Philly Sports Jabronis
By Paul Harris, Flyers.com
DETROIT — For the second consecutive game, the Detroit Red Wings got a two-goal game from a player who was returning to the lineup.
Pavel Datsyuk scored twice in his first game after missing four straight with a groin injury, leading Detroit to a 5-2 win against the Philadelphia Flyers at Joe Louis Arena on Wednesday.
“I feel good. I have not played many games and feels like I had a lot of energy,” said Datsyuk, who has seven goals and six assists in 11 games.
Stephen Weiss scored twice Monday in his second game of the season, first since Oct. 18, in the Red Wings’ 4-3 win against the Ottawa Senators.
Weiss, who played on Datsyuk’s line with Darren Helm on Wednesday in a unit made up of three natural centers, had a goal and an assist. Helm had two assists.
“I’m so happy for Weiss. He (put in) hard work off ice, so hard, and I’m so happy he played and he scored,” Datsyuk said. “I hope he keeps going and scoring. He’s a good example. I would love to do that every time like that, but I don’t want to miss any games anymore.”
Tomas Jurco and Henrik Zetterberg also scored for Detroit (12-5-5), which has won four of its past five. Jakub Kindl had two assists, and Jimmy Howard made 22 saves.
“In training camp this is what we were aiming for, to get off to this kind of start,” Howard said. “We’ve been doing a great job. Now we’ll enjoy some turkey tomorrow and then get to New Jersey (to play the Devils on Friday night) and hopefully play another full 60 minutes.”
Claude Giroux had a goal and an assist, and Jakub Voracek scored for Philadelphia (8-10-3).
Steve Mason stopped 11 of 14 shots before being replaced by Ray Emery in the second period. Emery made nine saves on 10 shots.
“We’ve got a couple of guys who aren’t competing hard enough, and the result was goals,” Flyers coach Craig Berubesaid.
Philadelphia has lost six of its past seven (1-5-1) and six consecutive road games (0-5-1). The Flyers had a players meeting after the game.
“You never want to see it come to that, but you see the standings, you kind of see things slipping away,” Mason said.
Giroux tied the game 1-1 at 2:31 of the second period with a wrist shot from above the left circle off Red Wings defenseman Kyle Quincey’s skate.
Detroit scored three unanswered goals to take a 4-1 lead.
“Second period, we got away from our game, and it showed on the scoreboard,” Giroux said.
Jurco broke the tie with 9:42 left in the second when he put in a rebound for his second goal of the season. He took a high shot from the bottom of the left circle through the legs of Flyers defenseman Michael Del Zotto past Mason.
Datsyuk’s first goal of the game, on the power play, came 1:29 later on a wrist shot from the top of the left circle. Berube then pulled Mason.
The Flyers coach said his decision was based on a combination of how Mason was playing and trying to get his team going.
Datsyuk scored his second of the game, seventh of the season, with 1:21 remaining in the second. After Helm’s shot hit the right post, the puck bounced off the ice and Datsyuk knocked it out of midair.
“He’s incredible, stealing pucks, a couple big goals for us at key times when we weren’t at our best,” Weiss said. “But when you have guys like that who can turn games pretty quickly, he’s fun to play with.”
Voracek scored his eighth goal, on the power play, with 7:35 left in the third period to make it 4-2.
Zetterberg scored into an empty net with 1:22 remaining.
Weiss opened the scoring with 9:48 left in the first period when he tipped Helm’s shot past Mason. It was Weiss’ third goal of the season, the 150th of his NHL career.
Howard made an outstanding save on Giroux about nine minutes into the game. Giroux cut in front of the crease from Howard’s left and tried to slide a backhand shot behind the goaltender. But Howard made the save by dragging his left pad along the ice behind him as he moved the other way with Giroux.
