Preview: Wild at Flyers
Tonight, the Minnesota Wild will bring their three-game winning streak to Philadelphia as they face-off against the Flyers at 6 pm CST.
The Wild, who haven’t played since defeating the Winnipeg Jets in overtime on Sunday, will be well rested against a Flyers team who were shutout against the New York Rangers last night. Again, the Wild will benefit from playing a team traveling on a back-to-back.
While the Wild and Flyers score almost the same amount of goals per game (2.8 for the Wild, 3.0 for the Flyers), the Flyers can be dangerous; don’t let their 7-8-2 record fool you. The key word to focus on is “can.” Flyers’ captain Claude Giroux is tied for 7th in the league in points so far this season with 5 goals and 16 assists. Winger Jakub Voracek is tied with Sidney Crosby for most points in the league with 7 goals and 19 assists. Unfortunately for the Flyers, they are 26th in goals against average (3.1), and 30th in penalty kill as they are only killing off 71.4 percent of power-play opportunities.
Flyers’ goaltender Steve Mason has played significantly better in the month of November than he did in October. Mason’s save percentage went from .878 in October to .939 so for in November. Flyers’ backup goaltender, Ray Emery, started the year off strong as he was taking starts away from Steve Mason. Emery, however, has struggled in his last two starts allowing 6 goals to Montreal and 4 goals to Tampa Bay two weeks earlier. Given that the Flyers are on the second night of a back-to-back, don’t be surprised if the Flyers start Emery over Mason.
The Wild historically have not fared well in Philadelphia going 2-7-0 all time at the Wells Fargo Center. The Wild, though, are coming out with a ton of momentum on their side as they ended their losing ways in Dallas and beating the Jets the day after.
Michael Russo, of the Star Tribune, reported that Jonas Brodin did not travel with the team to Philadelphia as he is still showing symptoms believed to be the mumps. Russo also reported that Charlie Coyle will center a new line with Thomas Vanek and Jason Zucker at the wings and Kyle Brodziak will be replaced by Stu Bickel.
Sep 22, 2014; Winnipeg, Manitoba, CAN; Winnipeg Jets forward Chris Thorburn (22) fights Minnesota Wild defenseman Stu Bickel (4) during the first period at the MTS Centre. Mandatory Credit: Bruce Fedyck-USA TODAY Sports
So what do the Wild need to do to beat the Philadelphia Flyers? The Wild need to do what they do best, control the tempo, take care of the puck, and take plenty of shots. I am a firm believer that attacking a team fresh off a loss and a team who played and traveled the night before pays dividends. The Flyers will be looking to get off to a hot start themselves, it will be crucial for the Wild to take the Flyers and their fans out of the game early and contain Claude Giroux and Jakub Voracek.
Here are my three bold predictions for tonight’s game:
1. Thomas Vanek will record his second goal of the season. It has to happen, right? Perhaps getting the speedy Jason Zucker and the gritty and speedy Charlie Coyle will get Vanek going. As I have said before, when he gets going, he will be unstoppable.
2. The Wild will be perfect on the penalty kill. The Wild have been stellar on the PK this year and killed off all 8 power plays against the Jets on Sunday. It looks like they have things figured out, I look for them to do the same against the Flyers, perhaps they will steal a short-handed goal too!
3. The Wild score at least 4 goals. The Wild struggle scoring goals on the road. They won in Dallas by scoring only 2 goals, I think they will need a couple more to beat a Flyers team looking for redemption. Let’s light the lamp!