Philadelphia Flyers

Wrapup: Flyers Tame Wild, 3-1
March 23, 2017, 10:51 PM ET [179 Comments]
Bill Meltzer
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WRAPUP: FLYERS TAME WILD, 3-1

The Philadelphia Flyers could have used about another dozen road performances like the one they put forth in defeating the Minnesota Wild, 3-1, at Xcel Energy Center on Thursday night. The Wild took the play to the Flyers during the first half of the first period. Thereafter, Philly was the better team in the latter first period, the second period and especially a strong closeout in the final stanza.

Earning the 100th win of his Flyers career, Steve Mason overcame an iffy early goal by the Wild on the first shot he faced and went on to play very well in stopping each of the next 24. Devan Dubnyk saved 25 of 27 shots before the Flyers tacked on an empty net goal.

Sean Couturier, Matt Read and Jakub Voracek (empty net) scored for the Flyers. Zach Parise notched the lone Minnesota goal.

Michael Del Zotto was a healthy scratch for the Flyers with Brandon Manning returning to the lineup. Longtime Wild defenseman Nick Schultz remained in the Philadelphia lineup.

Things started poorly for the Flyers. Mason had trouble controlling a Gustav Olofsson dump-in that came in on net, leaving a rebound right in front. Eric Staal pounced immediately and got the puck to Parise, who scored from near the left post: a gift goal for the Wild at 2:07 on their first shot of the game.

The Wild dominated the first half of the opening period, although the Flyers did have a couple of scoring chances. Philly had trouble managing the puck, and the Wild attacked with speed. At one juncture, Jason Zucker beat Andrew MacDonald wide, had Mason out of position (MacDonald bumped into him) as he circled around the net but missed a wraparound with plenty of room to tuck the puck home. Additionally, Minnesota often set up shop behind the Flyers' net, winning the battles and setting up chances in front.

The Flyers' play picked up later in the period, and eventually they got the game tied at 1-1.

Beating Erik Haula off the rush, Couturier skated into the slot and took a pass from Brayden Schenn, who had taken an initial chip pass off the boards from Dale Weise. Couturier backhanded a shot past Dubnyk as the goalie opened up. The time of Couturier's 12th goal of the season was 17:59.

First period shots ended up 12-11 in the Flyers' favor.

Just 21 seconds into the middle stanza, Read scored his 10th goal of the season to give the Flyers a 2-1 lead. Voracek was pokechecked near the right circle and the puck trickled toward Matt Dumba. An alert Read quickly swatted the puck past Dubnyk from the slot.

As the period progressed, both teams had their share of chances -- including odd-man rush opportunities -- but there was no further scoring. The Flyers killed off the period's lone penalty. Second period shots were 10-6 in the Wild's favor (21-18 in Minnesota's favor overall). The Flyers held a 20-12 faceoff edge through 40 minutes.

The Flyers, who held the wild to just two shots through the first 15 minutes of the third period and controlled the puck for much of the time, saw their first power play of the game cut in half as Ivan Provorov hauled down Staal on a counterattack. Philly killed its own abbreviated disadvantage in good shape.

Philadelphia took three straight icings as time ticked down near five minutes; the third one was a needless one by Giroux who no one near him as he dried to dump in from his side of the red line. The Flyers survived it but the Wild kept Philly hemmed in deep on ensuing shifts as they finally gained momentum.

Dubnyk was pulled for an extra attacker with about 90 seconds left. A gritty zone clear and feed to Voracek by Wayne Simmonds enabled Voracek to score into an empty net for his 18th goal of the season. The assist was the 300th point of Simmonds' career.

The Wild continued to play 6-on-5 but no chances resulted. Shots in the third period were 9-4 in the Flyers' favor; 27-25 in Philly's favor overall.

The Flyers next face back-to-back weekend games in Columbus on Saturday and Pittsburgh on Sunday.