The Detroit Red Wings continued their sputter towards the finish line, losing for the second straight time to a team below them in the standings.
Even nearly 14 minutes of power play time Saturday didn’t help the Wings’ cause, as they fell, 3-0, to the Philadelphia Flyers at Wells Fargo Center. Since a brief sojourn into the Eastern Conference playoff picture on Feb. 23 after winning seven of eight games, the Wings have gone 3-11-1.
The Wings got their seventh power play with 5:35 to play, but were able to play with an extra skater for about 30 seconds during the delayed call. They pulled Alex Nedeljkovic for an extra skater again with 3:30 to play, and kept him out for about two minutes. Tyson Foerster scored into an empty net with 1:19 to play.
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Carter Hart made nine of his 29 saves during Detroit power plays. It wasn’t all bad on special teams, however: The Wings held the 32nd-ranked Flyers power play scoreless on three opportunities.
The Wings (31-32-9) have 10 games left leading up to the season finale on the road against the Tampa Bay Lightning on April 13.
Power (play) outages
The Flyers’ penalty kill ranks in the bottom five in the NHL, which made it all the more egregious that the Wings spent six minutes in the first period with a man advantage and had nothing to show for it. Four minutes of the time was continuous, too, with Tony DeAngelo earning a double minor for high-sticking Adam Erne. The first power play unit — consisting of Moritz Seider, Dylan Larkin, David Perron, Lucas Raymond and Alex Chiasson — logged nearly four minutes of the total power play time in the first period, but never generated any momentum. By the end of the game, Raymond, Seider and Perron all had topped eight minutes of power play time, while Larkin was above nine minutes.
Flyers find net
Nedeljkovic, starting his first NHL game since Dec. 8, had made eight saves before the Flyers scored at 10:10 of the second period. Owen Tippett fired a shot on net from the low slot that Nedeljkovic stopped, but the rebound landed right by Kieffer Bellows, who tapped it into the net before Nedeljkovic could get reset. Scott Laughton made it 2-0 in the last minute of the second period, snapping a short wrist shot off the rush during four-on-four play. The Wings are without Ville Husso, whose lower-body injury has left him sidelined. Magnus Hellberg started the previous two games, but was pulled after allowing three goals on 13 shots in Thursday’s loss to the St. Louis Blues. Nedeljkovic finished with 19 saves.
Patched lineup
It reflects on where the Wings are at that Joe Veleno and Erne, two forwards normally found playing in the bottom six, were playing on the first and second lines, respectively. With Tyler Bertuzzi and Jakub Vrana traded and Robby Fabbri, Michael Rasmussen and Filip Zadina injured, that’s how the lineup was slotted. Jonatan Berggren is a skilled forward, but the rookie had just one point his previous 10 games. On defense, Gustav Lindstrom was in for Simon Edvinsson, a decision that reflected the Wings’ preference to play Edvinsson at home, where they can better protect who he matches up against during his shifts.
Contact Helene St. James at hstjames@freepress.com. Follow her on Twitter @helenestjames.
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Her latest book, “On the Clock: Behind the Scenes with the Detroit Red Wings at the NHL Draft,” is available from Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Triumph Books. Personalized copies available via her e-mail.