Postgame 5: Flyers Maul Minnesota, 6-2

The Philadelphia Flyers picked apart the Minnesota Wild, 6-2, at the Wells Fargo Center on Thursday evening.  Philadelphia took a comfortable-looking 3-0 lead into the third period before Minnesota struck twice to slice the deficit to a single goal. The Flyers then pushed back with three more unanswered goals.

Travis Konecy scored the only goal of the first period. In the middle stanza, Sean Couturier and Bobby Brink added power play goals. In the third period, Dakota Mermis and Marcus Foligno drew the Wild within 3-2 before Owen Tippett restored a little breathing room on a breakaway. Brink scored again to re-open a three-goal margin and then Travis Sanheim further extended the lead.

Konecny gave the Flyers a 1-0 lead at 13:57 of the first period. Taking a drop pass from Nick Seeler, Konecny (6th goal of the season) wristed a rising shot from the top of the left circle that found the net.

Couturier (PPG, 2nd) tenaciously went after a power play rebound and his persistence paid off as he finally knocked it home at 7:28 of the second period. Cam Atkinson, who delivered a shot to the net that created the scramble, got the primary assist. Travis Sanheim got the secondary helper.

The Flyers struck again at 9:52 on their second power play chance. Couturier battled for the puck behind the net. A pass came out in front, hit referee Chris Rooney in the skate and went to a wide open Brink (PPG, 1st NHL goal) at point blank range. The Flyers rookie made no mistake, scoring from the low slot. The lone assist went to Couturier.

The Wild cut the gap to 3-1 at 3:05 of the third period. With traffic around the net, Mermis (2nd goal of the season) scored on a loose puck chance. The assists went to Pat Maroon and Jon Merrill.

At 4:30 of the third period, Marco Rossi attacked and Marcus Johansson, with Egor Zamula drawn over the middle, passed to an open Foligno open on the right. Foligno (2nd) finished it off.

The Flyers reclaimed a two-goal lead at 6:34 on a breakaway goal by Tippet (1st). Atkinson sprung Tippett from the neutral zone and Tippett went in to wrist home a low shot to the glove side.

The Flyers restored their three-goal cushion at 11:02 on a gorgeous sequence off the rush. Farabee made a perfect pass from the left side to Brink going toward the right post. Brink had a tap-in for his second goal of the game. Travis Sanheim got the secondary assist.

On a 2-on-1 chance, Konecny opted to pass across to Foerster. The rookie missed the net but retrieved behind the net. He then centered the puck to an an open Sanheim (1st), who made no mistake.

Carter Hart earned the win in net. He stopped 25 of 27 shots.  Filip Gustavsson was victimized for six goals and 32 shots.

The Flyers went 2-for-3 on the power play. The Wild were 0-for-2.

FLYERS STARTING LINEUP

11 Travis Konecny - 21 Scott Laughton - 71 Tyson Foerster
74 Owen Tippett- 14 Sean Couturier - 89 Cam Atkinson
86 Joel Farabee - 27 Noah Cates - 10 Bobby Brink
44 Nic Deslauriers- 25 Ryan Poehling- Garnet Hathaway

8 Cam York - 6 Travis Sanheim
5 Egor Zamula - 26 Sean Walker
37 Louie Belpedio - 24 Nick Seeler

79 Carter Hart
[33 Samuel Ersson]

TURNING POINT

The two power play goals the Flyers scored in the second period proved to be vital before Philly later put an exclamation point on the win with three unanswered goals in the third period after the lead was sliced to one goal.

POSTGAME 5

1)  Delauriers and Maroon chatted before the opening faceoff and promptly dropped the gloves at the 0:02 mark. Shortly past the two-minute mark, the Flyers had a quick succession of scoring chances. The best chance belonged to Tippett.

Through six minutes, shots on goal were 8-1 Flyers. At 8:45, Foerster made a good defensive play with his stick in the passing lane to break up a potential scoring chance but then iced the puck. No harm ensued. 

The Wild went on the game's first power play at 9:31. Konecny was called for hooking Kaprisov up high in the defensive zone. During the kill, Hart stopped Joel Eriksson Ek at the doorstep. With play back at 5-on-5, Sanheim blocked a Ryan Hartman shot attempt to erase a potential scoring chance.

2) The Flyers played with a lot of pace in the first period, forechecked tenaciously and defended their blueline aggressively. The score could have been more than 1-0 in Philly's favor. First period shots on goal were 12-4 Flyers. Shot attempts were 21-19 Flyers. Scoring chances, per Natural Stat Trick, were 6-5 Flyers (3-0 high-danger edge to Philly). Faceoffs were 10-8 Flyers (Cates went 3-for-3). Philly blocked seven shot attempts, while the Wild blocked three.

3) The Wild asserted themselves with early puck possession and hemmed the Flyers in their own zone. However, Minnesoa generated just one shot on goal through three minutes. The Flyers started to take over the game again subsequently. 

Gustavsson made a great skate save on Foerster near the right post. Moments later, Vinni Lettieri took a holding penalty at 7:11. The Flyers went to their first power play. Philly cashed it in for their second power play goal (first at 5-on-4) of the season. Then. Konecny went to work in the offensive zone, beating a defender to create a prime scoring chance. A Foerster shot attempt was blocked. A scrum broke out at the whistle with Jacob Middleton cross-checking Foerster at 8:34. Once again,the Flyers turned it into a power play goal, opening a 3-0 lead.

4) The Flyers continued to play a fast, aggressive game in the second period. The Wild, however, generated more territorial control than they had in the opening period. Shots on goal were 13-9 Flyers (25-13 through two periods). Shot attempts were 21-15 Wild (37-34 Wild through two periods). Scoring chances favored Minnesota 13-9 with a high-danger edge of 8-6 to the Wild. 

Apart from turnovers and coverage breakdowns in the defensive zone, the Wild had trouble getting shot through in the attack zone. Through two periods. the Wild were blocked on 10 attempts (four Flyers blocked two apiece) and missed the net on another 16. Through 40 minutes, faceoffs were 18-16 Flyers (Poehling led with six wins on seven draws). 

Also of note: Through two periods, Sanheim had already logged 20:31 of ice time on 20 shifts.

5) The Flyers killed off the remainder of the Walker penalty. Hart made three saves in the opening 66 seconds of the period. At 2:28, Foerster took an icing. The Wild won the draw, Hart stopped a shot off the draw was won by Eriksson Ek. Finally, at 3:05, the Wild got on the board and then scored again shortly thereafter.

Both at 3-2 and 4-2, Hart was severely tested by tough chances The Flyers then pulled away again on the scoreboard.

With 3:24 left in the game, Merrill took a delay of game penalty. The Flyers didn't score.

Third period shots were 14-6 Minnesota. For the game, the Flyers outshot the Wild by a 32-27 margin.