Detroit Red Wings

No Philadelphia Freedom For Red Wings When They Visit Flyers

Published

2 years ago

February 9, 2022

Bob Duff

Red Wings coach Jeff Blashill insists that the team's past history in Philadelphia is irrelevant.

When the Detroit Red Wings visit the City of Brotherly Love, the Liberty Bell isn’t the only thing in town that’s broken. In Philadelphia, the Wings are also damaged goods.

The Red Wings show one victory, accomplished via a 3-2 shootout victory on Nov. 8, 2016. Andreas Athanasiou tied the game to send it to overtime and ultimately was the one netting the shootout winner.

In 15 visits to Philly since beating the Flyers twice there in the 1997 Stanley Cup final. Philadelphia owns a 14-0-1 record at home against Detroit since then.

📍 Philadelphia, PA.#LGRW pic.twitter.com/BF6UTDghuC

— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) February 9, 2022

Detroit coach Jeff Blashill likes to maintain the focus on the game at hand, so he didn’t see much purpose in rehashing his club’s sorry road history against the Flyers.

“There’s not much to talk about and it’s in the past,” Blashill said. “It’s been a couple of years since we’ve been here.”

Detroit will be making its first visit to the Wells Fargo Center since a 6-1 drubbing was handed the Wings on Nov. 29, 2019.

Blashill Last Red Wings Coach To Win At Philly

Blashill was the last Detroit coach to win in Philadelphia and the first to do so since Scotty Bowman led the Wings to three straight victories there in 1997. That stretch included Games 1 and 2 of the 1996-97 Stanley Cup final series.

In total, Bowman beat the Flyers on the road four times as Detroit coach. Jacques Demers holds the franchise record for regular-season victories by a Wings coach in Philly with three.

Oddly enough, Ned Harkness (1-0) is the only Detroit coach to go unbeaten at Philly. By contrast, Mike Babcock was 0-6.

Their current skid has seen the Wings go 23 years without a regulation time win at Philly. Detroit also endured an 0-22-5 skid at Philadelphia from 1971-86.

Detroit is coming off a 5-3 loss to the Los Angeles Kings leading into the NHL All-Star break. The Wings will be trying to win Wednesday minus defenseman Nick Leddy. He’ll miss his second straight game due to an upper-body injury.

Philadelphia (15-22-8) is 12th overall in the NHL’s Eastern Conference and captain Claude Giroux may be on the trading block. However, the Flyers have won two in a row.

Blashill is willing to admit that winning at the Wells Fargo Center presents a unique challenge.

“It’s a hard building, it’s a momentum building,” Blashill said. “They haven’t had the year that they wanted but they’re still a good hockey team and it’s still a really hard place to play.”