Dylan Larkin recorded a hat trick and an assist to highlight the Detroit Red Wings’ resounding 6-3 victory over the visiting Philadelphia Flyers on Thursday.
Alex DeBrincat became the first Red Wings player with 40 goals in a season since Marian Hossa in 2009. Moritz Seider had a goal and four assists and Patrick Kane added a goal and two helpers for Detroit, which had lost seven of its last nine games.
Porter Martone had a goal and an assist for the Flyers, who had won three in a row. Christian Dvorak and Luke Glendening also scored for Philadelphia.
The Flyers (40-27-12, 92 points) sit in third place in the Metropolitan Division, one point ahead of the New York Islanders and two up on the Columbus Blue Jackets. The Red Wings (41-29-9, 91 points) are three points behind the Ottawa Senators for the final wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference.
DeBrincat opened the scoring on the power play with his milestone tally at 2:28 of the first period. He took a pass from Lucas Raymond near the side of the crease and calmly roofed a backhander over Dan Vladar’s shoulder.
Dvorak’s deflection made it 1-1 later in the first, but Detroit dominated the middle stanza — particularly the early portions — to take control of the contest.
With the Red Wings skating 5-on-3, Seider’s electric one-timer off a feed from Kane made it 2-1 just 32 seconds into the second period. Shortly thereafter, Larkin took a pass on the doorstep and slipped the puck past Vladar for another power-play goal and a 3-1 advantage.
Larkin wasn’t finished yet, though, as he added a short-handed goal about three minutes later. He gathered a loose puck in the defensive zone, skated in on a breakaway and shot one past Vladar.
That ended Vladar’s night, as Flyers coach Rick Tocchet replaced him with Samuel Ersson. Red Wings goalie John Gibson was also replaced soon after, potentially due to an earlier collision between Gibson and Philadelphia winger Owen Tippett.
Martone’s power-play tally brought the visitors within 4-2 near the midpoint of the game, but the hosts responded with two third-period goals to win comfortably.
Simon Edvinsson set up Kane with a pretty back-door feed to make it 5-2 with 12:59 remaining, and then Larkin put one in the top corner for his third career hat trick.
