NHL on NBCSN Rivalry Night: Red Wings visit Flyers

NBCSN’s coverage of the 2017-18 NHL season continues with Wednesday Night Rivalry as the Detroit Red Wings visit the Philadelphia Flyers at 8 p.m. ET. To watch the game online, click here.

For the ups and downs both the Philadelphia Flyers and Detroit Red Wings have had this season, they’re not too far outside of the Eastern Conference playoff picture.

The Flyers’ down point came during a 10-game losing streak last month that had fans calling for head coach Dave Hakstol to be fired. They followed that up by winning six in a row and now look to find some consistency in order to stay in the playoff chase.

Via the Courier Post:

“Yeah the results would say streaky but we have played good hockey over the whole stretch,” Flyers coach Dave Hakstol said [after Monday’s loss to LA]. “Now it’s about getting results and tonight we got to look at ourselves and put our finger on a couple things we have to do better and that we are capable of doing better. Turn the page and have a good day of practice tomorrow and we go right back at it and we continue with this busy stretch. Tonight those are the areas we have to be better in.”

Meanwhile, Red Wings head coach Jeff Blashill continues to try and jumpstart some of the team’s young guns like Andreas Athanasiou, Martin Frk and Anthony Mantha. Athanasiou is goalless in his last 11 games, while Frk and Mantha finally lit the lamp for the first time this month during a Tuesday night win over the New York Islanders.

Detroit started off their four-game east coast swing on a good note with that 5-3 win last night. Considering their struggles at Little Caesars Arena this season (6-6-6), gobbling up points away from home will be vital.

“It’ll be a good time (to be on the road) if we win,” Blashill said via the Detroit News. “If you had your druthers, as a team, as you’d like to spend a week at home and week on the road and mix it up, not go on really long stretches of either. But I do think, especially when you get to the Christmas holiday, it can be an advantage to get on the road and have that bunker mentality and away from some of the commitments you have when you’re at home.”
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After the game, be sure to stay on NBCSN for the second episode of Sabres-Rangers “Road to the Winter Classic” at 11:30 p.m. ET or stream it here.

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Sean Leahy is a writer for Pro Hockey Talk on NBC Sports. Drop him a line at [e-mail] or follow him on Twitter @Sean_Leahy.