Sean Couturier’s hat trick helps Flyers beat Minnesota, earn first home win of the season

Maybe it was because it was a day game and the building was packed.

Maybe it was because the Flyers were in the NHL’s basement, one point ahead of the last-placed San Jose Sharks, who were supposed to be there.

Maybe it was because a flip had been switched on in the second half of their latest loss on Wednesday and they were ready to show coach John Tortorella he was right when he said on Friday, “We’re not as bad as this.”

Whatever it was, the vibes inside the Wells Fargo Center felt different Saturday afternoon. Captain Sean Couturier strapped his guys onto his surgically repaired back and had a hat trick and two assists. Travis Konecny, listed as day-to-day on Friday, had a goal and four assists, and the Russian phenom Matvei Michkov scored a goal and had an assist.

The result was an impressive, hard-fought 7-5 win against one of the NHL’s top teams, the Minnesota Wild. It marked the Flyers’ second win of the season in eight games and their first at home, while also snapping a six-game losing streak.

Couturier got the Flyers on the board 78 seconds in, pouncing on a juicy rebound off a Rasmus Ristolainen point shot. If you couldn’t tell by his reaction, it was huge for the team and him. His last goal was on Feb. 10 — before he got the “C” — and it was career point No. 500.

And the Flyers kept applying pressure. Nick Seeler, who notched one goal in 71 games last season and has just six in his Flyers career, got the puck in the high slot off a great pass through two Wild skaters by Konecny. Seeler skated down the middle and patiently waited before ripping a shot past Filip Gustavsson.

It was the start the Flyers wanted. They were forechecking and finally finding their transition game. And they scored on two of their three shots in the first period.

“Yeah, it’s important for us to get a good start and, obviously, Coots starting us off there with a good shot from Risto,” the Minnesotan Seeler told 97.5 The Fanatic during the first intermission, “and then a heck of a feed from TK and his side opening.”

» READ MORE: Flyers defenseman Cam York out for two weeks, expected to be placed on injured reserve

But entering the day, the Wild haven’t lost in regulation this season for a reason. In the second period, Brock Faber rotated down the middle after passing to Kirill Kaprizov and deflected his shot past Sam Ersson. Then, 33 seconds later, Marcus Foligno carried the puck out of his zone on a three-on-one, and kept it as the Flyers backchecked, before scoring from the slot.

Michkov put the Flyers back ahead on a delayed penalty with a shot from above the circle after skating to the middle, similar to his goal Wednesday against the Capitals. That goal stood for 100 seconds because on a power play for Minnesota, after the Flyers were called for too many men, Joel Eriksson Ek tied it at 3.

The Wild took a 4-3 lead early in the third, but as mentioned, the vibes were different this game. The Flyers power play did something it couldn’t do last year — it helped pull them back into the game. Konecny, standing at his spot alongside the left post, buried the puck after Morgan Frost’s shot hit the end boards.

Less than four minutes later, Couturier added his second of the game by banging the puck home on his third try. “Coots” rained down from the faithful before Jacob Middleton tied it up again at 5.

But don’t count out the Flyers, as they showed last season. Off a mad scramble in front, the defenseman Ristolainen crashed the net and jammed the puck in to give the Flyers the lead with 2:24 left in regulation. Couturier capped off the hat trick with an empty-netter and the Flyers handed the Wild their first regulation loss.

Before the game, the Flyers announced Jett Luchanko was returned to juniors. ... The Flyers also announced they will be without top defenseman Cam York for a minimum of two weeks due to an upper-body injury.

The Flyers get right back to it on Sunday against the Montreal Canadiens at the Wells Fargo Center (7 p.m., NBCSP).