Red Wings match record with 20th straight home win

DETROIT — The Red Wings have finally started to embrace a record they've been chasing.

Detroit equaled an NHL mark with its 20th straight win at home, beating the Philadelphia Flyers 4-3 Sunday night thanks to Johan Franzen's tiebreaking goal early in the third period along with timely defense and saves.

"We haven't talked about this at all," coach Mike Babcock insisted. "We talked about it tonight because it happened."

The NHL-leading Red Wings have been more focused on trying to keep their edge in the highly competitive Central Division and Western Conference, not their streak on home ice.

"We don't want to talk about it," defenseman Nicklas Lidstrom said. "We just want to keep it going. Just go out there and play and win games. That's the approach we've had."

The league mark was set by the Boston Bruins during the 1929-30 season and matched by Philadelphia in 1976.

"We definitely wanted to keep them from tying the record," Flyers wing Scott Hartnell said. "We're all disappointed about that."

Detroit can break the record with a win Tuesday night over the Dallas Stars at Joe Louis Arena.

"It's not too often you get a chance to do that," Red Wings goalie Joey MacDonald said.

Philadelphia rookie Brayden Schenn had a career-high two goals, helping the Flyers take the first of two leads they couldn't keep against a team that hasn't lost at home since Nov. 3 against Calgary.

MacDonald overcame shaky clearing attempts that led to two goals and finished with 26 saves.

"What I liked was how he played after a mistake," Babcock said.

Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 21 shots for the Flyers.

Bobrovsky's head was on a swivel in the opening minute of the third period when Henrik Zetterberg and Lidstrom made diagonal passes to set up Franzen in front of the net for his league-leading 10th goal to win a game.

"There's not much you can do about it when they're zinging it around like that," Hartnell said. "They picked us apart a few times out there and that was the difference."

Lidstrom played in his 1,550th game, the most by an NHL player who spent his entire career with one team. He broke the mark set by former Red Wings great Alex Delvecchio.