Skidding Minnesota Wild lose 4th Straight, Philadelphia Flyers Win
68. Final. 2. 98. 5
Frustration has completely overwhelmed our hometown squad as the Minnesota Wild lose for the 4 straight games and have now lost 5 of 6. Marco Scandella and Charlie Coyle scored for the Wild while five separate Flyers tallied a goal.
Good morning and Happy Holidays, Wild fans. From All of us at Gone Puck Wild, we hope your holiday season is filled with joy and happiness.
I wish I could say this game wrap was filled with joy and happiness. It’s not. The Minnesota Wild, losers of 4 straight, looked miserable in their tilt against the Philadelphia Flyers last night. The Wild power play went 1 for 5 against the worst road penalty kill in the NHL. Now entering the Holiday break, the Wild find their season in serious danger. Before we get to my notes, be sure to check out Tyler’s game preview. Darcy Kuemper was the surprise of the game, starting in relief of an ill Niklas Backstrom.
First Period:
The Wild managed no sustained zone pressure in the first 9 minutes while being outshot 8-0. When the Wild finally managed a shot on goal, the crowd cheered as if the Wild won the Stanley Cup.
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Causeway Crowd
Sean Couturier put the Flyers on the board first. Couturier and R.J. Umberger entered the zone evenly matched with Ryan Suter and Jonas Brodin while the remaining Wild forwards scrambled back through the neutral zone. Umberger stole the puck from Brodin in front of the crease, and dumped it off for Couturier who fired a shot that bounced of Suter’s skate and in to the net. 1-0 Flyers at 07:16 of the first period. Wile Suter and Brodin tried desperately to fend of the Flyers, the Wild forwards showed no hustle as they made their way in to the defensive zone
Just two minutes later, Flyers Captain Cladue Giroux put the Flyers up by a pair. Giroux beat Kuemper to a rebound of a Luke Schenn shot and tucked the puck just inside the goal post and past the blocker of Kuemper. 2-0 Flyers at 09:33 of the first period. Hard to blame Kuemper for a well placed shot after a crazy lucky rebound, but folks will.
The Wild responded with 7 unanswered shots on goal and solid zone pressure to close out the period.
Early on in that sustained zone pressure, Marco Scandella put the Wild on the board. Scandella’s first shot from the blue line stung Wayne Simmonds and knocked him to the ice. Scandella collected his own rebound and fired a laser-guided slap shot from 60 feet out that beat Flyers goaltender Ray Emery through a Zach Parise screen. 2-1 Flyers at 10:03 of the first period. It was just the Wild’s second shot on goal.
Around the 14 minute mark, Nino Niederreiter got completely stonewalled by Emery on a tenacious attempt to tie the game. I love Niederreiter’s work ethic.
Niederreiter drew a penalty at 16:28 thanks to his tenacity. Facing the worst road power play in the NHL, the Wild mustered zero shots on goal thanks to a sub par forecheck and far too much passing.
Shots through one period: Philadelphia Flyers 8, Minnesota Wild 7
Second Period:
14 seconds in to the middle frame, the Wild went back to a futile power play after Jason Pominville got leveled in to the boards by Nicklas Grossman. Grossman received a minor penalty for boarding. Pominville was fine and participated in the next power play, registering one of two shots on goal for the Wild. Improved effort by the Wild, but still not enough to tie it, at least not yet.
A minute later, the Wild earned their 3rd power play in 7 minutes. With
in the box for closing his hand on the puck, Charlie Coyle tied things up for the Minnesota Wild by deflecting a Pominville one-timer. Coyle’s goal was his first since October 23rd.
2-2 Tie at 03:43 of the second period.
Really, the best part of this goal was the Wild’s ability to maintain the zone from the start of the power play until Coyle scored.
Jakub Voracek, the NHL’s leading scorer, gave the Wild one last chance on the power play in the second period. After scoring on the previous chance, I’d hoped for more than a few shots, but that’s all the Wild managed.
Jason Zucker had the best chance of the game. His dump in attempt hit a stanchion on the glass and bounced back to him with Emery still searching for the puck behind the net. Zucker tried in vain to get a shot away but got swarmed with white jerseys while Emery scrambled back in to the crease.
