Flyers edge Wild to end slide
After a rough third period Friday night, the Flyers turned things around 24 hours later. With Brayden Schenn breaking a 2-2 tie on a power-play goal in the third period, the Flyers defeated the Minnesota Wild, 3-2, Saturday night at the Wells Fargo Center.
After a rough third period Friday night, the Flyers turned things around 24 hours later. With Brayden Schenn breaking a 2-2 tie on a power-play goal in the third period, the Flyers defeated the Minnesota Wild, 3-2, Saturday night at the Wells Fargo Center.
The night before, the Flyers (7-7-2) were outscored, 4-0, in the third period during a 6-3 loss in Toronto.
Minnesota (7-5-1) was coming off an impressive 4-2 win Thursday in Pittsburgh.
The Flyers met before the game to talk about Friday's third period.
"We came in today and talked about it , with puck management being the biggest thing," defenseman Michael Del Zotto said.
After Minnesota's Mikko Koivu tripped Michael Raffl, the Flyers earned the game-winner on Schenn's power play goal with 11 minutes, 17 seconds left.
Wayne Simmonds, stationed behind the net, made a highlight-film no-look, through-his-legs pass to Schenn, who patiently waited for goalie Devan Dubnyk to commit before firing the puck into the net for his third of the season.
It was the Flyers 17th power-play goal. They entered Saturday leading the league in that category.
"Obviously it was a great play by [Simmonds] to recognize I was open by myself in front," Schenn said. "Especially with a guy on him to make that play it was a pretty special play."
"Sometimes you get lucky," Simmonds said.
That wasn't the case in the beginning of the game, when Minnesota's Nino Niederreiter scored 21 seconds in, beating Michal Neuvirth to the short side.
Within the first four minutes, Flyers captain Claude Giroux left the ice after taking Jason Zucker's accidental high stick to the face. Giroux returned later in the period.
The Flyers tied the score when Brandon Manning took a pass from Pierre-Edouard Bellemare and sent a wrist shot from the point that found its way into the net through heavy traffic with 7:33 left in the first period.
Toward the latter part of the first period, Neuvirth suffered an injury and was replaced by Steve Mason to begin the second period. The Flyers said Neuvirth would be reevaluated Sunday.
Minnesota took a 2-1 lead when Mikael Granlund scored on a rebound with 8:38 left in the second period.
Koivu deked Del Zotto and hit the crossbar on a backhander. Granlund was there to clean up the rebound.
Flyers coach Dave Hakstol challenged the play, saying that the Wild's Chris Stewart was offside, but the goal stood.
Del Zotto tipped in a pass with his skate to tie the score with 2:15 left in the second period. The play was started when Del Zotto led a rush, passed to Raffl, and received a return pass.
It was Del Zotto's first goal this season in his fourth game back from a knee injury.
"I got the puck and I knew I had to make something happen after a poor play by me on the second goal against," Del Zotto said. "Raffl had the puck in the middle of the ice and he got some speed and went wide with it. I was determined to get to the front of the net and he made a great play to me and it went in."
Mason preserved the win with an outstanding pad save on Eric Staal in the waning seconds.
Notes. The Flyers acquired a conditional seventh-round pick in either the 2017 or 2018 NHL draft from the New Jersey Devils for Petr Straka.
The 24-year-old forward from the Czech Republic had 42 goals and 46 assists in 192 career games with the Phantoms, but he hasn't played this season. He was a healthy scratch all season. Straka appeared in only three games for the Flyers, in the 2014-15 season, and had two assists.
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