Flyers can’t stop Detroit from making history

Going into Sunday’s game, only the 1975-76 Philadelphia Flyers and the 1929-30 Boston Bruins had ever won 20 straight home games. The Flyers had a shot to keep Detroit out of that exclusive club, but they blew it in a 4-3 loss and now whether or not Detroit breaks their record on Tuesday against Dallas is out of their hands.

This was a night when Detroit’s best players proved to be the heroes, with Niklas Kronwall, Pavel Datsyuk, Henrik Zetterberg, and Johan Franzen each scoring a goal. Nicklas Lidstrom registered an assist and picked up the first star on a night where he surpassed Alex Delvecchio to become second to only Gordie Howe in terms of games played in a Detroit Red Wings uniform. By contrast, some of the Flyers top players like Claude Giroux and Jaromir Jagr were kept off the scoresheet.

Sergei Bobrovsky also had another night to forget, as he has now allowed 12 goals in just three games while starting goaltender Ilya Bryzgalov has been suffering from the flu.

Brayden Schenn scored twice for the Flyers, but his bad tripping penalty in the first period proved to be costly as it led to one of Detroit’s two power-play goals.

For the Philadelphia Flyers, this is their fifth loss in their last six games. They’re well behind the New York Rangers in the race for the Atlantic Division title and are in danger of coughing up the fourth seed and home ice advantage in the first round. Conversely, the Detroit Red Wings have won 12 of their 15 contests, and while Red Wings coach Mike Babcock might push his squad to do even better, they certainly can’t complain about their current record.