Flyers Get Offensive With 7-2 Win Over Detroit

Report From Philadelphia Flyers

* The Flyers extended their home winning streak over the Red Wings to 10 games, with the last regular season loss coming on January 25, 1997.

* Today’s game marked the 14th time the Flyers have recorded seven or more goals in a game against Detroit, but the first time since October 7, 1990, when they picked up a 7-2 win at the Spectrum in the home opener for the 1990-91 season.

* The last time the Flyers scored four goals in the third period of a game was February 3, 2014 when they posted four in a 5-2 win at San Jose. It last happened at home on Dec. 19, 2013 when they scored all five of their goals in the third period of a 5-4 comeback win over Columbus.

* Zac Rinaldo recorded his second career two-point game – two years and a week ago, on March 7, 2013, he had a goal and an assist in a 5-4 loss vs. Pittsburgh.

* With his two assists, Claude Giroux tied Eric Desjardins for 12th on the Flyers All Time List.

GAME RECAP

PHILADELPHIA — Recently Philadelphia Flyers general manager lamented the lack of offensive contributions from some of his forwards other than Claude Giroux, Jakub Voracek and Wayne Simmonds.

Saturday against the Detroit Red Wings, Brayden Schenn showed he was listening.

Schenn had two goals and an assist to help the Flyers to a 7-2 victory against the visiting Detroit Red Wings. Wayne Simmonds had a goal and two assists, and Nicklas Grossmann, Pierre-Edouard Bellemare, Matt Read and Zac Rinaldo also had goals. Goaltender Steve Mason made 31 saves.

The seven goals tied a season-high for the Flyers.

It was the Flyers’ 10th straight regular-season win against the Red Wings in Philadelphia, dating back to Jan. 25, 1997. However, the Red Wings did win Games 1 and 2 of the 1997 Stanley Cup Final in Philadelphia.

Justin Abdelkader and Erik Cole scored for the Red Wings. Jimmy Howard made 28 saves.

Leading 3-1 after two periods, Schenn needed 11 seconds to into the third period to score his second of the game. Jakub Voracek advanced the puck into the Detroit zone and fired a shot off the rush that Howard stopped. Voracek beat Detroit’s Brendan Smith to the rebound and threw it into the slot and Schenn got it past Howard.

The goal set off a hat trick celebration, as Schenn initially had been awarded the Flyers’ first goal, but as he was celebrating his third goal, a scoring change was being announced, crediting Simmonds with the first goal.

Later in the third Bellemare gave the Flyers a 5-1 lead on his fifth goal of the season. Detroit turned the puck over in its zone and Rinaldo made a nice backhand pass in the slot to a cutting Bellemare, who snapped a shot over Howard’s glove at 8:22 of the third.

The Red Wings cut the deficit to 5-2 at 10:57 of the third on Cole’s first goal since being acquired by the Red Wings at the NHL Trade Deadline.

With Detroit on the power play, Marek Zidlicky fired a shot from the blue line that Cole, camped in front of Mason, tipped in for his 19th of the season.

That was as close as the Red Wings were able to get as Read and Rinaldo scored goals 38 seconds apart for the Flyers. The goal was Rinaldo’s first in 45 games this season.

The loss was Detroit’s fourth in five games (1-4-0).

The Flyers extended their lead to 3-1 on Schenn’s power-play goal. With the Red Wings’ Pavel Datsyuk serving a rare penalty — his first in 332 games — Claude Giroux took a shot from the left circle that Howard stopped. He stopped Simmonds on the rebound but the puck bounced in front, and Schenn lunged and was able to shovel it past Howard at 13:39 of the second period.

It was Schenn’s first goal in eight games, and second in 12.

Abdelkader’s 19th goal of the season got Detroit within 2-1 at 4:14 of the second. Henrik Zetterberg made a long pass out of the Detroit zone to an unmarked Abdelkader who broke in on Mason and slid the puck between his pads. The goal was Abdelkader’s sixth in six games.

Grossmann gave the Flyers a 2-0 lead at 17:07 of the first period. Sean Couturier broke the puck out of the Flyers end and cut to his left through the neutral zone. As the Red Wings defense converged on Couturier, he centered the puck to Grossmann, who had an open route on goal and snapped a shot past Howard.

The goal was Grossmann’s fifth in 56 games this season; he had five goals in his first 463 NHL games entering this season.

Simmonds gave the Flyers a 1-0 lead with a power-play goal at 5:22 of the first. On the ensuing faceoff after Abdelkader was sent off for hooking, Giroux won the puck from Luke Glendening on the left side of the Red Wings zone. Giroux, Mark Streit and Voracek worked the puck around the top of the Red Wings zone, with Streit firing a slap shot on goal that Schenn and then Simmonds, in front of the net, tipped past Howard.