In their third and final head-to-head meeting of the regular season, the Philadelphia Flyers and the Detroit Red Wings meet at Little Caesars Arena for an Eastern Conference tilt. The opening face-off takes place at 7:30 p.m. ET on Tuesday, March 20, and fans at home can watch it live on NBC Sports Network.
Philadelphia Flyers at Detroit Red Wings Odds
Philadelphia (+125) is playing the role of underdog to Philadelphia (-145), and the oddsmakers have put the Over/Under (O/U) at 6 goals (-120 money on the under, +100 on the over). After they originally opened at -105 over and -115 under, those lines have shifted.
Philadelphia is 37-36 straight up (SU) and has lost 2.3 units for moneyline bettors this year. 38 of its matches have gone over the total, while 33 have gone under and just two have pushed. As the road team this season, the Flyers are 19-17 SU.
Philadelphia has converted on 19.8 percent of its power play opportunities this season, a figure that’s right around league average. Its penalty kill is ranked 27th overall, and it has successfully killed off only 75.7 percent of all penalties.
Philadelphia, as a collective unit, has been penalized 3.5 times per game overall during the 2017-18 season, and 2.8 per game over its past five contests. The team has had to defend opponent power plays just 7.2 minutes per game over their last 10 outings.
Boasting a .908 save percentage and 26.3 saves per game, Brian Elliott (22-19-7) has been the best option in goal for Philadelphia this season. If head coach Dave Hakstol chooses to rest him, however, Philadelphia may turn to Petr Mrazek (13-20-5), who has a .903 save percentage and 2.98 goals against average this year.
The visiting Flyers have relied heavily on Claude Giroux and Jakub Voracek this season. Giroux (84 points) is up to 26 goals and 58 assists, and has recorded two or more points 23 times. Voracek has 18 goals and 59 assists to his nameand has notched a point in 46 games.
On the other bench, Detroit is 26-46 straight up (SU) and has lost 17.4 units for moneyline bettors this year. 42 of its contests have gone under the total, while 28 have gone over and just two have pushed. It’s 13-22 SU at home this year.
Detroit has converted on just 17.7 percent of its power play opportunities this season, a mark that places it in the bottom 10 overall among NHL teams. Its penalty kill is also ranked 23rd overall, and it’s successfully killed off 78.3 percent of all opponent power plays.
Detroit players have been penalized 3.7 times per game in total this season, and 2.8 per game over their last five home outings. The team has been forced to kill penalties just 5.6 minutes per game over their last five home outings.
Jimmy Howard (26.7 saves per game) has been the primary option in goal for Detroit. Howard has 18 wins, 35 losses, and eight overtime losses to his credit and has registered a fairly-weak .909 save percentage and 2.87 goals against average this season.
The Wings will be led on offense by Dylan Larkin (nine goals, 41 assists).
Philadelphia Flyers vs. Detroit Red Wings Free Picks
Pick: SU Winner – Red Wings, O/U – Under
Betting
- The over has hit in three of Philadelphia’s last five games.
- The Red Wings are 9-15 in games where they serve fewer penalty minutes than their opponent and 18-30 when they serve fewer than 10 penalty minutes, in total.
- Philadelphia is 2-6 in games decided by a shootout this season while Detroit is 4-1 in shootouts.
- Detroit is ranked 24th this season with 6.3 takeaways per game. That figure’s trended lower, however, as the team has created 4.5 takeaways over its last 10 games and 3.2 takeaways over its last five.
- Philadelphia is ranked 25th with 6.0 takeaways per game. That figure has trended higher recently, as the team has managed 6.9 takeaways over its last 10 games and 7.4 takeaways over its last five.
