Hart not sharp after All-Star break, Flyers' mini 2-game win streak gone

Carter Hart looked rusty Wednesday night following the All-Star break and the Flyers suffered a 6-3 loss to the Red Wings at the Wells Fargo Center.

The 23-year-old backstop yielded more than three goals in a game for only the second time since Dec. 8.

Detroit's final goal was an empty-netter.

The Flyers (15-23-8) had a modest two-game winning streak snapped. They've won more than two in a row only once this season back on Dec. 10-14, when interim head coach Mike Yeo and company strung together three straight.

Isaac Ratcliffe, Travis Sanheim and Scott Laughton provided the goals for the Flyers, who were playing their first game in a week.

"We were playing some good hockey before the break. Seemed like we were watching too much tonight," Laughton said. "They were making plays around us and spending too much time in our D-zone, then you can't get out of the zone and have energy to go on offense. Definitely frustrated."

The listed attendance Wednesday night was 13,243.

The Flyers face the Red Wings (21-21-6) twice more this season.

• The script was flipped on the Flyers in this one.

They've been offensively challenged almost the entire season, forcing them to play a hefty number of tight, low-scoring games. And when they've given up a tough goal, it has consistently broken their back.

But the Flyers actually countered well to Detroit's goals. The problem is they were leaky defensively and gave up five of them before the empty-netter.

Three times the Flyers responded to a Red Wings goal in under 25 seconds with one of their own.

But they never led and trailed most of the night.

"Assignments that we've drilled over and over again, shown on video over and over again that we were missing right from the start of the game," Yeo said. "Our next game will tell us if this was just a little bit of sloppiness coming out of the break or how much more work we have to do."

• Hart was off his game, surrendering five goals on 33 shots.

"We had a tough stretch there before the break and then we stuck with it, found a way to string a couple of wins together," Hart said. "Then you have a seven-day, eight-day break, whatever it is, where you’re not touching the ice. It’s tough. Kind of a tough timing for the break for our team.

"We've just got to find a way now, we’ve got a couple days to practice and get back to playing our game, really work on it the next couple days and make sure that we’re better and prepared for Saturday."

Hart picked up the first loss to Detroit in his career. He entered 4-0-0 with a 2.24 goals-against average and .931 save percentage lifetime against the Red Wings.

He needed to stop Detroit's fifth goal, which was a killer. Givani Smith beat him five-hole on a seeing-eye shot.

"Just a bad play by me," Hart said. "I need to save that."

Red Wings netminder Alex Nedeljkovic denied 21 of the Flyers' 24 shots.

• Nick Seeler, playing in place of prospect Cam York, picked up the second multi-point game of his NHL career.

The 28-year-old defenseman had two assists and played well in 11:25 minutes.

The 21-year-old York is back with AHL affiliate Lehigh Valley for now, along with 22-year-old center Morgan Frost.

"We want to keep pushing them to find that next level," Yeo said Tuesday. "It's just part of the process."

• After missing 26 of the last 28 games because of a nagging hip injury, Derick Brassard returned and centered the Flyers' third line.

Yeo said he expected to play the veteran 10 to 15 minutes. There's no better way to build game condition than playing.

"It's probably going to take a few games to get back to normal," Brassard said Tuesday. "But I'll try to keep everything simple and just have fun out there."

The 34-year-old finished scoreless in 14:25 minutes.

• The Flyers' power play went a costly 0 for 5 and is 5 for 44 since the calendar turned to 2022.

The second unit Tuesday night consisted of Brassard, Rasmus Ristolainen, Keith Yandle, Gerry Mayhew and Oskar Lindblom.

When the Flyers are healthy, only two of those players are likely on a power play unit.

• With new assistant coach John Torchetti further acclimated, Yeo shifted around responsibilities for his staff.

Torchetti is taking over the power play and will focus on the group of forwards.

Darryl Williams, who was originally overseeing the man advantage in place of Michel Therrien, will be in charge of the penalty kill and defensemen.

Nick Schultz has been moved from the bench to the balcony level during games to serve as the Flyers' eye in the sky. He'll head up the club's pre-scouts.

• Before opening an eight-game homestand, the Flyers hit the road for two straight. They visit the Red Wings on Saturday (noon ET/NBCSP) and Penguins on Tuesday (7 p.m. ET/NBCSP+).

"Good thing is we get these guys on Saturday and get another crack at them," Laughton said. "We just need to play tighter, more communication and that's when we play our best."

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