Flyers Rally Back to Defeat Wild

By Kevin Durso, Sports Talk Philly editor 

After 20 minutes, the tough luck and misfortune that had sent the Flyers to a loss on Monday night was back on Tuesday and it had company. In addition to having the calls not go their way, the Flyers appeared tired and made too many mistakes. It put them in a hole.

Not unlike the hole they are trying to climb out of in the playoff race, the Flyers had to just find a way to get back one step at a time. Two goals in the second period and two more in the third did just that, as the Flyers erased a two-goal deficit and picked up a 5-4 win over the Minnesota Wild on Tuesday night.

The Flyers wasted little time striking in this one as a point shot by Ivan Provorov at 2:54 deflected off of Nick Seeler and over Devan Dubnyk to make it 1-0 Flyers early.

The Wild responded with a golden opportunity. Shayne Gostisbehere took a tripping penalty and eight seconds later, Radko Gudas joined him with a delay of game penalty. With nearly two full minutes of 5-on-3 time, the Wild were able to cash in, as Zach Parise beat Anthony Stolarz from the side of the net.

Less than two minutes later, Gostisbehere turned the puck over in the slot and Luke Kunin ripped a shot past Stolarz to give Minnesota the lead. The Wild weren't done, as Kunin scored again less than three minutes later off a pass into the slot by Joel Eriksson Ek.

To make matters worse, the Flyers were handed a four-minute penalty for an infraction that never happen. Jason Zucker caught a high stick from teammate Jordan Greenway and was cut. After officials saw the bleeding, they assessed a penalty to Robert Hagg, who was tied up with Greenway when the stick made contact.

The Flyers managed to kill off the four-minute penalty over the remainder of the first period and start of the second, and that sparked the rally.

When the Flyers got a power play of their own, they struck as a shot from the point by Gostisbehere was deflected by Wayne Simmonds and James van Riemsdyk. It was JVR who touched it last for his 14th goal of the season.

With just over six minutes left in the period, the Flyers found the equalizer. Travis Sanheim led a rush up ice and tried to cut in front. He lost the puck while doing so, but Sean Couturier followed up and scored through the five-hole of Dubnyk for his team-leading 24th goal of the season.

Shots through 40 minutes were 24-18 Wild, but the game was tied back up.

The Wild grabbed the lead back just 2:06 into the third on a strange play. Jared Spurgeon threw a shot on goal from a sharp angle that appeared to hit the crossbar and come out of the other side. As it did, Stolarz backed into the net, lifting it for just a second. On replay, it showed that the puck had actually clipped Stolarz's mask, went under the bar and back out, resulting in a goal to make it 4-3.

The Flyers tied things back up at 6:30 of the period. Catching the Wild in a line change, Jake Voracek dropped a pass to Claude Giroux, who fired a slap shot high over Dubnyk to even things up again, 4-4.

With 5:49 to play, the Flyers got their chance with another power play. Again, it was a Gostisbehere point shot that set up a goal. The rebound sat at the side of the net and van Riemsdyk tucked it home for his second goal of the game to make it 5-4 with 4:29 to play.

The Flyers held on from there, getting 35 saves from Stolarz for their 11th win in the last 14 games. Dubynk made 21 saves on 26 shots.

Five Flyers finished with two points — van Riemsdyk with the two goals, Couturier and Giroux with a goal and an assist and Gostisbehere and Sanheim with two assists each.

The Flyers now get three days off from game action before taking the ice at home on Saturday for the first game in a home-and-home series with the Detroit Red Wings. Game time is at 1 p.m.

Box Score

  1 2 3 T
Flyers 1 2 2 5
Wild 3 0 1 4

Scoring Summary

1st Period

  • PHI Ivan Provorov (5) (Phil Varone) 2:54
  • MIN Zach Parise (23) PP (Mikael Granlund, Jared Spurgeon) 8:58
  • MIN Luke Kunin (3) (Unassisted) 10:45
  • MIN Kunin (4) (Joel Eriksson Ek, Spurgeon) 13:28

2nd Period

  • PHI James van Riemsdyk (14) PP (Wayne Simmonds, Shayne Gostisbehere) 8:42
  • PHI Sean Couturier (24) (Travis Sanheim, Claude Giroux) 13:57

3rd Period

  • MIN Spurgeon (11) (Ryan Suter, Marcus Foligno) 2:06
  • PHI Giroux (17) (Jake Voracek, Sanheim) 6:30
  • PHI van Riemsdyk (15) PP (Couturier, Gostisbehere) 15:31

Game Statistics

  Flyers Wild
Shots 26 39
Power Plays 2/4 1/6
Hits 14 15
Faceoff % 55.1% 44.9%
Giveaways 3 4
Takeaways 4 5
Blocked Shots 20 4
Penalty Minutes 12 8

 

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