The Flyers got off to a good start, putting 15 shots on goal in the first period. They ramped up the pressure even more in the second period, until the dam broke and they scored two goals in quick succession.
Going into the third protecting a lead, the Flyers were pinned in their own zone until the Wild scored an easy goal after a turnover behind the net between Steve Mason and Nick Schultz gave Zach Parise a tap in. Fortunately the Flyers ultimately claimed two points with an overtime goal from Michael Del Zotto, his second goal of the night.
Game Flow
Forwards
It feels like bizarro world looking at the chart above. The Claude Giroux line had the worst possession numbers of all the lines, while the fourth line's numbers were off the charts. R.J. Umberger, in fact, had a perfect Corsi of 100 percent.
As you would expect, the Giroux line handled the toughest matchup against the Wild's top line of Mikko Koivu, Parise and Jason Zucker, and the top defensive pairing in Ryan Suter and Jared Spurgeon. They didn't fare well at all against the top line, with a matchup Corsi of about 20 percent. Zucker's breakaway goal was also a direct result of a bad pass from Giroux. Giroux is in an offensive slump with only two points in his last nine games, so things really aren't going his way.
Meanwhile, the Scott Laughton line has to love earning such a high Corsi against the Wild's third line. There were no goals for the trio, but they even maintained their perfect Corsi this night in two shifts against the Wild's top line.
On the other lines, Sean Couturier and Brayden Schenn stayed hot. Couturier opened the scoring, and Schenn had a two-point night including a nice set up for Michael Del Zotto's first goal. Schenn now has six points in his last three games, while Couturier has 10 in his last nine.
The Pierre-Edouard Bellemare line also chipped in a goal to round off a solid night where you can't blame them for their two goals against.
Defense
Just when you think the Flyers defense pairs may be settling down, Shayne Gostisbehere leaves the game early with an injury. Really playing just the first period, Gostisbehere and Evgeny Medvedev were off to a good start. After Ghost left, Medvedev picked up shifts with Mark Streit, Del Zotto and Schultz with good results, although he mostly avoided the Wild's top line. Medvedev was, in fact, a team-high plus-3.
Del Zotto and Radko Gudas played their customary role, leading the team in ice time and playing tough competition. Del Zotto played over 27 minutes total, leading the team, and scored two goals. It's a nice reward for the team's top defenseman this season, who's otherwise seen terrible shooting percentages this season.
The recently reunited Streit-Schultz pairing brought up the rear for the team. Their matchups were pretty much the same as Gudas and Del Zotto, just with worse results. The pair did however avoid conceding any goals other the Mason stickhandling mishap with Schultz on Parise's goal.
Marc Naples is a contributor to Flyerdelphia and Sports Talk Philly. Follow him on Twitter @SuperScrub47.
