April 10, 2026
Rick Osentoski/Imagn Images
Dylan Larkin and the Red Wings were always a step ahead of the Flyers Thursday night in Detroit.
The Flyers are still in the driver's seat of their playoff fate, but Thursday night in Detroit marked a major chance for them to pull away in the race.
Instead, they got stuck in gear.
The Flyers lost to the Red Wings, 6-3, for the second time in a week, and in yet another pivotal matchup for Philadelphia's hopes of trying to make its first postseason appearance in six years.
Unlike a week ago, though, when the refs were letting a lot go back here in Philly, the whistles and penalties were aplenty Thursday night in Detroit.
The Flyers went to the box six times, and four by the end of the first period alone. The Red Wings made eight trips, but with all the calls bringing the game down to a special teams battle, they looked better equipped to play to that condition.
Alex DeBrincat, in tight to the goal line, took a quick pass in, a quicker step over, and roofed a backhand shot right over Dan Vladar's shoulder for an early power-play goal off of a Matvei Michkov roughing call.
Christian Dvorak's deflection of a Porter Martone shot in front at even strength tied the game 1-1 going into the first intermission, but a cross-check charged to Martone and a roughing call pinned to Rasmus Ristolainen at the first period's end left them shorthanded to start the second, which immediately got piled on to when Owen Tippett backskated into the the crease and into John Gibson for goaltender interference 15 seconds in.
The Red Wings didn't waste time cashing in. Moritz Seider scored on a slapshot at 5-on-3, Dylan Larkin put another shot over Vladar's shoulder from in close on the remaining power play, and then the Detroit captain got a break from a blocked shot on his team's own penalty kill to take off and score his second on the way to a hat trick.
Detroit went 3-for-4 on power play opportunities. The Flyers went 1-for-6, and were always left a step or two behind.
"They're a high-skilled team, and I think we gave them a bit too much," Martone, who scored that lone power-play goal to keep the Flyers within two going into the third period, said afterward. "We kinda got away from our gameplan, and they capitalized on their chances.
"It's a big kinda regroup for us. We got three games left to control our own destiny. So go out there and play the best three games of our year."
They're going to have to.
The Flyers left Thursday night, for as much of a dud as it was, still holding the 3-seed in the Metropolitan Division at 92 points through 79 games played.
But there's no room for them to take a breather.
Elsewhere, the Senators crushed the Panthers to strengthen their grip on the Eastern Conference's last Wild Card spot with 94 points.
The Red Wings beating the Flyers bumped them up to 91 points to keep Detroit alive in that narrowing picture, while the Islanders beat the Maple Leafs to stay one point behind Philly for that Metro 3-seed.
The only result that went the Flyers' way Thursday night was the Sabres shutting out the Blue Jackets, which left Columbus stuck at 90 points.
The path into the playoffs is still clearly there for the Flyers, with MoneyPuck's predictions model having them with a 44.5 percent chance to make it in as of Friday morning, and with a 43.2 percent shot to clinch via the Metro 3-seed.
But once again, they're left needing to answer from a frustrating loss with time shorter than ever.
So Saturday night in Winnipeg to face the Jets, like just about every game for the past month or so, is going to be a big one – the biggest game for the Flyers in years, even, in what's become a continuous string of them.
"We'll move on, we'll get ready," defenseman Travis Sanheim said. "It's still in our hands."
But it's on them to keep it that way.
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