The Philadelphia Flyers were held off the scoreboard for the second straight game by Devan Dubnyk and the Minnesota Wild as the offense continues to sputter.
By Dan Heaning, Sports Talk Philly staff writer 
Luckily for the Philadelphia Flyers they won't have to see Devan Dubnyk for quite some time. The Minnesota Wild netminder, combined with a sputtering offense, plagued the team for the second consecutive game as they fell by a 3-0 score tonight.
Things went Minnesota's way pretty early in the game as Nino Niederreiter tallied just 12 seconds into the contest. The play began with Jordan Weal losing the opening faceoff. The Wild then dumped the puck into the zone and it was recovered by Ivan Provorov. However, Eric Staal stole the puck from Provorov and fed a wide open Niederreiter, who shot it over the shoulder of Brian Elliott.
The Provorov turnover caught Weal out of position as he abandoned his defensive post in anticipation of an outlet pass or the puck being moved up ice.
Devan Dubnyk was picture perfect again against a Flyers offense that is circling the drain. Without the first line production, Philadelphia has been lost and the shuffling of the second and third lines did little to spark an outburst.
Yet, Philadelphia was not without its chances. After a lackluster opening frame, Scott Laughton was set up by Michael Raffl from behind the net with 11:33 left in the second stanza. Laughton's initial attempt was denied but on the rebound, Laughton found only the quick left pad of Dubnyk.
A pair of empty-net goals by Staal and Jason Zucker put the game away late in the third period.
In a surprisingly wide-open first half of the final frame, Dale Weise found himself on a breakaway. The Flyers forward was looking for the five-hole but the Wild goalie swiftly squeezed his pads together to keep Philadelphia off the board.
Elliott DID everything in his power to keep his team within one throughout. Many of his saves in the third period were high-quality chances, such as a Tyler Ennis breakaway early in the frame. He also had a flurry of dangerous attempts at the 6:39 mark from the Marcus Foligno, Matt Cullen and Chris Stewart line that had the Flyers goaltender going side to side to stop a two-on-one and then diving to his left as the Wild rushed the net.
Dubnyk finished with 30 saves in the shutout effort. Meanwhile, Elliott stopped 17 of the 18 Wild shots on him excluding the two empty netters.
Head coach Dave Hakstol's juggled lines failed to produce many chances in the first period outside of one great shift by the Weal, Weise and Wayne Simmonds line in the first period. Yet, the Orange and Black carried the territorial play from the second stanza on, but couldn't solve the Dubnyk riddle for the second time in as many games.
The Flyers will try to get their offense going on the road once more when they travel to Winnipeg to face Patrik Laine and the high flying Jets. The game is set for 8 p.m. at the Bell MTS Place.
Box Score
| 1 | 2 | 3 | T | |
| Wild | 1 | 0 | 2 | 3 |
| Flyers | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Scoring Summary
1st Period
- Nino Niederreiter (3, 00:12)
2nd Period
- No scoring
3rd Period
- Staal (6, 18:53) (ENG)
- Jason Zucker (10, 19:23) (ENG)
Game Statistics
| Flyers | Wild | |
| Shots | 30 | 20 |
| Power Plays | 0/2 | 0/1 |
| Hits | 8 | 11 |
| Faceoff % | 60% | 40% |
| Giveaways | 2 | 3 |
| Takeaways | 1 | 4 |
| Blocked Shots | 8 | 16 |
| Penalty Minutes | 2 | 4 |
