Flyers Get Rare Win in Detroit, Canadiens Take Shootout Win Over Devils

Thanks to a four-goal third period, the Philadelphia Flyers (13-3-2) defeated the Detroit Red Wings (14-8-7), 6-3, on Wednesday. It was a monumental victory for the Flyers as they’ve only won one previous time at Joe Louis Arena–that was back in the 1989-90 season.

Down 3-2 entering the third period, the Flyers’s four scores came from Sean Couturier (two of them along with two assists for the game), Claude Giroux and Scott Harnell. For the night, goalie Steven Mason stopped 32 shots.

Wednesday’s win also represented the first time the Flyers entered the third period trailing, only to go on and win the game.

Sean Couturier

What was the difference? Couturier, with his career-high four points and who was not even alive for the Flyers’ last Detroit win, said via the Philadelphia Inquirer, “It’s good for our confidence, and that’s why we won tonight. We’re starting to believe in ourselves.”

Another factor is the successful play of the Couturier, Matt Read and Steve Downie line who have 27 points over the last 10 games, according to the NHL. In Wednesday’s game, Read had a goal and two assists. This play has also helped the Flyers to achieve their 28 points, which has them in the ninth spot for the Eastern conference.

The New York Rangers (14-14-0) sit ahead at No. 8 and will get the tiebreaker as they have a greater number of wins.

The Flyers will play the Dallas Stars (13-9-4) on Saturday and sit at 33/1 to win the 2014 Stanley Cup.

As for the injury-depleted Red Wings, they are playing without Todd Bertuzzi (shoulder), Pavel Datsyuk (concussion), Henrik Zetterberg (herniated disc),and rookie Danny DeKeyser (shoulder). Zetterberg will be out for two additional weeks and the team will miss him with his 30 points–a team high–and his 11 goals and 19 assists. Datsyuk, the team’s leader for goals (12) and his 11 assists, does not have a timeline for his return.

In Wednesday’s game, the Red Wings started off well as Johan Franzen and Tomas Tatar (two goals for the night) had scored within two minutes of each other in the second period but then the game went south for the team.

Red Wings coach Mike Babcock said of it via the Associated Press, “In the end I thought we had things going pretty good for ourselves through two. The third period wasn’t good enough; they were better than us. They were better than us because they lit us up on the power play.”

Detroit has now only won five of their last 16 home games (5-5-6). They sit in the third spot in the Atlantic Division and will play the New Jersey Devils (11-12-6) on Friday. The Red Wings sit at 18/1 to win the 2014 Stanley Cup.

Canadiens Defeat Devils in Shootout

The Montreal Canadiens (17-9-3) also found a third-period groove on Wednesday when David Desharnais hit a goal with 37 seconds remaining to make it a 3-3 game against the Devils. But first it was reviewed by the league to determine if Desharnais had lifted his stick too high as he redirected teammate Brian Gionta’s slap shot.

David Desharnais

The goal was good and the Canadiens didn’t stop there as Desharnais and Lars Eller hit goals during the shootout.

For the Devils, they have now lost nine consecutive shootouts–going back to its March 15 game against the Flyers.

With Wednesday’s win, it was the second straight one for the Canadiens over the Devils, who had played on Monday.

Desharnais said of the recent win via the Associated Press, “We’re finding ways to win games. They took the lead, and we had to open up things. I just go in there and try to score (in the shootout). (Devils goalie Cory Schneider) opened up his leg, and I put it right there.”

The Canadiens will play the Boston Bruins (18-7-2) on Thursday and will see their three-game win streak end (-130, 5 o/u).