By Kevin Durso, Sports Talk Philly editor 
For the fourth time this season already, in just 17 games, the Flyers are left wondering what might have been from a shutout loss.
The Minnesota Wild handed the Flyers their fourth blanking of the season by a 1-0 final on Saturday night at Wells Fargo Center, ending a short stretch of home games with more questions about offensive consistency.
Here is the Postgame Review.
Postgame Points
- You have to start off by simply giving Minnesota credit for taking away everything that has worked for the Flyers to this point in the season. The Wild blocked shots, took away shooting lanes and passing lanes and forced the Flyers to the perimeter for much of the night.
Truthfully, Devan Dubnyk wasn't tested all that much in 32 shots and when he was, he was ready.
The Flyers did run into another hot goaltender, but more than that, they ran into a team well-prepared defensively to take away opportunities to score.
- In saying that, there was a clear emphasis on taking away the Flyers top line. Claude Giroux looked off in this game. Sean Couturier and Jake Voracek were pressing a bit with space taken away easily. And given the fact that the Flyers second, third and fourth lines haven't been able to answer the call in the past few games, the Wild were able to silence the Flyers fairly easily.
The fourth line generated some chances, but the second and third line need work and players who can start driving chances. Whether it was the Filppula line or Lehtera line, they just got lost in the shuffle. The Flyers need to start seeing these lines generate some scoring chances.
- Brian Elliott was once again solid in goal, despite the loss. Elliott wasn't tested much in the first two periods with just 14 shots being taken, but the shots Minnesota was taking were quality from the start.
The good part of this is that Elliott is starting to show some consistency. It just so happens that in his last three games, all of which have been solid, the Flyers have one really quality win and two shutout losses.
- It's hard to get into a rhythm when turnovers are a constant part of the game. The Wild played the Flyers well defensively with a strong neutral-zone game and tight checking in the defensive zone.
But the Flyers didn't help their case with their play either. Turnovers were constant. By the late stages of the third period, the Flyers looked tired and worn out. For a team that was playing just their second game in a week, that's not an excuse.
The penalty Voracek took with under four minutes to play was lazy and careless. Discipline is of the greatest importance there, and it cost the Flyers time to set up. Under 5-on-5 conditions, the Flyers would have pulled Elliott with around two minutes to play. Instead, Voracek's penalty expired with 1:49 to play and it took the Flyers another 20 seconds just to secure control long enough to get the goalie pulled. 1:20 of time with an extra attacker wasn't nearly enough and the urgency kicked in too late.
As good a game as it was for Minnesota defensively, it was a sloppy game from the Flyers and some sharper play could have easily changed the result.
- The one thing the Flyers can hang their hat on in this game was a solid defensive effort. Yes, the Flyers are struggling to finish on chances and it has hurt them in four games this season where they may have really needed a goal. But since losing both Andrew MacDonald — a bigger loss than most want to acknowledge — and having to play games without Shayne Gostisbehere and Radko Gudas, the Flyers have really been in survival mode with rookies and inexperienced players on defense and have really survived it for the most part.
There are games the Flyers would probably like to have back, but there are games where the Flyers buckled down and finished the job. This is a tougher team than many want to give credit for.
A lot of that credit has to go to young defensemen. Ivan Provorov is playing a ton of minutes as a second-year player. He hasn't been perfect by any stretch, but he's showing all the makings of a future star in the NHL. Robert Hagg has shown more confidence offensively to go along with a bit of an edge to his defensive game. Travis Sanheim looks more and more comfortable at the NHL level with each game.
The goose eggs on the scoreboard are concerning, but the Flyers are still trending in the right direction, even with an 8-7-2 record through 17 games.
Quotable
"We didn’t finish on one. It was one of those nights where it wasn’t going to be easy to score. We couldn’t find a rebound or a puck around the net, to finish one. They got one, it’s off our stick, off the back wall and they finished one of those. That’s kind of the way the night was, both directions." – Flyers head coach Dave Hakstol
"Both teams had some chances and unfortunate that it had to come down to a bounce like that. They did a good job shutting us down tonight." – Flyers goalie Brian Elliott
Play of the Game
Brian Elliott kept the game scoreless in the first with a great stick save on a shorthanded breakaway for Mikko Koivu.
By the Numbers
The Flyers were without question the better team in the first period, posting a 68.42 CF% at 5-on-5 in the period. But in the third period, when it counted most, the Flyers had just a 47.06 CF% at 5-on-5. Add to that the shot map, which shows just how few the Flyers chances were from the front of the net, and you see how Minnesota was able to lock things down and finish off a win.
Stat of the Game
These two teams were virtually even in every stat. The Wild finished the game with more blocked shots, 18-12, and the Flyers had a slight edge in hits, 19-15, but every stat was essentially perfectly matched, right down to faceoffs being an even 50-50.
