Tyson Foerster’s return and Porter Martone’s promising effort weren’t enough to prevent the Flyers from suffering a costly loss Thursday night.
Rick Tocchet’s club fell to the Red Wings, 4-2, at Xfinity Mobile Arena.
Foerster scored in his first game back from an arm injury that required surgery and cost him four months. The goal tied the game at 1-1 just 31 seconds into the middle stanza.
But Detroit regained its lead with 1:31 minutes left in the second period.
Travis Konecny put up the Flyers’ other goal. It came in the final stanza and was assisted by Martone, who recorded his first career NHL point.
However, the Red Wings had another response, this one just 15 seconds after Konecny trimmed the Flyers’ deficit to 3-2.
“They work their butt off, but there are times when you’ve just got to sense danger,” Tocchet said of his team. “There were a couple of goals where we need a guy to reload behind and stay above. I don’t want to say we’re cheating for offense, but we’re on the wrong side.”
The Flyers (37-26-12) lost consecutive games in regulation for the first time since late January. They were unable to bounce back from a 6-4 loss Tuesday night to the Capitals, a game in which the early physicality caught them off guard and mistakes burned them.
“You should learn from last game,” Tocchet said Thursday at morning skate. “We talk about learning lessons. Let’s learn from it in a high-pressured game.”
The Flyers dropped to two points back of Detroit, a team that’s also trying to chase down the Eastern Conference’s second wild-card spot. The Flyers beat the Red Wings (40-27-8) five days ago at Little Caesars Arena and head back there in a week for one more meeting.
Ashlyn Sullivan, Scott Hartnell and Al Morganti discussed the Flyers’ 4-2 loss Thursday night to the Red Wings.
• Tocchet’s club entered the day two points back of the Blue Jackets for the second wild-card position.
Columbus lost to the Hurricanes, 5-1, Thursday night.
The Senators, though, beat the Sabres, 4-1, to take over the second wild-card spot via tiebreakers. Ottawa is two points up on the Flyers.
So the Senators, Red Wings and Blue Jackets all have 88 points. The Flyers have 86 with seven games to go.
The Flyers had a chance to gain ground on the Islanders, who were idle Thursday night and hold third place in the Metropolitan Division. But the Flyers remained three points back of New York.
• Foerster did not look like a player that was returning from a four-month absence.
He jumped onto the Flyers’ top line and was highly impactful. He was fired up after collecting a puck in the slot and flinging it home for his goal. Owen Tippett and Trevor Zegras gave him a big hug when they all returned to the bench. The Flyers absolutely missed the release and accuracy of Foerster’s shot.
“He’s one of the best goal scorers I’ve ever played with,” Konecny said after morning skate. “He’s one of those guys that has the knack to be around the net, he has got a great shot. Key piece to the team.”
Martone played his first home game with the Flyers and continued to fit in well.
“I’m trying to come in here and just give a jolt to this group and help them try to win games,” Martone said. “It’s unfortunate we haven’t gotten one yet, but it’s a big response for us tomorrow.”
The 19-year-old winger has a bona fide shot mentality, he plays around the net and there’s an edge to his game. He finished with nine shots in 18:15 minutes.
“He knows his role, he knows what he’s good at, he sticks to it and he’s in good areas,” Konecny said. “He’s only going to get better.”
Porter Martone and Travis Konecny spoke on Martone’s game against the Red Wings and the chemistry they’re developing.
• Samuel Ersson suffered his first loss since the Olympic break, dropping to 5-1-0. He had 15 saves on 19 shots.
The 26-year-old was rock solid through two periods, but he wasn’t at his best in the third period.
Patrick Kane and Alex DeBrincat beat him in the final stanza. The timing of DeBrincat’s 4-2 goal was killer. The shot from DeBrincat ricocheted off the stick of Rasmus Ristolainen.
Kane, a future Hall of Famer, made it 3-1. It was a 2-on-1 rush for Detroit.
In the first period, Tocchet became livid with the officials. The Flyers were whistled for two ticky-tacky penalties, the second of which led to the Red Wings’ first goal.
The Flyers had one power play on the night.
On Detroit’s go-ahead goal in the second period, Lucas Raymond was left alone right around the goal line. Ersson had no chance to stop the shot.
Ersson came into the game with a 1.46 goals-against average and .933 save percentage since the Olympic break. But the third and fourth goals Thursday night were ill-timed.
“I’ve got to come up with a couple of more saves to keep us in it,” Ersson said. “It sucks, but reload here and get ready for tomorrow.”
Red Wings netminder John Gibson stopped 32 of the Flyers’ 34 shots. The Flyers had 21 missed shots.
“We’re missing the net way too much, it has become a problem this year,” Tocchet said. “I love the effort tonight. … We had our chances, we just didn’t put them in.”
• The Flyers are right back at it Friday when they visit the Islanders (7 p.m. ET/NBCSP+).
“Every game’s a must-win at this point, so that’s how we’re looking at it tomorrow,” Konecny said. “Another good team we’re playing against, but this locker room in here, we all believe that we’re better than any opponent we’re playing right now. Tough to get the loss, but we have all the confidence in the world that we’re going to keep playing good.”