After the midway point of the game, Wayne Simmonds put the Flyers back on the board. Simmonds fired a shot from the right face-off dot that beat Kuemper wide. Kuemper was outside his crease and didn’t have anywhere near the appropriate angle on the shot. Kuemper spent a lot of time wide of the crease in this game and it finally bit him. 3-2 Flyers at 15:22 of the second period.
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Eyes On Isles
The Wild held the Flyers without a shot on goal through the first 6 minutes of the period and broke down from there. The Wild had this debilitating unwillingness to shoot the puck that was maddening.
Shots through two periods: Flyers 19, Minnesota Wild 17
Third Period:
Zach Parise, who’s been on fire, appeared to tie the game at 01:28 of the first period with a quick backhander right along the goal line. From where I sit, it looked to bounce off Emery’s back. The goal horn sounded and everybody sang, so I wasn’t the only one. On replay, the video showed that Pominville was checked in to the cross-bar, causing the net to come off its moorings as the puck slid toward the crease. The puck slid under the loose net, so no goal. Check out the video here
Vincent Lecavalier tipped a goal past Kuemper that Dribbled in to the net to make it 4-2 Flyers at 05:29 of the third period.
Jason Zucker drew the Wild’s 5th power play of the night. Down by 2, the Wild never actually entered the zone or got a shot away. Absolutely infuriating power play with a chance to tie it.
With just under 6 minutes left, Coyle took a roughing penalty that killed the Wild’s zone pressure. They managed a few shorthanded bids that helped their cause, but never clicked.
Thomas Vanek fired a shot that looked to go in at 17:08 of the 3rd, but was immediately waved off as it was deflected with a high stick. After review, the call on the ice was upheld. Second goal in the same period that was disallowed. Wild would’ve been tied.
With 2:45 left, Kuemper retreated to the bench. Down by two, the Wild actually managed some good chances, but Michael Raffl’s 10th goal of the year sealed the game. 5-2 Flyers at 19:31 of the third period, Minnesota Wild lose again.
After regulation time ended, Ryan Carter, Stu Bickel and Chris VandeVelde went at it in some from of Minnesotan on Minnesotan violence. Simmonds maintained some calm and helped break the tension. I really like Wayne Simmonds, by the way. The guy is a real class act.
Final shots on goal: Flyers 30, Minnesota Wild 24
Trembley’s Take:
Ennui has struck the Wild, folks. Losing four games in a row hurts. The Wild are a better team than they’ve displayed this week, but can’t prove it with just one win in the past 6 games. That win came in a shootout.
Consider this: The Flyers had 8 shots on goal in just under 10 minutes. In the same span of time, they had 10 shot attempts. 80% of their shot attempts made it through to the net, meaning the Wild were passive with shot blocking and didn’t do much to force the Flyers out of good shooting lanes. That’s not how you win games. The Wild took over in shot attempts after about the 12th minute and never gave up the lead.
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Cardiac Cane
The Wild was absolutely miserable on the forecheck and along the boards. Zach Parise was the only player who regularly carried the puck in to the zone rather than dumping it in. Again, that’s not how you win games.
After the game, Parise and Mike Yeo had frigid press conferences. When coach Yeo was asked what the team has been missing the last for games he said “A winner’s attitude, teamwork. I think those things in particular.” He also said “What has gone on earlier in the season or last year is completely irrelevant.” He’s right, folks. We can’t wait for the team from the first week of the season to show up. It’s the same team.
Coyle, Mikael Granlund, and Matt Cooke all had good games. Parise, who earned an assist, had a great game but was negative in corsi for despite a 79% offensive zone starts.
Niederreiter, who had his minutes reduced due to poor defensive play, was a well deserved -3. Niederreiter did have a positive Corsi relative, though.
Darcy Kuemper put on another lackluster performance. At this point, I think it’s a head game, though he’s out of his crease more than I’m comfortable with.
The Wild is 8 points behind the Winnipeg Jets. They host a home-and-home series with the red-hot Jets right after the holiday break. This presents a huge opportunity for the Wild, who owned the season series with the Jets last year, to pull an 8 point swing and get back in to contention, but something has to spark this team. This slump is rapidly approaching a skid that leads to golf in late April and a shot at Connor McDavid.