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Flyers honor Howe, defeat injury ravaged Red Wings

Mar 7, 2012 - 5:11 AM Philadelphia, PA (Sports Network) - Maxime Talbot's short-handed goal in the second period proved to be the difference, as the Flyers took down the Red Wings, 3-2, on a night that saw Philadelphia retire former defenseman Mark Howe's No. 2 sweater.

Howe was honored before Tuesday night's contest in a pre-game ceremony. Howe, who was inducted into the Hall of Fame this past November, played 10 seasons with the Flyers and helped them reach two Stanley Cup Finals in 1985 and 1987. He is currently the director of pro scouting for the Red Wings.

Claude Giroux had a goal and an assist for Philadelphia, which has won three in a row for the first time since a seven-game surge from December 2-15. Jakub Voracek also lit the lamp.

Ilya Bryzgalov made 37 saves for the Flyers, who sit in fifth in the Eastern Conference with 81 points.

The news was not all good for Philadelphia, which lost Voracek and Jaromir Jagr to injures in the second period. Jagr left with a lower-body injury, while Voracek took a hard hit from Niklas Kronwall.

"Yeah, that is our story this year," Giroux said. "A lot of guys go down and you just gotta step up. That's one of the reasons we are in the position near the playoffs. Guys like to step up when there's guys down. It was a great team effort."

Henrik Zetterberg and Johan Franzen scored for the Red Wings, who have lost two straight and five of seven. Joey MacDonald made 20 saves.

Detroit played without No. 1 goaltender Jimmy Howard, Pavel Datsyuk, Nicklas Lidstrom, Jonathan Ericsson, Jakub Kindl and Todd Bertuzzi.

"We were just not fluid. We didn't come with speed," Red Wings head coach Mike Babcock said. "We got one in the end, but we had power plays to build momentum early. You give their penalty kill credit, too. There's nothing wrong, but we were disfunctional coming into their zone there for a while, so that wasn't good enough. But I think when you're stretched, like we are anyway, with players out, your power play has to be good for you because you're offensively more challenged than you normally are."

The Red Wings drew first blood just four minutes into the game. Zetterberg's backhander from the bottom of the right circle sailed over Bryzgalov's shoulder.

Voracek tied the game at the 13:50 mark. Talbot dumped the puck into the Detroit zone and MacDonald went to play the puck behind the net. MacDonald thought he was leaving the disc for a defenseman, but Voracek was there for the Flyers. Voracek's attempted pass for Talbot hit off the skate of a Detroit player and went into the net.

Philadelphia took the lead for good with 1:49 to go. Giroux beat MacDonald on a breakaway for his 24th goal of the year.

The Flyers lost Voracek with about 12 1/2 minutes to play in the second frame. Kronwall's left shoulder made contact with Voracek, who had his head down looking for the puck. The hard hit sent Voracek to the ice, but no penalty was called. He was able to skate off the ice under his own power.

Giroux assisted on Talbot's eventual game-winner at the 14:10 mark of the middle stanza. Giroux stole the puck away from Ian White at the blue line and charged in on a breakaway. His shot set up a rebound for Talbot, who found the back of the net for a short-handed score.

Bryzgalov made 16 saves in the second stanza to keep the Flyers in front by two, 3-1.

The Red Wings made it a one-goal game at the 8:47 mark of the third. Brendan Smith fed a cross-ice pass to Franzen, whose shot from the left circle got past Bryzgalov.

Bryzgalov made 20 saves in the final period to secure the victory.

Game Notes

The Red Wings hosted the Flyers back on February 12 and recorded a 4-3 regulation win. The Flyers have posted seven straight regular-season home wins over the Red Wings....Philadelphia's Kimmo Timonen and Andrej Meszaros missed the game...Detroit went 0-for-4 on the power play...Howe is the fifth Flyer to have his number retired.