Postgame 5: Captain Coots Delivers 7-5 Win over Wild

The Philadelphia Flyers defeated the Minnesota Wild, 7-5, at Wells Fargo Center in a seesaw Saturday matinee. The Flyers led 2-0 and 3-2, trailed 4-3, led 5-4, and finally pulled ahead for good. Flyers team captain Sean Couturier led the way with a hat trick and two assists.

The Flyers built an early two-goal lead in the first period, and took it to the locker room for the first intermission.

Parking himself at the net, Flyers captain Sean Couturier (1st goal of the season) collected a Rasmus Ristolainen rebound and potted it at 1:18 for a 1-0 lead and the 500th point of his career. The secondary assist went to Travis Konecny.

Defenseman Nick Seeler (1st) made it 2-0 at 3:51 on an uncontested glove side wrist shot from over the middle. Seeler jumped into the play above and between the circles. Konecny and Matvei Michkov got the assists.

Minnesota finally scored on their 15th shot of the game at 14:54 of the second period as Brock Faber (1st) sent a puck home on a redirect from the high slot. The assists went to Kirill Kaprosov and Joel Eriksson Ek.

The Wild's Marcus Foligno (1st) wasted little time knotting the game at 2-2 at the 15:27 mark off a 3-on-1 rush. Declan Chisholm earned the lone assist via his lead pass to Foligno.

Philly re-claimed the lead on a delayed penalty. Michkov (4th goal of the season) received a low-to-high pass from Couturier and measured a shot that found the twine. The secondary assist went to Owen Tippett at 18:16.

With 3.2 seconds left in the second period, a great play by Kaprisov set up an Eriksson-Ek power play goal (4th) from the doorstep to send the game to the third period tied at 3-3. Matt Boldy got the secondary assist.

Through two periods,shots on goal were a whopping 21-6 in Minnesota's favor: 14-3 Wild in the second period.

At 2:18 of the third period, Foligno (2nd of the season and the game) deflected a Zach Bogisian point shot into the net. The secondary assist went to Jonas Brodin. The sequence started with a clean faceoff win in the offensive right circle by Frederick Gaudreau against Morgan Frost.

Philly tied the game at 4-4 on a Travis Konecny power play goal (4th). A Frost wrist shot went off the end boards and bounced right out in front to Konecny. Tippett drew the second assist for his second helper of the game.

Couturier (second goal of the game and season) stepped up big again at 8:26 of the third period as he swept a puck home from in front to put Philly ahead, 5-4. The assists went to Konecny and Seeler.

Minnesota made it 5-5 at 13:28 on a seeing-eye goal by Jacob Middleton (2nd) at 13:27 of the third period that deflected off a defender. The assists went to Kaprizov and Mats Zuccarello.

Philly took the lead yet again at 17:36 of the third period as Rasmus Ristolainen (1st) poked in the puck in a scramble at the net. The helpers went to Couturier and Konecny.

Couturier completed the hat trick into an empty net (third of the game and season) with exactly one minute left in regulation. The assists went to Noah Cates and Travis Sanheim.

In goal, the Flyers' Samuel Ersson (21 saves on 26 shots) opposed friend and countryman Filip Gustavsson (16 saves on 22 shots).

The Flyers went 1-for-2 on the power play. They were 3-for-4 on the penalty kill.

FLYERS STARTING LINEUP

11 Travis Konecny - 14 Sean Couturier - 39 Matvei Michkov

74 Owen Tippett - 48 Morgan Frost - 19 Garnet Hathaway
21 Scott Laughton - 25 Ryan Poehling - 86 Joel Farabee
44 Nicolas Deslauriers - 27 Noah Cates - 71 Tyson Foerster

6 Travis Sanheim - 55 Rasmus Ristolainen
24 Nick Seeler - 9 Jamie Drysdale
5 Egor Zamula - 77 Erik Johnson

33 Samuel Ersson
[82 Ivan Fedotov]

PP1: Dysdale, Tippett, Frost, Brink, Michkov
PP2: Zamula, Foerster, Couturier, Laughton, Farabee

Scratches: 8 Cam York (upper body), 10 Bobby Brink (DND).

TURNING POINT

Couturier's willingness to go to the net finally paid off in his three-goal game. He broke a 32-game goal drought and delivered a desperately needed win.

POSTGAME 5

1) A noticeable aspect of the Flyers' play in the first period: good structure. Building on the team's play over the latter half of Wednesday's game in Washington, the Flyers had players moving to the net when possible despite a very low shot total. Fortunately, the Flyers scored on two of their three shots that reached the net. In the defensive zone, the Flyers did a nice job blocking shots and clogging the middle.

2) Farabee was called for a high sticking minor at 14:55, putting the Wild on the game's first power play. Ersson made a couple good saves to protect the 2-0 lead. With 1:28 left in the period, Ersson stopped a Boldy tip and swallowed up the rebound. First period shots on goal were 7-3 Wild.

3) Scott Laughton was called for hooking 25 seconds into the second period. Minnesota got a 25-second 5-on-3 at 2:00 on a Hathaway roughing penalty in front of the net. The Flyers got a big clear with Ersson having lost his stick. Laughton had a shorthanded scoring chance at 5-on-4 on a Konecny feed.

4) Offensively, the Flyers continued to generate too many one-and-done forays in the second period. After not having any shots on goal over the final 16:09 of first period, it took until 5:24 of the second period (long range flip at the net by Tippett) for the Flyers to be credited with their fourth shot of the game. Over 32 minutes of regulation, shots on goal were 14-4 Minnesota. Frost put a potential point blank chance through the crease on a play where an extra pass proved costly.

5) Konecny's finish on the power play tally that made it 4-4 may have come off a friendy bounce from the end boards but the Flyers winger displayed very soft hands. Even then, the momentum seesaw continued until very late in the game.