Philadelphia Flyers vs. Detroit Red Wings Prediction, Preview, Picks & Odds - 2/12/2022

Time: Noon ET

Venue: Little Caesars Arena, Detroit, MI

Where to watch: BSDET, NBCSP

DraftKings: Red Wings -155, Flyers +135

WynnBet: Red Wings -160, Flyers +135 

Caesars: Red Wings -155, Flyers +135

Flyers: 15-23-8

Red Wings: 21-21-6

Recent form
Flyers: 2-3 in last five
Red Wings: 3-2 in last five

The Detroit Red Wings are on the cusp. They may not be there just yet, but God-willing if they're not trying with the young guys they have in the system.

Would you expect anything less from a Steve Yzerman-led team? Probably not. But the Red Wings are farther along schedule than we once anticipated them to be. And now they enter the second half of the season as one of the teams we can categorize as, 'exciting now, but not there yet.'

The Red Wings began the second half of the season against the Philadelphia Flyers on Wednesday that resulted in a 6-3 win for Detroit. With the home-and-home coming to a close Saturday, I don't see how the Red Wings lose this game despite it being a familiar opponent from days not long ago.

It has as much to do with the talent on Detroit than it does the frustrating times with Philly. But the latter has not been as appealing. The Flyers are on a downward spiral where the future of the franchise hangs in the balance. Claude Giroux could find himself out of Philly before the trade deadline, and the Flyers are already without Selke Trophy winner Sean Couturier for the remainder of the season.

The Red Wings scored twice in the third period for the three-goal victory with Dylan Larkin and Robby Fabbri scoring a goal and an assist each, and Moritz Seider had two assists to continue his strong development as one of the best young defensemen in the NHL.

“I liked the fact that we really didn’t give them much in the third,” Red Wings coach Jeff Blashill said. 'We’ve been in this position a lot and didn’t really play the hockey we needed to play."

Alex Nedeljkovic only saw 24 shots in the win, and he's likely to get the start again on Saturday opposite of Carter Hart, who gave up all six goals from the Philadelphia perspective the other night. 

“We recognized that we weren’t good, but there’s still an opportunity here and clearly we didn’t grab it,” Flyers coach Mike Yeo said. “We’re going to have to regroup here.”

Regrouping has been Philadelphia's MO for the majority of this season with no end in sight. It only seems like yesterday that the Flyers were one of the top teams in the Eastern Conference. Sure, injuries have played a major role in this. Ryan Ellis, whom they acquired from the Nashville Predators in the offseason to lead their blue line, is hurt. So is Kevin Hayes and Joel Farabee, two key components to the goal scoring they desperately need.

And what's to be of Hart down the road? Are we to believe that he'll actually get back to the form that made him one of the best young goalies in the league? It doesn't help to have the defense that he has in front of him, but man, his stock has fallen off a cliff to where it seems like the Flyers are stuck with him.

That's why stock with the Red Wings is so high right now. They were gifted a young goalie that will lead them in net for years to come, on top of a duo of young players in Seider and Lucas Raymond that have the ability to carry this group into a long-awaited new era in Detroit. And that doesn't even include Larkin, the Red Wings' captain, who can still be an offensive dynamo when called upon.

I'm normally not a fan of the team winning both games of a back-to-back or home-and-home unless it calls for it, and given the location and how the last game played out, this calls for it. I like the Red Wings, likely not in another high-scoring affair as Wednesday, but enough to show that one goaltender is clearly far superior than the other. Red Wings win 3-1

The Flyers are 46-51 off an over in the past three years.

The under is 37-25 when the Flyers play a second game in five days.

The Red Wings are 25-51 over the past three seasons off an over.

The Red Wings are 19-53 after allowing three goals or more in consecutive games.

Flyers:

Oskar Lindblom -- Claude Giroux -- Cam Atkinson

James van Riemsdyk -- Scott Laughton -- Travis Konecny

Max Willman -- Derick Brassard -- Gerry Mayhew

Isaac Ratcliffe -- Connor Bunnaman -- Zack MacEwen

Ivan Provorov -- Justin Braun

Travis Sanheim -- Kevin Connauton

Keith Yandle -- Nick Seeler

Carter Hart

Red Wings:

Filip Zadina -- Dylan Larkin -- Lucas Raymond

Robby Fabbri -- Tyler Bertuzzi -- Pius Suter

Michael Rasmussen -- Adam Erne -- Vladislav Namestnikov

Joe Veleno -- Givani Smith -- Sam Gagner

Danny DeKeyser -- Moritz Seider

Jordan Oesterle -- Filip Hronek

Marc Staal -- Gustav Lindstrom

Alex Nedeljkovic

Coaches:
Flyers: Mike Yeo
Red Wings: Jeff Blashill

Points: Cam Atkinson -- 36

Goals: Cam Atkinson -- 17

Assists: Claude Giroux -- 21

Goalie: Carter Hart -- 9-15-5, 2.88 GAA, .913 SV%

Points: Dylan Larkin -- 46

Goals: Dylan Larkin -- 24

Assists: Moritz Seider -- 27

Goalie: Alex Nedeljkovic -- 14-13-5, 2.91 GAA, .910 SV%