIT ― “Panic in Detroit” is not just a David Bowie song.
The Flyers haven’t just hit rock bottom — that happened a while ago — they are officially stuck there. They are now winless in their first nine games of the season, losing 2-1 to the Red Wings.
It extended the worst start in franchise history, continuing against a Detroit team that entered the night with just one win in its first six.
Philly is 0-6-3 and have scored just 11 goals this season, tying them with the Los Angeles Kings for the fewest in the NHL.
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On Tuesday, the Flyers played well but ultimately lost in a shootout to the Seattle Kraken. That did not carry over. It was similar to what happened after they lost late to the Ottawa Senators last week, despite playing a solid game, and then followed it up with a stinker in Boston two days later.
Through two periods, the Flyers had 11 shots on goal and didn’t get No. 12 until the third period was almost nine minutes old. They finished with 18 shots on goal, and Detroit had 26.
The Flyers’ latest iteration of The Kid Line — Matvei Michkov, 21, Porter Martone, 19, and old man Noah Cates, 27 — got the visitors on the board first with 2 minutes, 28 seconds left in the first period.
The puck popped out to Martone in the Flyers’ zone, and he sent it across to Michkov, who skated up the left side, gained the blue line, and stopped. He passed it to Cates as he skated into the left circle for a shot that Detroit’s Viktor Arvidsson blocked. Travis Sanheim picked up the puck after the Red Wings forward knocked it away, and Anton Johansson partially blocked Sanheim’s shot, sending it up in the air.
Michkov was in front and batted the puck across the goal line for his team-leading third of the year. It was the Flyers’ first lead since their third game on Oct. 3, when Carolina tied it 4:59 into the third period.
But less than 30 seconds after a Flyers power play that had one missed shot by Philly and one shot stopped by Joseph Woll, the Red Wings tied the game early in the second period.
Owen Tippett lost the puck on the zone entry while being encircled by three Red Wings. Justin Faulk got the puck and chipped it to Dylan Larkin, who broke out two-on-one with Johansson as it trapped four Flyers.
With Jamie Drysdale the lone Flyer back, the Red Wings center sent the puck across to the 22-year-old defenseman — just out of reach of Drysdale and Oliver Bonk, who almost got back — and Johansson shot it off the pass for his first NHL goal.
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Andrew Copp scored with 4:38 left in regulation to give Detroit the lead. The Red Wings recovered a dump-in, and Michael Rasmussen’s initial pass in front went off Noel Acciari. He stayed with it and sent it across the crease to an open Copp.
The Flyers were caught puck-watching, and defenseman David Jiříček released Copp too early, giving him space for the tap-in.
Bonk, who played 20 minutes for the second consecutive game and had 93 seconds of power play time, had a chance to tie it up in the waning seconds but shot it just wide off a pass from Trevor Zegras. The 21-year-old defenseman had six shot attempts, second most behind Tyson Foerster.
Breakaways
Forward Garrett Wilson and defenseman Helge Grans were healthy scratches. … Both teams got lucky — or unlucky depending on how you look at it — with Larkin hitting the post in the first and Foerster doing it in the second. Each came on a power play. … The Flyers were on the penalty kill three times. They have been shorthanded two times or fewer once this season. … Christian Dvorak took a puck to the face with 6:02 left in the third period and later returned. ... The Flyers’ power play went 0-for-2, and on the second opportunity, it had seven shot attempts and three shots on goal.
Up next
The Flyers return home on Saturday for a matchup with Sam Ersson and the Ottawa Senators (7 p.m., NBCSP).
