With a chance to keep their momentum rolling and deal a major blow to a conference rival in this tight playoff race, the Flyers went into Detroit and struggled mightily in a special teams heavy game. Despite some flashes, this game was largely all Red Wings, and with a deflating 6-3 loss, the Flyers’ cushion in the standings has been close to eliminated.
The Basics
First period: 2:28- Alex DeBrincat (Raymond, Seider)PPG, 13:24- Christian Dvorak (Martone, Konecny)
Second period: 0:32- Mortiz Seider (Kane, Larkin)PPG, 1:50- Dylan Larkin (Kane, Seider)PPG, 4:56- Dylan Larkin (Johansson)SHG, 9:25- Porter Martone (Zegras, Drysdale)PPG
Third period: 7:01- Patrick Kane (Edvinsson, Seider), 11:39- Dylan Larkin (Seider, Raymond), 18:09- Luke Glendening (Barkey, Couturier)
SOG: 27 (PHI) – 22 (DET)
Takeaways
Special teams duel not working in the Flyers’ favor
There was a lot about this game that was, in a word, weird. This was one of the most major games of both of these two teams’ seasons, and while they were enjoying their moment in the spotlight, so too did the officials seem eager to insert themselves into it. This game was rife with penalty calls, particularly through the early goings, and that left more or less equal opportunities for someone to grab the momentum and begin to pull away.
It was, in the end, the Red Wings who were able to do this, scoring on their first attempt of the night early in the first period, and then took advantage of a 5-on-3 opportunity in the second, scoring early while up two players and then managing to pour on another on the subsequent 5-on-4, giving the Flyers penalty killers fits with their quick puck moving and off the strength of their shooters. Beyond this, to add insult to injury, while the Flyers really struggled on their attempts to get settled into the offensive zone and sustain much pressure, one bad breakdown sent the Red Wings breaking out the other way, on the way to score shorthanded.
The Flyers did manage to break through for one goal on the man-advantage (more on that later), but the broader fact remains that their chances on the power play did less to give them the chance to really get back into this game, and more to take the wind out of their sails entirely. It cost them in this one, and this is remaining a major sore spot for this team during this most critical stretch of the season — they just cannot seem to get it together on the power play, and it’s killing them.
Regaining composure
With all of those penalties called throughout, there wasn’t much rhythm to be found through long stretches of this game, making it a particularly steep uphill battle for the Flyers to settle back in after falling into a three-goal hole before they even hit the five-minute mark in the second period. It made for a difficult task, but it certainly wasn’t impossible, but the Flyers struggled to rise to meet that challenge — they struggled to find much momentum, looking stilted and disjointed at times, and they struggled in turn to create much in the way of dangerous chances (a modest 16 scoring chances at 5-on-5 across the whole of the game).
This is a team that’s prided themselves on their game over game resiliences throughout this season, but while this was a night when they really could have used a burst of it in-game, they ultimately fell short.
Vladar gets the hook
This game was, on top of all of the other challenges unfolding for the Flyers, a tough one for their goaltender. After two very good starts in the Flyers’ last two games, they again opted to go back to Dan Vladar for the start tonight, pushing their luck a bit with the energy stores of their goaltender. Despite being the hot hand, this was a bit of a risk, and it’s not one that paid off for them in the end. Through just under 25 minutes of play, the Red Wings put eight shots on Vladar and scored on four of them, and as those numbers would suggest, he just didn’t look as sharp as he ordinarily does.
Now, as we said, the fact that three of those came on the power play and he wasn’t getting a ton of help on those plays absolves him a bit, but the shorthanded goal did seem a bit soft, and with the Flyers in desperate need of a jolt, the decision to pull him from this game was ultimately not a surprising one. He’s been excellent for them through most of this season, but tonight just was not his night.
The good news, on the flip side, is that they did get a pretty good showing from Sam Ersson, coming on in relief, as he stopped 13 of the 15 shots he faced and gave the Flyers a good chance to stay in this game. He gave up those two goals, but there wasn’t a whole lot that he could do on them — on the first, the Flyers had the chance to kill that play before it even got going and didn’t, and then all of the skaters seemed to lose track of Kane until it was too late, and then on the second, a turnover sprung the Red Wings on the odd-man rush, and with the opportunity for the hat trick on the line, Larkin wasn’t going to miss on that shot.
Ultimately, the Flyers’ problems were bigger than goaltending in this one, and while it might be a comfort that it’s looking like they have a good option no matter who gets the start in a given game, it’s clear that there are still some things that they need to clean up in front of them.
Martone stays hot
We mentioned already that the Flyers, despite their broader struggles, were still able to come away from this one with one power play goal, as Porter Martone found some success again in that spot, parked right at the netfront, picking up his second NHL goal on the man-advantage.
No L👀k pic.twitter.com/xgjdU1LIWu
— Philadelphia Flyers (@NHLFlyers) April 10, 2026
And combining this with the assist he picked up on Christian Dvorak’s goal in the second period, Martone has quietly gotten himself up to a point per game pace of production through his first six games in the NHL. And that production has been a nice little boost, but it’s been an even bigger and more undeniable positive to see how comfortable he’s continued to look in this role. He’s continuing the play his game, generating great chances, and downright flourishing in the pace of play at this level. It’s made for a nice addition to the team at this point in the season, and it’s opened up a whole new world of optimism for what he’ll be able to do as he gets more and more comfortable with the NHL game.
Curse check
For those keeping track at home, this loss marked yet another game in which they had a chance to set a new season high in games won in succession (four) and free themselves from whatever curse has been stuck on them — which has brought them success on the season as a whole but condemned them to do it without any true extended winning streaks — but again failed to step up in the big way that was needed to take care of business.
It is a tremendous, if a little morbid, commitment to the bit, but jokes aside, it does speak to a continued struggle to continue building on momentum once they have it. Perhaps that’s just a product of a young team still figuring out how to win at this level, but it remains a problem, all the same.
