The Detroit Red Wings got the kind of win that can settle a team down, at least for one night.
Their 2-1 victory over the winless Philadelphia Flyers on Thursday moved Detroit to 2-3-2 and kept them from sinking to the bottom of the Eastern Conference. It also put the Red Wings within three points of a playoff spot, which is a lot better than the alternative they were staring at if this one slipped away in regulation.
Philadelphia arrived at 0-6-3, and for a while it looked like the Flyers might finally break through. Matvei Michkov opened the scoring in the first period when he swatted a puck past Red Wings goalie Daniil Tarasov.
Detroit answered in the second. Anton Johansson tied it by finishing off a Dylan Larkin setup, ripping a one-timer past Joseph Woll for his first NHL goal. That made Johansson the third Red Wings player to score his first NHL goal this season, joining William Wallinder and Michael Brandsegg-Nygard.
Then came the late finish. Andrew Copp buried a rebound at 15:22 of the third period to put Detroit ahead for good. The winning sequence came from an unlikely group: Copp scored his first goal since March 19, Michael Rasmussen picked up his first point since January 5 after a 32-game drought, and Nate Danielson logged his second assist of the season.
Tarasov made 17 saves for his first win with the Red Wings. He has allowed one goal in two starts for Detroit, after taking a 1-0 shootout loss in Montreal on Saturday.
Detroit used 11 forwards and seven defensemen again, with Carter Mazur sitting out among the forwards.
Special teams never decided it, either. Neither side scored on the power play, with the Red Wings going 0-for-3 and the Flyers 0-for-2.
The Red Wings are back home Saturday at 7 p.m. against the San Jose Sharks. Detroit swept San Jose 2-0 last season.
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