Postgame 5: Flyers Fall in St. Paul, 4-1

The Philadelphia Flyers lost to the Minnesota Wild, 4-1, at Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul on Saturday afternoon. The Wild, who are among the NHL's stingiest defensive teams, limited the Flyers to 21 shots on goal while blocking 18 attempts.

The Flyers and Wild traded off abbreviated power plays early in the first period. Neither team scored. At 7:18, goalie Marc-Andre Fleury made a 10-bell glove save on Travis Konecny to erase a turnover in front of him.

At 11:17, Garnet Hathaway dropped the gloves with Marcus Foligno. Foligno got the better of a short fight.

Kaprisov (19th goal of the season, 5th in last seven games) scored from a tough angle to give Minnesota a 1-0 lead at 14:18 after the puck caromed off the end boards. The assists went to Jon Merril and Zach Bogosian.

First period shots on goal were even at 9-9, but the Wild had the only one that went into the cash register. Samuel Ersson's best saves came against Declan Chisholm and Mats Zuccarello. Shot attempts were 21-17 in Philadelphia's favor. Faceoffs were 12-11 Minnesota.

In the second period, the Flyers applied intense power play pressure but just could not pot a goal. Most notably, with a half open net, Konecny put a shot at the net that went off Matvei Michkov and stayed out.

A 4-on-4 goal manpower situation led to a Matt Boldy breakaway goal (13th) off a lead pass from Brock Faber at 15:21. The puck eluded Zamula up high in the Minnesota zone. Moments earlier Konecny hit the post.

Second period shots on goal were 7-4 Minnesota (16-13 Wild through 40 minutes). A bigger issue than the shots on goal -- despite the low total -- were the looks that did not pay off in a goal.

Tortorella did some line juggling in the third period. Most notably, Noah Cates went to the line with Tippett and Michkov.

At 9:33, the Wild opened a 3-0 lead. Frost made a backhand pass across the slot to Cam York. The pass was not handled and Minnesota attacked in transition. Zuccarello fed trailer Marco Rossi (11th) who scored. The secondary assist went to Chisholm.

The Flyers drew back within 3-1 at the 14:16 mark on a goal by Travis Sanheim (6th), who weaved a shot into the net off a set up pass from Ryan Poehling. The secondary assist went to Hathaway. On the front end of the play, Poehling helped force a Wild turnover on the backcheck.

With 4:24 on the clock and a two-goal deficit, the Flyers pulled Ersson for a 6-on-5 attack. The Flyers called timeout after a Minnesota icing. As play resumed, a seemingly open one-timer for Konecny was blocked by Chisholm.

At 17:49, Kaprisov added an empty net goal (20th) for a 4-1 Wild lead. The sequence started with Jonas Brodin blocking a pass intended for Michkov. The assists went to Foligno and Brodin.

Flyers goalie Ersson made 19 saves on 22 shots. Minnesota counterpart Fleury turned back 20 of 21 shots.

The Flyers went 0-for-3 on the power play. The Wild were 0-for-1.

FLYERS STARTING LINEUP

86 Joel Farabee - 14 Sean Couturier - 11 Travis Konecny

74 Own Tippett - 48 Morgan Frost - 39 Matvei Michkov

71 Tyson Foerster - 27 Noah Cates- 10 Bobby Brink

21 Scott Laughton - 25 Ryan Poehling - 19 Garnet Hathaway

6 Travis Sanheim - 8 Cam York

24 Nick Seeler - 9 Jamie Drysdale

5 Egor Zamula - 55 Rasmus Ristolainen

35 Aleksei Kolosov

[33 Samuel Ersson]

PP1: Drysdale, Brink, Couturier, Konecny, Michkov
PP2: Zamula, Tippett, Frost, Farabee, Foerster

Scratches: 77 Erik Johnson (healthy), 44 Nicolas Deslauriers (IR), 36 Emil Andrae (healthy), 82 Ivan Fedotov (healthy)

TURNING POINT

The 4-on-4 Wild tally that opened a 2-0 lead was a veritable two-goal swing: Konecny hit the post at one end -- one of several posts the Flyers encountered -- and Boldy scored a breakaway tally at the other end.

POSTGAME 5 ("5 Things" Revisited)

1. Laughton's Followup: Coming off career-best four-goal performance on Thursday against the Detroit Red Wings, the Flyers alternate captain had one shot on goal in 14:00 of ice time.

2. Captain Coots: The Flyers' top line center logged 18:08 of ice time. He did not have any points or shot attempts on this day after compiling a career-best five points (three goals, two assists) the previous time the Flyers played the Wild this season. He won 12 faceoffs, losing 13. Couturier was minus-one on the day. The Flyers' fourth line was the only trio that was on the ice for a Flyers goal on this day.

3. "Checking" in on Cates: The 25-year-old Minnesota native played 12:52 across 19 shifts. Cates finished with three shots on goal. He forechecked well and won eight of 12 faceoffs.

4. Michkov Magic: The Flyers 20-year-old rookie "got goalied" by Detroit's Cam Talbot on three prime scoring chances on Thursday. In St. Paul on Saturday, Michkov put four shots on goal. He was minus-two on the day, but the latter was Kaprisov's empty-net goal.

5. Behind the Pipes -- Ersson vs. Gustavsson: John Hynes elected to go with veteran netminder Fleury on Saturday instead of 4 Nations selection Filip Gustavssson. Fleury earned third-star honors.