Detroit Red Wings

Red Wings Notebook: One of these teams is not like the others

Flyers have won 9 of their last 12 games

Published

1 year ago

January 22, 2023

Bob Duff

Red Wings coach Derek Lalonde described the Philadelphia Flyers are currently being among the NHL's top teams.

In the past six games, the Detroit Red Wings won two games against teams situated with the top 10 of the NHL (#3 Toronto Maple Leafs, #7 Vegas Golden Knights). During the same span of games, they’ve also lost to three of the bottom 10 teams in the league standings (#32 Columbus Blue Jackets, #29 Arizona Coyotes, #23 Philadelphia Flyers).

However, it should be noted that one of those last three teams is currently not like the others. With their 2-1 victory over the Red Wings on Saturday at Little Caesars Arena, the Flyers are now 9-3 through their last 12 games.

“They’re one of the better defensive teams of late,” Red Wings coach Derek Lalonde said. “That’s a team committed to playing the right way, which I think we are, too.”

The setbacks to the Coyotes – blowing a 3-1 third-period lead and losing 4-3 in a shootout – and to the Blue Jackets, who raced to a 4-0 first-period lead right on Detroit’s home ice – are unforgivable. Those are the losses that will be keeping the Red Wings as a playoff spectator yet again this season.

Losing to the Flyers, though, isn’t disgraceful. They are a team on the rise. In fact, with Saturday’s win, Philadelphia was moving ahead of Detroit in the Eastern Conference standings.

That’s right. In case you hadn’t noticed, the Red Wings are now among the NHL’s bottom 10 squads. They are situated 24th overall.

Husso Rediscovering His Mojo

A postive to emanate from Saturday’s defeat was another strong performance by Detroit goalie Ville Husso. He was following up his strong play in Thursday’s 3-2 win at Vegas with another stellar outing between the pipes.

It's a feel-good story for #RedWings netminder Ville Husso, whose dad Pekka is joining him on the upcoming Dads trip!#LGRW | @ThinkFordFirst @HussoVille pic.twitter.com/u84n0UNz7k

— Bally Sports Detroit (@BallySportsDET) January 22, 2023

“He was good,” Lalonde said. “He had good rhythm. The first period he made a couple of big saves. And it took slot, Grade A-type things to beat him.

“We get that going forward, he’s gonna give us a really good chance.”

Ice Chips

Flyers center Patrick Brown is the son of former NHLer Doug Brown. The elder Brown was part of Detroit’s back-to-back Stanley Cup winners in 1996-97 and 1997-98 . . . Detroit is 21-5-1-3 at home against Philadelphia since Feb. 16, 1990 . . . With 15 goals, Detroit forward Lucas Raymond is now tied with linemate Dylan Larkin for the team lead. Raymond has tallied nine points (5-4-9) in seven games since Jan. 10 vs. Winnipeg. In all, Raymond has 16 points (8-8-16) in 16 games dating back to Dec. 17 vs. Ottawa . . . This was just the second time all season that the Red Wings lost while allowing two or fewer goals. They’re 14-2 in that scenario . . . Detroit defenseman Moritz Seider has eight points (1-7-8) in his last seven games.