Red Wings Score Own Goal, Lose in Philly

The Detroit Red Wings would score the only of Saturday’s game against the Philadelphia Flyers. Trouble was, it was into their own net.

A first-period centering pass by Flyers defenseman Cam York banked off the stick of Red Wings center J.T. Compher and into the next behind Detroit goalie Alex Lyon for what would be the only tally of Saturday’s 1-0 Philadelphia victory.

Cam York gives the Flyers a 1-0 lead! pic.twitter.com/VvyWsIAYXy

— Nasty Knuckles (@NastyKnuckles) December 17, 2023

In soccer, they call that an own goal. On the ice, it simply added to another frustrating night for the Red Wings offense.

In the past two games, both losses, the Red Wings have surrendered just three goals. However, over the same span, they’ve only netted one goal.

With Saturday’s loss, the Red Wings are 0-11-1 when scoring three or fewer goals in a game this season. Detroit is the only NHL team that hasn’t won a a game when scoring three goals or less.

Suddenly, those 6-4 wins don’t look so bad, do they?

“We just need to figure it out, get a goal out there,” Detroit goalie Ville Husso told Bally Sports Detroit.

Husso would find himself tending to the net after Lyon was injured while making a second-period save.

Good to see Alex Lyon is back on the bench!

The former #Flyers goalie looked to have tweaked something. pic.twitter.com/am4eBsWbYz

— Flyers Nation (@FlyersNation) December 17, 2023

“Just an upper body,” Red Wings coach Derek Lalonde told Bally Sports Detroit. “So we’ll probably find out more tomorrow.”

With the loss, Detroit is 2-17-2 all-time in regular-season play at the Wells Fargo Center. The Red Wings have just one regulation-time win at the current home of the Flyers. The other victory came in a shootout.

Red Wings Must Up Compete Level

Lalonde elaborated in more detail as to what the Wings aren’t getting done to get more pucks into the back of the other team’s net.

“Lack of execution,” Lalonde said. “Just some plays that we’ve made in similar situations we didn’t make tonight. Obviously, you’re not going to give yourself a chance getting shut out on the road.

“Again, did some pretty good things to keep it out of our net. Great goaltending yet again. But this is six periods with only one goal. Certainly have to figure out our offense a little bit.”

While Compher came back into the lineup following a five-game injury absence, captain Dylan Larkin (injury) and forward David Perron (NHL suspension) were again missing for the fourth successive game. That’s 18 goals missing from the Detroit roster.

Lalonde also is of the belief that his team must up their compete level if they indeed want to be viewed as serious contenders for postseason play.

“These two teams are stacking up to be, our last two games (vs Carolina and Philadelphia), as playoff-caliber teams and they’re playing playoff-caliber hockey,” he said. “We just got to fight a little bit more.”