Flyers-Red Wings preview: Philly starts 5-game trip vs. fading Detroit

With the trade deadline in the rear-view mirror, the Philadelphia Flyers start a five-game road trip in Detroit on Tuesday night.

This will be the third and final meeting between the teams, and the Flyers (20-31-11) have dropped 6-3 and 4-2 decisions to the Red Wings (25-30-7) this season.

The Flyers, coming off Sunday’s 2-1 win over the Islanders, have been playing much better since they lost consecutive games to the Red Wings on Feb. 9 and 11.

Detroit, whose defense has been awful lately, features two of the NHL’s best rookies: Winger Lucas Raymond and defenseman Moritz Seider.

Raymond is third among rookies with 19 goals, tied for second in assists (28), and second in points (47). Seider is first among rookie defensemen in in points (42), tied for first in both assists (37) and goals (5), and first in power-play points (17).

Each of those rookies had a total of three points in the Red Wings’ two wins over the Flyers last month.

The Red Wings have lost nine of their last 11 games, allowing a staggering 5.9 goals per contest in those nine defeats.

Carchidi column: Grading Chuck Fletcher at the trade deadline.

Storylines

Philly will be trying to avoid not getting a point against Detroit for just the second time in franchise history, based on years when the teams played at least two games against each other. (The Flyers went 0-2 vs. Detroit in 1993-94.)

The Red Wings will try to integrate newly acquired Jake Walman (third-pair defenseman) and Oskar Sundqvist (fourth-line winger) into the lineup.

.@NHLFlyers GM Chuck Fletcher on trade-deadline day. pic.twitter.com/drDse0cwlW

— Sam Carchidi (@BroadStBull) March 22, 2022

Flyers’ projected lineup

Line 1:  Kevin Hayes centering Joel Farabee and Travis Konecny.

Line 2: Morgan Frost centering Oskar Lindblom and Owen Tippett.

Line 3: Patrick Brown centering James van Riemsdyk and Cam Atkinson.

Line 4: One of the above centers between Max Willman and Zack MacEwen. (The Flyers will probably dress 11 forwards.)

Defense: Ivan Provorov and Cam York; Travis Sanheim and Rasmus Ristolainen, Keith Yandle and Nick Seeler. Seeler could see some time at wing.

Goalie:  Carter Hart.

Numbers Dept.

Look for a close, high-scoring game, which doesn’t happen much with the Flyers’ pop-gun attack (2.52 goals per game).

This is a matchup between two of the NHL’s worst defensive teams. Detroit is 31^st in goals allowed (3.71 per game) and the Flyers are 24^th (3.39).

The Red Wings’ attack revolves around All-Star center Dylan Larkin (27 goals, 59 points). He has five points in the two wins over the Flyers this season.

Who’s hot?

Raymond has three goals and four points over the last five games for Detroit.

For the Flyers, Hayes has four goals, five points, and a plus-4 rating in the last four games. He looks like the Hayes from two years ago.

Projected goalie matchup­­­

Hart (2.97 GAA, .911 save percentage) is expected to face Alex Nedjelkovic (3.15, .904).

How to watch

NBC Sports Philadelphia at 7:30 p.m.

How to bet

Money line (FanDuel)

Red Wings: minus-144

Flyers: plus-120.

Prediction

Red Wings 4, Flyers 3.

Prediction record: 21-7.