Minnesota Wild Win Fourth Straight, Beat Philadelphia Flyers 3-2

The Minnesota wild won their fourth straight game with a 3-2 over the Philadelphia Flyers tonight, thanks to Jason Zucker’s final minute goal

Good evening, Wild fans. Once again, the Minnesota wild seemed to sneak out a last-minute victory and steal two points away from their opponent. Being outshot for only the second time this season, Jason Zucker‘s last minute goal sealed a Minnesota Wild win. Nino Niederreiter and Marco Scandella also had tallies in tonight’s game. Mikko Koivu left the game late hurt, more on that later. But first, let’s get to my notes.

First Period:

The opening 20 minutes was completely dominated by the Philadelphia Flyers. Coming off a 2 – 0 shutout loss at Madison Square Garden last night, I think we all expected to see a inspired Flyers squad.

let’s be entirely honest; Darcy Kuemper kept the Minnesota Wild in this game early, turning aside all 14 shots that came his way. I can’t think of a single shot by the Wild that had a legitimate chance at beating Ray Emery.Here’s a nice save by Darcy Kuemper

The first period also seemed to harken back to the broad Street bullies days, as there are a lot of on called roughing and interference penalties on both sides of the puck. Keith Ballard got absolutely run a few timesearly by Zac Rinaldo and none of them seem to cause the reference to bat an eyelash let alone blow a whistle. Granted, this may be for the best for the Wild as the power play  has continued to be absolutely dismal, including a couple chances early for the Minnesota Wild.

Thanks to aggressive shot blocking by the Wild and spectacular played by the Kuemperor the wild escaped to the locker room scoreless, tied 0-0

Shots after one period Minnesota wild 6 Philadelphia Flyers 14

Second period:

Mikko Koivu took one of the weirdest penalties I’ve ever heard called to open the frame. Moving the puck with his hand in the face-off circle, the captain was assessed a 2 minute minor for a face-off violation. Totally legal penalty, just not one I’ve ever heard before.

Entering the second frame scoreless, a spot of the wild have found themselves in A LOT recently,  I think all of the pressure was on the wild to put the first goal on the board. Thanks to the currently hot Nino Niederreiter, they did just that.
Scoring for the first time with the man advantage while on the road this season, El Niño put the wild up 1-0 early with a one-timer from a beautiful Mathew Dumba shot.

So, can we all take a breath now? Granted, this was their fourth chance with the man advantage in this game alone. Philadelphia, by the way, has the worst penalty kill in the NHL for the month of November.

1-0 Wild at 10:59 of the second.

A poor turnover by Mathew Dumba led to Philadelphia’s tying goal. Dumba can’t be entirely blamed for the goal, he made a legitimate clearing attempt that didn’t make it past Wayne Simmonds. From there, a couple quick passes and Mark Streit tied it up with a quick wrister through Kuemper’s 5-hole. 1-1 tie at 14:31 of the second.

Philadelphia had quite a few more scoring chances, but Kuemper remained solid.

Shots after two periods: Minnesota Wild 13, Philadelphia Flyers 27

 Third Period:

The Wild opened the final frame with an incredibly poor power play effort. It didn’t matter, as Marco Scandella put the Wild back ahead early. Scandella’s wicked wrister cruised top shelf past Emery’s glove. 2-1 Wild at 01:42 of the Third.

The Wild really came alive in the third, outchancing the Flyers completely.

Jakub Voracek and Ryan Carter had a little scrum that earned them both roughing penalties.

Nate Prosser, who I think had a pretty good game, took a late penalty that led to Claude Giroux’s 6th goal of the year. Just the first power play goal the Wild have allowed in three games, Grioux’s first shot attempt broke Jared Spurgeon’s shot blocker and his second attempt rose up over a sprawling Jason Zucker and past Kuemper for the tie. 2-2 tie at 16:30 of the third

Jason Zucker managed some tenacity in the offensive zone, shrugging off several checks and setting himself up from the half wall for the game winner. Ryan Suter’s nearly perfect cross-crease pass found it’s way home to Zucker on the weak side of Emery and a simple flick of the wrist potted home the game winner. 3-2 Wild at 19:14 Take a look for yourselves, it’s a thing of beauty.

Game over. Minnesota Wild win 3-2

Final Shots on goal: Minnesota Wild 29, Philadelphia Flyers 39

Trembley’s Take:

The Minnesota Wild have now wond 4 straight and the Flyers have lost 4 straight. I think we’re getting back to a little more aggressive hockey by the Wild, which I like. There’s no resting on your laurels in the NHL, and I think the Wild have recognized that.

Nino Niederreiter is on fire, scoring 8 goals in his last 5 games. By the way, he leads the Wild in hits and goals. Tonight, he had a corsi for of 52%, second best among all Wild players.

Koivu dind’t play in the third, Per Mike Yeo he’s ill. Hopefully it’s not a long term deal, as the Wild are shallow at center.

The Wild PK continues to look really good.

Darcy Kuemper was absolutely phenomenal tonight, with a 0.949 save percentage. He earned the NHL’s first star of the game.

The Wild take on the Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday at Amalie Arena. I’ll talk to you then, Wild fans.