Instant Replay: Flyers 5, Red Wings 0

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After getting beat up pretty bad over the weekend, the Flyers enacted a little payback on unsuspecting Detroit on Tuesday night at Wells Fargo Center with a 5-0 rout over the Red Wings.

They also restored a little bit of normalcy Tuesday night to their infrastructure.

Goalie Steve Mason bounced back from his recent struggles to stop 33 shots in recording his second shutout of the season.

It was a strong offensive game from a number of players, including Scott Hartnell, who had two early goals.

Now comes the real hard part -- a six-day, three-game road trip to California where the Flyers will face the top three clubs in the Pacific Division.

Mason badly needed to have a good game after being yanked twice in his last three starts and he turned in a pretty good one against the Red Wings.

It snapped a six-game streak in which Mason had given up at least three goals in a game.

There was, however, potentially real bad news for the Flyers. Kimmo Timonen, who has had his share of foot injuries as a Flyer, took a shot early in the game, left after the mid-point of the second period, and did not return. Timonen will be reevaluated on Wednesday, but coach Craig Berube said the defenseman should be fine.

Timonen's exit forced Berube to rotate his remaining five defensemen the rest of the night.

Despite a slow start, the Flyers actually scored first and held the lead, even fattening up on it in the second period.

Hartnell, bothered by an aching left foot that isn’t fractured but it still causing him pain, didn’t seem too bothered as he scored twice for the Flyers for a 2-0 lead.

It was 3-0 after two period before Claude Giroux and Sean Couturier really put it away in the third period.

The Flyers, who beat a depleted Red Wings team earlier this season at Joe Louis Arena, got the same break in this one.

Pavel Datsyuk (lower body), Henrik Zetterberg (back) and Johan Franzen (concussion) all missed the game with injuries.

Injuries
Timonen blocked a shot in the first period and skated gingerly to the bench. He missed the final 8:46 of the second period and did not return. The last thing this club needs is to be missing one of its few defensemen who can move the puck.

Banged up
The Red Wings came into the game with a stunning 230 man games lost due to injury. Nineteen different players have missed games this season. Only Drew Miller and Kyle Quincey have played in every game for them.

Big line
Hartnell and linemates Giroux and Jakub Voracek had a very good game together, combining for three goals and four assists for seven points.

First whistle
Who would have guessed it came at 6:44? Pretty good given the state of things with the Flyers.

Breakout
It’s been a huge problem for the Flyers, of late, and might be why they dropped all three forwards back into the zone to help the defense. It didn’t help but only congested things even worse.

Best chances
Wayne Simmonds had a gift rebound from goalie Jonas Gustavsson early in the game with an open net but the puck appeared to jump past his stick. Matt Read flubbed a pass into the slot on another scoring chance as the Flyers seemed skittish early in the game.

Penalties
All the talk about eliminating them … the Flyers had three in succession late in the first period, including back to back four-on-four situations.

Special teams
As bad as the Flyers were in the opening period, they grabbed the lead at 13:42 with a power-play backhand tip from Hartnell for a 1-0 lead. The Flyers were 1 for 2 on the power play in the game, while Detroit was 0 for 4.

Four-on-three
Detroit had one late in the opening period and Mason made a terrific glove save on Gustav Nyquist.

Saved by the post
Detroit had a shot hit the left post in the second period that dangled dangerously on the goal line before Mason tied it up for a faceoff.

Tricky shot
Adam Hall’s turnaround backhander in the slot with 8:58 left in the second period gave the Flyers a 3-0 and forced Wings coach Mike Babcock to call his timeout. Hall has two goals in January and just three all season. His shot seemed like a curveball the way it wrapped around Gustavsson inside the post.

Stone cold
Mason was sharp in the final seven minutes of the second period with a point blank save on Luke Glendening, then while sitting on his fanny. Now he appeared to block Quincey’s follow shot into the netting above, but replays showed it hit the crossbar first. He had several fine saves in the game and faced 33 shots.

Scratches
Defensemen Hal Gill and Andrej Meszaros; forward Jay Rosehill. All were healthy. Zac Rinaldo (left ankle sprain) missed his 10th straight game.

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