The Flyers were foiled by “the Flower” on Saturday afternoon as they went down 4-1 to the host (and very good) Minnesota Wild.
The basics
First period: 14:18- Kirill Kaprizov (Jon Merrill, Zach Bogosian)
Second period: 15:21- Matt Boldy (Brock Faber)
Third period: 9:34- Marco Rossi (Mats Zuccarello, Declan Chisholm), 14:18- Travis Sanheim (Ryan Poehling, Garnet Hathaway), 17:50- Kirill Kaprizov (Marcus Foligno, Jonas Brodin) (ENG)
SOG: 21 (PHI) – 23 (MIN)
Some takeaways
Comeback kids?
The Flyers only trail Vegas when it comes to comeback wins. Down 2-0 heading into the third they had their work cut out for them. With the Noah Cates line buzzing to start the third and almost scoring on a wrap around that Fleury stretched out to nab. After Marco Rossi made it 3-0 on a wrist shot low to the glove side, any chance of comeback seemed to be gone.
That is, until Travis Sanheim finally got a puck through a maze of players and through Fleury to break the future Hall of Famer’s shutout bid. It also put some doubt back into the Wild. The Flyers pulled Ersson with over four minutes to go and then called a time out soon afterwards. But an empty netter by Kirill Kaprizov (his 20th of the year) sewed this one up.
Philadelphia goal!
— NHL Goals (@nhl_goal_bot) December 14, 2024
Scored by Travis Sanheim with 05:42 remaining in the 3rd period.
Assisted by Ryan Poehling and Garnet Hathaway.
Minnesota: 3
Philadelphia: 1#PHIvsMIN #mnwild #LetsGoFlyers pic.twitter.com/IgB7yinrqi
The Wild or North Stars?
What’s the deal with the Wild uniforms? If they wanted to be the Minnesota North Stars, fine. Don’t call yourself the Wild and then wear almost an identical color scheme that Bobby Smith, Dino Ciccarelli and Gilles Meloche wore all those years ago. Okay, old man screaming at clouds screed over.
No A but Z
Emil Andrae sat out for his second consecutive game and Egor Zamula was once again in for him. Zamula and Rasmus Ristolainen were fine in the first period while Zamula led all Flyer skaters in time on ice (five-on-five) with 5:42. Zamula made a gaffe late in the second when he fumbled the puck on a Minnesota outlet clear. Like nearly every other Flyer not named Travis Konecny, Zamula had a mediocre at best second period as the Wild seemingly zipped up the neutral zone. He ended the game up seven (16-9) regarding chances for. Ristolainen was also strong during the game in the same category (15-8).
Fleury frustrates
Marc-Andre Fleury is no stranger to the Flyers given his success with the Penguins. But in his last season, he’s still able to fluster Philadelphia. In the first period the Flyers had a quick two-on-one that saw Konecny with a wide open net. His shot was foiled with Fleury reached out with his glove and made a highlight reel save, leaving both Konecny and Fleury to chuckle at what should’ve been the Flyers first of the afternoon.
marc-andré fleurys magnificent glove save on travis konecny pic.twitter.com/IM1BOQr8MH
— archive fleury (@dailyfleury) December 14, 2024
Konecny was left scratching his head again in the second when, on a power play, he was fed a pass for a wide open net. His shot unfortunately hit Matvei Michkov’s stick in the goal crease and still kept Philadelphia down a goal.
Michkov's stick blocks Konecny's shot. The Flyers are cursed. pic.twitter.com/JrAy9Qtp4O
— Ryan Gilbert (@RGilbertSOP) December 14, 2024
To Ersson is human
The Flyers’ keeper wasn’t quite up to snuff. Despite making a few saves in the first, Sam Ersson let in a bit of a bad one deep into the first. A rising shot nowhere near the net bounced directly to Kirill Kaprizov who buried it. Ersson didn’t get over quick enough and left a little bit of room up top for Kaprizov to score. The shot glanced off of Ersson noggin and went in.
It was a decent opening period for the Flyers playing against one of the better teams in the league. The teams split the chances for right down the middle as were the shots on goal after one with nine each. Late in the second period the Flyers’ Konecny had another great chance but Fleury stopped him. Seconds later Zamula missed an outlet pass and Ersson looked as if he could’ve went out to try and play the puck before Matt Boldy got it. He didn’t and he paid for it as Boldy waited him out and beat him over his right pad.
Matt Boldy makes it a 2-0 #mnwild lead on the breakaway. 200 career NHL points for Boldy pic.twitter.com/fz2Jw2gj1H
— Alex Micheletti (@AlexMicheletti) December 14, 2024
Drysdale (for the most part) dyn-o-mite!
Jamie Drysdale is beginning to look like a broken record, or a shiny new toy. The first four games since he’s been back since injury/tape sessions have been eye-opening. The second power play the Flyers had featured Drysdale on the first unit, and the passing, decision-making and finesse was plentiful in the first half of the power play. It didn’t pay off with a goal, but it again proved that the Flyers just might have something special with this 22-year-old kid.
In the second he broke played a two-on-one against the Wild fine before heading back up ice on a four-on-two. He’s skating, he’s skating and he’s skating some more in both ends of the ice, not looking like the frozen, indecisive defenseman he did for so much of last season and starting this one. The one glaring flub came in the third when a pass in his own end was intercepted by Minnesota but Ersson was there to stop it.
Little bit of bad blood
One of the six Wild losses going into the game was against Philadelphia and Couturier’s five-point game. Maybe they wanted a pound of flesh but there were some chippy moments. After Garnet Hathaway looked to be dropped by a Wild right hook, the replay showed he was hit on the shoulder and lost his balance. Not exactly a knockout. Later on Marcus Foligno and Travis Sanheim traded face washes with their gloves before Foligno threw a punch or two over the top of the intervening officials.
