PHILADELPHIA — Jakub Vrana scored twice and the Detroit Red Wings won for the second time in nine games, defeating the Philadelphia Flyers 6-3 on Tuesday night.
Tyler Bertuzzi had a goal and two assists, and Oskar Sundqvist, acquired from St. Louis on Monday, contributed an empty-netter and an assist in his Detroit debut. Rookie Lucas Raymond supplied his 20th goal and Joe Veleno also scored. Dylan Larkin, Pius Suter and Filip Hronek each had two assists. Alex Nedeljkovic made 30 saves for Detroit, which was 1-6-1 in its previous eight games.
The Red Wings were coming off a four-game trip in which they went 1-3.
“It’s huge for our confidence to get the lead and then get the win,” Vrana said. “We have had to be honest with ourselves and know we weren’t playing well enough on the road trip, but tonight we really came to play.”
Coach Jeff Blashill said the expiration of the trade deadline on Monday relaxed the players who weren't dealt.
“I think we had a tough road trip, plus there is always going to be angst at the deadline, I don’t care who you are,' he said. ”Yesterday was a tough practice to get through, because everyone is wondering what’s going to happen in a few hours, but we worked hard and we came out with a lot of energy tonight."
Sundqvist made a good first impression on his new teammates and coaches.
“I think he’s really going to help us with his veteran presence,' Blashill said. ”I could tell as soon as he stepped into my office that this is a guy who is comfortable with being a part of this league and understands how to make himself valuable on both ends of the ice."
Joel Farabee, Oskar Lindblom and James van Riemsdyk scored for the Flyers. Carter Hart stopped 25 shots.
Detroit led 2-0 after the first period.
Veleno scored his seventh goal when he circled the Flyers' net and fired the puck inside Hart’s left shoulder.
Vrana’s ripped a shot through traffic from the left circle for his first goal of the game.
Raymond made it 3-0 at 1:07 of the second period with a blast from the left side. The Flyers got on the board 25 seconds later when Farabee scored in front off a feed from Kevin Hayes.
Lindblom beat Nedeljkovic on the glove side for his 11th goal to cut the Red Wings’ advantage to 3-2.
Vrana’s second goal, and fifth of the season, was a one-timer off a pass from Larkin with 1:07 left in the period.
“Any time you give up a goal in the last minute of a period, that’s tough. But I thought we regrouped and came out hard in the third period,” Flyers interim coach Mike Yeo said. “Obviously, there’s some things we can be better at execution-wise. We had some turnovers tonight and we’ve got to be a little bit sharper there. I did like the way the guys kept battling back for each other here tonight, just didn’t find a way to tie it up.”
Van Riemsdyk's 15th goal at 11:23 of the third cut Detroit's lead to 4-3.
Empty-netters by Sundqvist and Bertuzzi sealed the victory.
“Overall, I thought we played a pretty solid game, minus a few turnovers that ended up in the back of our net," Farabee said. "If we just clean that up, we can play more of a complete game and give ourselves a better chance.”
NOTES: D Jake Walman made his Red Wings debut. Walman and F Oskar Sundqvist were acquired in a trade with St. Louis on Monday. … Due to trades and injuries, the Flyers used 11 forwards and seven defensemen for the first time this season. … Detroit C Dylan Larkin recorded his 350th career assist in the second period. He has seven points in three games against Philadelphia this season. … The Flyers failed to collect a point against Detroit in a season series for just the second time in which they’ve played more than one game. They were 0-2 against the Red Wings in 1993-94. … Philadelphia was playing the opener of a five-game trip.
