During a six-game losing streak to start the season, the Flyers have been looking for combinations that can help jumpstart the offense. They opted to put Matvei Michkov back on a line with Sean Couturier and Travis Konecny. And while Michkov has been much of the story so far this season, the other two members of that line had memorable days.
Couturier scored a hat trick and joined Konecny in posting a five-point game, as the Flyers snapped their losing streak at six games with a 7-5 win over the Minnesota Wild on Saturday afternoon at Wells Fargo Center.
The Flyers made a strong opening statement in this game, striking twice in short order.
Just 1:18 into the game, Couturier was in front to bury a rebound off a Rasmus Ristolainen shot to make it 1-0. It was Couturier’s 500th NHL point.
At 3:51, the Flyers added another goal off the rush. Konecny got a pass to Nick Seeler as the trailer, and he fired a shot past Filip Gustavsson for his first goal of the season to make it 2-0.
Through 20 minutes, shots were 7-3 Minnesota.
The Flyers maintained the two-goal lead for most of the second period, despite getting heavily out-shot and having to kill off two penalties, resulting in 5-on-3 time. Finally, at 14:54 of the period, Minnesota broke through.
Brock Faber was in the slot to redirect a Kirill Kaprizov attempt for his first goal of the season to cut the lead to one. Just 33 seconds later, Marcus Foligno finished off a nice rush to tie the game.
The Flyers re-gained the lead with 1:44 remaining in the period. Michkov scored his first goal on home ice, firing a shot through a screen on a delayed penalty call to make it 3-2 with his fourth goal of the season.
The lead was short-lived, as a bench minor allowed the Minnesota power play to get on the board. A loose puck in the crease was put home by Joel Eriksson Ek with 3.2 seconds remaining in the period, evening things up at three.
Through two periods, shots were 21-6 Minnesota.
Just 2:18 into the third, the Wild took their first lead of the game. A point shot by Zach Bogosian off a face-off was deflected by Foligno for his second goal of the game.
At 4:55, the Flyers were on their first power play of the game and capitalized to even things up at four. Konecny was able to put home a rebound off the end boards for his fourth goal of the season.
The Flyers retook the lead at 8:26 of the third. Couturier had three attempts at a rebound before putting it home for his second goal of the game to make it 5-4.
Minnesota got the game tied back up at five with 6:33 remaining in the third. A long-distance shot by Jacob Middleton hit off Sam Ersson and went in.
The Flyers got the lead back with 2:24 to play. Ristolainen was able to knock home a loose puck in a mad scramble in the crease for his first goal of the season to make it 6-5.
With one minute to play, Couturier capped off the hat trick with an empty-net goal.
Couturier and Konecny each finished with five points. Michkov, Ristolainen, Seeler, and Owen Tippett each finished with multi-point games. Kaprizov, Foligno, and Eriksson Ek each had two points for Minnesota.
Ersson finished with 21 saves on 26 shots in the win. Gustavsson had 16 saves on 22 shots in the loss.
The Flyers get back on home ice again on Sunday night to face the Montreal Canadiens at 7 p.m.
Box Score
| 1 | 2 | 3 | T | |
| Wild | 0 | 3 | 2 | 5 |
| Flyers | 2 | 1 | 4 | 7 |
Scoring Summary
1st Period
- PHI Sean Couturier (1) (Rasmus Ristolainen, Travis Konecny) 1:18
- PHI Nick Seeler (1) (Konecny, Matvei Michkov) 3:51
2nd Period
- MIN Brock Faber (1) (Kirill Kaprizov, Joel Eriksson Ek) 14:54
- MIN Marcus Foligno (1) (Declan Chisholm) 15:27
- PHI Michkov (4) (Couturier, Owen Tippett) 18:16
- MIN Eriksson Ek (4) PP (Kaprizov, Matt Boldy) 19:56
3rd Period
- MIN Foligno (2) (Zach Bogosian, Jonas Brodin) 2:18
- PHI Konecny (4) PP (Morgan Frost, Tippett) 4:55
- PHI Couturier (2) (Konecny, Seeler) 8:26
- MIN Jacob Middleton (2) (Unassisted) 13:27
- PHI Ristolainen (1) (Couturier, Konecny) 17:36
- PHI Couturier (3) EN (Noah Cates, Travis Sanheim) 19:00
Game Statistics
| Wild | Flyers | |
| Shots | 26 | 23 |
| Power Play | 1/4 | 1/2 |
| Hits | 9 | 24 |
| Faceoff % | 49.1% | 50.9% |
| Giveaways | 16 | 15 |
| Takeaways | 5 | 4 |
| Blocked Shots | 12 | 22 |
| Penalty Minutes | 6 | 10 |
