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Detroit Red Wings

Red Wings Fizzle While Flyers Soar

Detroit 1-4-2 in last seven games

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Ben Chiarot, Red Wings
Red Wings defenseman Ben Chiarot scored his first goal in 46 games.

No, the offense of the Detroit Red Wings didn’t go from six to zero in a span of 60 minutes. But they sure came close to doing so.

Fresh off a 6-5 win at Buffalo, familiar Detroit maladies – an inability to put the puck in the back of the other team’s net, mismanagement of the puck and too much time spent defending in their own zone – was again spelling doom in a 4-1 road loss to the Philadelphia Flyers on Thursday.

“We’re the team that made the most mistakes,” Red Wings captain Dylan Larkin told FanDuel Sports Network. (Their chances) came on breakaways and odd-mans and a lot of their looks and chances came off our sticks.

“It’s frustrating. We knew they would try to get behind us, their forward group, try to cheat for breakaways. They didn’t have to cheat. We just gave it to them.”

The Red Wings didn’t score until Ben Chiarot’s point shot found a way past Flyers goalie Aleksei Kolosov at the 16:07 mark of the third period. That was the first goal by the Detroit defenseman in 46 games and the first goal by the Red Wings at the Wells Fargo Center in a span of 231 minutes and 13 seconds.

With the loss, Detroit fell six points behind the Flyers and five points out of an Eastern Conference Wild Card playoff spot. The Red Wings are just one point out of the basement in the East.

Laughton Scores A Lot On Red Wings

Scott Laughton would score all four goals for the Flyers, including a pair of empty-net tallies after Chiarot was narrowing Philadelphia’s lead to 2-1. In his one-night outburst, Laughton was accumulating as many or more goals than 16 skaters on the Detroit roster have scored all season long. It was the first four-goal game by any NHL player this season.

The Flyers center has scored 12 goals in his last 11 games facing the Red Wings. He has 13 goals in 20 career games against Detroit.

Laughton’s first goal was a breakaway resulting from miscommunication between Detroit defenseman Simon Edvinsson and left-winger Lucas Raymond. Pinching into the Flyers zone to corral the puck, Edvinsson was dropping it back to the point, where he was expecting Raymond to be covering for him. But Raymond hadn’t got to the spot yet. Laughton scooped up the loose puck, racing into the clear and driving a slapshot past Red Wings goalie Cam Talbot to open the scoring.

“It’s a pretty smart play, veteran savvy by him,” Talbot said. “He got most of it, bar down, so I mean give him credit. It was a good shot.”

Detroit’s Dismal Philadelphia Story

The Red Wings have scored just one goal while losing their last three games at the Wells Fargo Center. Philadelphia has proven to be a house of horrors for Detroit.

The Red Wings are 2-17-2 in their last 21 games in the City Of Brotherly Love.

Talbot Picks Up Where He Left Off

Back in net for the first time in 10 days, Talbot was turning aside 30 of 32 shots.

“It’s unfortunate we wasted a goalie performance like that,” Detroit coach Derek Lalonde said.

Several of his saves were of the spectacular variety.

“Individually, felt really good about my game tonight,” Talbot said. “I made a bunch of big saves to keep us in it throughout the first two-thirds of the game.

“As far as I was concerned, the game was still in reach and that’s what I’m back there for. I just tried to do everything I could to keep it close and give us a chance.”

Michkov Goes For Michigan On Red Wings

Flyers rookie forward Matvei Michkov was attempting to score on Talbot in the third period with what’s known as the Michigan goal. Behind the Detroit net, he scooped up the puck on the end of the blade of his stick like a lacrosse ball. Reaching around the net, he sought to stuff it it under the crossbar. However, an alert Talbot was foiling the attempt with his blocker.

“I saw him try to pick it up on my window behind it,” Talbot said. “I knew what he was gonna try to do, so I just did everything I could to get to the other side of the net to make sure that I wasn’t on the highlight reel.”

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