The Philadelphia Flyers were unable to add to their 2-game winning streak as they were taken down by the Minnesota Wild on the road by a score of 4-1.
Kirill Kaprizov scored the eventual game-winner in the first period after whistling a shot off Samuel Ersson’s mask and in. Matt Boldy then added a huge insurance marker just moments after Travis Konecny missed on a possible game-tying goal to take a 2-goal lead into the third.
Despite the Flyers leading the league in third period comebacks, the Wild mitigated most of their opportunities before burying their 3rd goal midway through the period off the stick of Marco Rossi.
Travis Sanheim made things interesting at the end when he scored his 6th of the season but that was all she wrote for the Flyers offensive efforts today. Kaprizov then added his second of the game into the empty net.
Ersson stopped 19 shots in the losing effort, Konecny had two glorious opportunities to score but was robbed the first time by Marc-André Fleury and the second time by Matvei Michkov. Fleury stopped 18 shots en route to his 6th win of the season and 567th of his career.
Off the heels of a Scott Laughton quadruple-goal effort, the Flyers headed back on the road as they visited the Wild, looking for the season series sweep.
With the Flyers having taken care of business their last time out against Detroit, John Tortorella rolled with nearly the same lineup, which meant Emil Andrae remained a healthy scratch in lieu of Egor Zamula. Samuel Ersson returning between the pipes was the lone roster change.
As for the Wild, they entered today’s matinee tied for 2nd in the NHL in point with 42 and trailed their divisional rivals in the Winnipeg Jets for top spot by 1 point. At 19-6-4, the Wild have been a well-oiled machine but are coming off their worst loss of the season as they were taken down by the Edmonton Oilers by a score of 7-1 their last time out.
Kirill Kaprizov led the way with 18 goals, 25 assists, and 43 points. Matt Boldy followed with 12 goals and 28 points, Marco Rossi rounded out the top three with 10 goals and 24 points, and Brock Faber continued off his impressive rookie season last year with 15 points to date.
Marc-André Fleury earned the start as he looked to improve on his 5-1-1 record, 2.71 GAA, and a .905 SV%. Filip Gustavsson was in goal the last time these two teams met when the Flyers won 7-5.
FIRST PERIOD
Just 87 seconds into the game, Garnet Hathaway was assessed a tripping minor sending the Minnesota Wild onto their first power play of the day, however it only lasted 61 seconds as Jared Spurgeon was called for a hooking minor, squashing their first attempt.
Despite all their success this season, the Wild entered today’s game with the 30th-ranked penalty kill. Fortunately for them, the struggling Flyers power play wasn’t able to set up during their abbreviated opportunity.
Heading into the first commercial break, Travis Konecny was absolutely robbed by the glove of Marc-André Fleury as his one-time attempt was ensnared by the veteran of well over 1,000 games. Joel Farabee did a good job at recovering the puck after a turnover and setting up the Konecny one-timer.
With 8:23 remaining, Hathaway dropped the gloves with Marcus Foligno after the latter shoved the former at the Flyers’ blue-line. It was a short fight with Foligno taking down Hathaway at the onset of the scrap. Hathaway, not known for his fighting, was expected to be a target after having drawn the ire of the Wild during their last matchup.
At the 14:18 mark of the period, Kaprizov got the Wild on the board after roofing a shot off Ersson’s mask and in for his 19th goal of the season. Minnesota used the home-ice to their advantage as Jon Merrill purposely banked a pass off the boards to find Kaprizov on the other side of the ice, which assuredly fooled Ersson.
Ironically enough, Kaprizov took Foligno’s spot on the third line as the enforcer was in the box for a fighting major.
With 2:19 remaining, Laughton drew his second penalty of the game, this time on Merrill, who impeded his breakaway attempt with a hooking minor. The top unit did a pretty good job but of their 4 shots towards the goal, only made it to Fleury and it was seen all the way.
The period came to an end with the Wild holding a 1-0 lead on the scoreboard and being tied in shots at 9-9.
SECOND PERIOD
7:09 into the second period, the Flyers received their third power play of the game with Matt Boldy getting the gate for hooking. No shots were recorded by either team as we had reached the first commercial break.
The first 40 seconds fell in favour of the Wild, which was encapsulated by a Foligno shorthanded odd-man rush that was stopped by Ersson. The Flyers then went the other way and fired 3 shots on goal, all from Matvei Michkov.
Konecny came within inches again of scoring but his wide-open opportunity was stopped by Michkov’s stick blade that was on the ice surface at the most inopportune time.
With the temperature rising a little bit in the middle frame, Travis Sanheim and Foligno were both assessed roughing minors at the 13:45 mark. With 24 seconds left in the 4-on-4, Boldy jumped on a breakaway and finished the play through Ersson’s five-hole.
Konecny’s initial opportunity whistled wide, which allowed Brock Faber to corral the puck and quickly outlet it to Boldy, who made a beeline towards the neutral zone the moment he noticed Faber was going to get the puck. He was able to walk in for the breakaway attempt and collected his 13th goal of the season in the process.
The period came to a close with the Wild doubling their lead to 2-0 and holding a 16-13 edge in shots.
THIRD PERIOD
The Flyers started the third period with a lot of gumption, especially from their bottom-six, however after weathering the mini-storm, the Wild were able to lock things up defensively and kept Philadelphia’s offense – primarily the top-6 – at bay as they headed into the first commercial break unscathed.
Moments after Cam York fumbled a Morgan Frost setup, the Wild quickly jettisoned out of the zone and finished off their odd-man rush with 10:26 remaining in regulation. Declan Chisholm got the puck out of the zone to Mats Zuccarello, who then found Marco Rossi for the finish low-glove past Ersson for his 11th of the campaign.
With 5:42 remaining, the Flyers ruined Fleury’s shutout bid after Sanheim’s point shot went through his wickets. Ryan Poehling did a great job in the neutral zone to get the play started before setting up Sanheim’s 6th of the season.
With 4:24 left to play, Tortorella pulled his goaltender for the extra attacker. After over two minutes of game action with the net empty, Kaprizov sealed the deal with his 2nd of the game and 20th of the season with 2:10 remaining.
UP NEXT
The Flyers remain on the road as they head to Little Caesars Arena to face the Detroit Red Wings on Wednesday night (7:00pm; TNT/TruTV/Max).
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