Wild’s 2 Goals in 3rd Hand Flyers Another Loss

By Kevin Durso, Sports Talk Philly editor 

The Flyers second game in the month of March followed a familiar script. They took the lead first, had multiple leads throughout the course of the game, even carried the lead into the third period and held it beyond the halfway point of the final period.

But as they have done so many times before this season, the Flyers found a way to end up on the wrong end of the result. A pair of goals by the Minnesota Wild separated by just 25 seconds was the difference in a 5-4 defeat for the Flyers on Thursday night at Wells Fargo Center. 

The Flyers got on the board quickly in this one. Scott Laughton created a turnover at the Flyers blue line and took it the length of the ice the other way on the rush, cutting in on goal and beating Cam Talbot for his 11th goal of the season at 3:49.

Minnesota tied the game up at 11:50. An end-to-end rush was completed with a quick passing play from Kirill Kaprisov to Mats Zuccarello to Ryan Hartman for his 20th goal of the season. 

The Flyers answered right back just 1:26 later. A centering pass from Zack MacEwen got to Patrick Brown in the slot, and his shot leaked through Talbot to make it a 2-1 game at 13:16.

With under 10 seconds remaining in the first period, Derick Brassard turned the puck over on a failed clear. Frederick Gaudreau picked it out of the air and moved in on goal, firing a shot that beat Carter Hart with 2.7 seconds left in the period to make it 2-2.

Through 20 minutes, shots were 12-10 Minnesota.

The Flyers got the lead back again at 5:07 of the second. After entering the zone, Laughton had to circle back to collect the puck and threw a turnaround pass to the front of the net. Travis Konecny was all alone to corral it and put a turnaround shot in the net for his ninth goal of the season.

Minnesota tied the game back up at 9:04. A distance shot by Kevin Fiala was blocked by Ivan Provorov and sat at the front of the net, where Hartman put home the rebound for his second goal of the game. 

With 1:40 left in the period, the Flyers got a power play after a Minnesota bench minor. On the power play, a Claude Giroux shot was deflected in by James van Riemsdyk with 45.7 seconds remaining, giving the Flyers a 4-3 lead through two periods. Shots through 40 minutes were 24-16 Minnesota.

The Wild were starting to make a push during most of the third period. Both teams traded power plays, but no scoring came out of that. With 7:44 to play, the Wild finally got it tied up. Off a turnover by Provorov, Matthew Boldy got the payoff, beating Hart to make it a 4-4 game.

Just 25 seconds later, Jonas Brodin put Minnesota on top for the first time. A distance shot beat Hart through a screen with 7:19 remaining. 

That was the difference. The Wild held the one-goal margin the rest of the way for the 5-4 decision.

Talbot made 26 saves on 30 shots in the win. Hart made 33 saves on 38 shots in the loss.

In addition to Hartman's two-goal game, Fiala had a pair of assists. Laughton had a goal and an assist for the Flyers.

The Flyers get back on the ice on Saturday afternoon to face the Chicago Blackhawks at 3 p.m.

Box Score

Scoring Summary

1st Period

• PHI Scott Laughton (11) (Unassisted) 3:49
• MIN Ryan Hartman (20) (Mats Zuccarello, Kirill Kaprisov) 11:50
• PHI Patrick Brown (3) (Zack MacEwen, Max Willman) 13:16
• MIN Frederick Gaudreau (8) (Unassisted) 19:56

2nd Period

• PHI Travis Konecny (9) (Laughton) 5:07
• MIN Hartman (21) (Kevin Fiala, Calen Addison) 9:04
• PHI James van Riemsdyk (12) PP (Claude Giroux, Keith Yandle) 19:14

3rd Period

• MIN Matthew Boldy (9) (Fiala) 12:16
• MIN Jonas Brodin (4) (Dmitry Kulikov) 12:41

Game Statistics