Postgame 5: Flyers Clip Red Wings in OT, 2-1

The Philadelphia Flyers defeated the Detroit Red Wings in overtime, 2-1, at Wells Fargo Center on Tuesday evening. Joel Farabee scored in regulation and assisted on the game-winning goal by Rasmus Ristolainen.

With the victory, the Flyers improved to 22-20-6 on the season and 5-0-1 in their last six games. Philadelphia won the season series against Detroit, two games to one.

The vast majority of the first period was whistle-free. There were only five faceoffs the entire period after the opening faceoff. Shots on goal were 8-6 in the Flyers' favor.

The Flyers generated four of the first five shots. Samuel Ersson had his first challenging shot at 7:56 on a wrister from the left side by Elmer Soderblom. At 12:05, Noah Cates had a chance from about 15 feet.

The Flyers got the game's first goal at 5:21 of the second period on Farabee's seventh goal of the season. The assists went to Sean Couturier and Matvei Michkov. Couturier got his stick on the puck in the left circle, Farabee took it to the net and backhanded it home past Alex Lyon.

At 7:27, Ersson made a nice blocker save on Alex Debrincat. Shots on goal were 7-2 Detroit at that juncture of the middle stanza.

The relentless forechecking of Cates created the game's first power play at 14:05 as he was slashed by Larkin. The Flyers generated some traffic as the power play moved along but missed the net from the point twice (once each PP unit).

With time ticking down near the final minute of the second period, Travis Konecny very narrowly missed a goal (hitting the crossbar) in the low slot off a feed from Morgan Frost. It was the line's first true scoring chance of the game. As the Flyers changed some personnel to continue to press the attack, Tyson Foerster got cut by a rising puck and had to go off for repairs.

Second period shots on goal were 8-3 Detroit (14-11 Red Wings through two periods).

Detroit tied the game at 1-1 just 30 seconds into the third period. Ben Chiarot (2nd goal of the second, both against the Flyers) pinched down to the left circle and scored off a feed from Lucas Raymond. The secondary assist went to Dylan Larkin.

Couturier had a chance near the net at 7:40 of the third period on a good shift for his entire line. Through 10 minutes, third period shots on goal were 5-4 Detroit.

As time neared the 12-minute mark of the third period, Konecny hit the post off from the left circle off a drop pass from Frost. At the other end, Travis Sanheim broke up a dangerous-looking scoring opportunity for Detroit.

In the final minute of the third period, Ersson made a huge save on Andrew Copp. Third period shots were 13-10 Detroit (27-21 Red Wings through regulation).

Detroit controlled most of OT. In the final 30 seconds of overtime, Farabee and Tippett worked a game-winning give-and-go. With the puck sitting on the back of the goal line Ristolainen (2nd) forced it over the goal line to end the game. The assists at 4:34 of OT went to Tippett and Farabee.

Ersson earned his 14th win of the season, stopping 27 of 28 shots on goal. Former Flyers goalie Lyon stopped 24 of 26, receiving help from his crossbar and the goalpost on two attempts from Konecny.

With Scott Laughton (personal matter) and Ryan Poehling (IR) unavailable to play, Rodrigo Abols made his NHL debut at fourth-line center.

FLYERS STARTING LINEUP

71 Tyson Foerster - 27 Noah Cates - 10 Bobby Brink
74 Owen Tippett - 48 Morgan Frost - 11 Travis Konecny
86 Joel Farabee - 14 Sean Couturier - 39 Matvei Michkov
15 Olle Lycksell - 18 Rodrigo Abols - 19 Garnet Hathaway

6 Travis Sanheim - 8 Cam York
5 Egor Zamula - 55 Rasmus Ristolainen

24 Nick Seeler - 9 Jamie Drysdale

33 Samuel Ersson
[82 Ivan Fedotov]

PP1: Drysdale,Tippett, Frost, Konecny, Michkov
PP2: Ristolainen, Foerster, Cates, Brink, Sanheim

Scratches: 77 Erik Johnson (healthy), 44 Nicolas Deslauriers (IR), 35 Aleksei Kolosov (healthy), 25 Ryan Poehling (upper body), 21 Scott Laughton (personal).

TURNING POINT

Patrick Kane had a scoring chance in the Flyers end in overtime before play swung the other way, where Farabee, Tippett and Ristolainen combined for the game-winning goal.

POSTGAME 5 ("5 Things" Revisited)

1. Balanced Flyers scoring: Each team was held to a single goal in regulation, so this won wasn't really a matter of different lines stepping up at different times. That said, the Couturier line scored Philly's regulation goal, the Frost line very nearly produced a goal late in the second period, and both the Cates and Abols line had a few good shifts. Overall, though, there wasn't much happening offensively for most of regulation.

2. Shot suppression: The Flyers held the Red Wings to 14 shots through two periods. Detroit broke through for their lone goal and tallied 13 shots on net as play opened up a bit in the third period. Philly blocked 19 shots for the game.

3. Discipline and special teams: The Flyers played penalty-free hockey against a Detroit team that overwhelmingly relies on its potent power play to produce offense. Philadelphia went 0-for-1 on the power play.

4. Michkov watch: Rookie winger Michkov generated an entry that led up to the eventual Farabee goal and a secondary assist. Additionally, Michkov fired four shots on net.

5. Between the pipes: Ersson went through stretches, especially in the first period, where he wasn't seeing many pucks. As the game moved along, he progressively got busier. When the Flyers needed a few clutch saves, they got them. He stopped 27 shots on goal through regulation and the OT period.