Two days after Chuck Fletcher subtracted only two players from his roster, the Flyers got back in the win column to stem the tide a bit.
John Tortorella's club started its post-trade deadline stretch with a 3-1 victory Sunday night over the Red Wings at the Wells Fargo Center.
Nicolas Deslauriers, Noah Cates and Scott Laughton scored for the Flyers (24-28-11), who snapped a four-game losing streak (0-3-1).
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Laughton sealed the win with an empty-netter in his 500th career game.
Deslauriers' goal was a momentum-swinging sequence. With Detroit on a second-period power play, Deslauriers intercepted a pass and took it the other way to draw the Flyers even at 1-1.
"That's huge for us, just the depth scoring," Cates said. "He's obviously one of the guys' favorite guys and when he scores, he's got a good celly. That always gets us going."
A little over six minutes later, Cates gave the Flyers the lead with a redirection.
NHL
Tortorella has talked about his team wanting to show some pride as it finishes the season with games that don't matter for a playoff race.
Did he need to reinforce that message following Friday's deadline?
"No, we've talked about it enough," the Flyers' head coach said pregame. "I am not going to beat them over the head with that. I think we have good people. Sometimes you can almost insult them when you keep talking about it. We're going to let them play. I think the biggest key for us is just managing the game."
Tortorella defended Fletcher a day after his general manager came under fire for not trading James van Riemsdyk.
Detroit played Saturday and has lost six straight (0-5-1).
The Flyers are 2-0-0 against the Red Wings (28-26-9) this season. The two clubs meet once more with another matchup at the Wells Fargo Center in just under three weeks.
• Back in January, Carter Hart held Detroit to one goal for a 2-1 win.
The 24-year-old did it again Sunday with 25 saves.
David Perron beat him just 4:51 minutes into the game as the Red Wings capitalized on a Morgan Frost turnover.
Hart closed the door over the final two periods.
Detroit's No. 1 netminder Ville Husso stopped 34 of the Flyers' 36 shots.
• Surprisingly still a Flyer following the deadline, van Riemsdyk played over 18 minutes.
To no surprise, he'll be a pro the rest of the way before he hits unrestricted free agency during the summer.
• Brendan Lemieux was relaxing in bed at his Manhattan Beach residence Friday when Kings general manager Rob Blake called him.
He had been traded to the Flyers.
Lemieux, who turns 27 years old this month, had played just 23 games for Los Angeles this season before he came to the Flyers in the Zack MacEwen trade. He had missed extended time with a lower-body injury and then was often a healthy scratch.
"After a year like I had in L.A., another injury — same injury as last year — and then coming back, just never got really much of an opportunity to play after coming back," Lemieux said Saturday. "I had hoped for an opportunity to play and I knew Philly was a place that appreciates players that play the way I do. So I knew there was potential for it but I didn't necessarily know that it would happen. I definitely wasn't expecting it to happen before the deadline.
"I'm thankful for an opportunity to play hockey because it's what I've always wanted to do and I really just wasn't getting much opportunity to do that in L.A."
On Sunday, Lemieux got his first look with the Flyers and made a nice impression. He was noticeable, had five hits, finished with a plus-3 mark and stirred the pot a tad.
Lemieux played on a line with Laughton and is happy they're now teammates.
"He terrorized me in junior hockey for a few years," Lemieux said with a laugh postgame. "I was a young kid and he was older. So I knew him from the Ontario league and then obviously playing against him in the NHL the last six years. He's a heck of a player, he's a competitor, I didn't like him very much playing against him. But I knew that's usually the guys you like the most when you get in a room.
"Laughty's a beauty and it was awesome to play with him. He was talking to me, he was in the right spots and helping me out. Your first night's always a little more challenging than others and I felt like it was a good one."
Lemieux is a winger who wants to play a power forward type of game and get under the skin of the opposition.
This is a tryout with the Flyers because he's set to become an unrestricted free agent in the offseason.
• Joel Farabee went a 22nd straight game without a goal and committed a penalty, but he looked more like himself offensively.
He nearly broke his slump twice in the first period. An active Farabee was a good sign Sunday night.
"Around the net, making plays, he was more confident with the puck," Tortorella said. "God, he could have had two or three. That's the first step, right? He's involved in the offense. You noticed him tonight, so hopefully he'll just keep on growing from there."
• The final 20 games of the season are awfully important for a guy like Tanner Laczynski.
The 25-year-old center returned Sunday night after missing almost three months with a lower-body injury.
The Flyers are trying to figure out if he's a bottom-six piece for the future. The biggest key for Laczynski is staying healthy.
What does Tortorella want to see from him over the final stretch?
"Everything," he said pregame.
Laczynski had a shot and a couple of hits in under nine minutes Sunday.
"Felt good just to be out there again," Laczynski said.
• The Flyers open a three-game road trip Tuesday when they visit the Lightning (7 p.m. ET/NBCSP+).
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