Flyers hold off Red Wings to inch closer to playoff spot

The Philadelphia Flyers now sit just one point shy of the final Eastern Conference playoff spot after picking up a 4-3 win Tuesday against the team currently sitting in the second wild-card position, the Detroit Red Wings.

Michael Raffl recorded the second multi-goal game of his career - both coming against the Red Wings. Wayne Simmonds scored his 25th goal of the season, while a backhand from rookie phenom Shayne Gostisbehere would serve as the eventual game-winner.

Steve Mason now has a personal five-game point streak in the Flyers' net, making 34 saves on the night to pick up his 17th win of the year. He's 4-0-1 with only 10 goals against in his current run.

Red Wings netminder Petr Mrazek was even busier, allowing only two goals in a first period that saw the Flyers outshot 23-3. He finished the night with 42 saves.

Andreas Athanasiou, Pavel Datsyuk, and Tomas Tatar provided the goal-scoring for Detroit.

Wild-Card Race

The Flyers now have two games in hand as they sit just one point behind Detroit in the standings, but will face two tough tests later in the week. They visit the Blackhawks on Wednesday, before hosting the Penguins - who currently hold the other wild-card spot in the East - on Saturday.

The Red Wings next three games all come on the road, including stops in Columbus, Florida, and Tampa Bay.

Rnk Team GP Pts
1 Penguins 69 82
2 Red Wings 70 79
3 Flyers 68 78

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