Wild’s Fleury Leads Way in 4-1 Win Over Flyers

The Minnesota Wild and Philadelphia Flyers met for the second time this season and the first in St. Paul on a drizzly Saturday afternoon, Dec. 14. The Wild had a big boost in their lineup as both Jonas Brodin and Mats Zuccarello, who were out for a considerable amount of time, returned. However, they also lost Jake Middleton and Yakov Trenin to injury, with Joel Eriksson Ek still out, and they would later add Jakub Lauko to that list during the game as well.

Nicolas Deslauriers, who played for the Wild in the past, was the only injury to the Flyers lineup. The goaltender matchup was between Marc-André Fleury and Samuel Ersson. The game started with the Flyers controlling the first couple of minutes, and then the Wild took over with Fleury standing tall until the end and won the game 4-1. This win moved the Wild’s record to 20-6-4 and the Flyers’ record to 14-13-4.

Game Recap

As stated above, the first few minutes were mostly about the Flyers, but Fleury was ready for them, which included a windmill save on a Flyers breakaway that made the crowd jump to their feet. That save kept the game tied and gave the Wild a chance to score their first a few minutes later as Kirill Kaprizov snuck one through what looked like an impossible gap. Jon Merrill and Zach Bogosian assisted him, and the period ended 1-0. 

The second started the same; it was pretty slow for both teams, and there were not many chances either way. With less than five minutes remaining in the period, Matt Boldy had a breakaway opportunity and made it count to put his team up 2-0. Brock Faber started the breakaway with a rocket of a pass, helped Boldy achieve his 200th career point, and ended the second with a two-goal lead. 

In the third period, the Wild got the jump once again, and this time, it was Marco Rossi scoring the goal with Zuccarello and Declan Chisholm assisting to give their team a 3-0 lead. The Flyers found a way to respond five minutes later and took away Fleury’s shutout to make it 3-1 on a goal by Travis Sanheim. 

The Flyers’ goal didn’t phase the Wild as they added an empty netter a short time later on a shot from Kaprizov for his second of the night. Marcus Foligno got the assist as he dove to force the puck out of the play, and Brodin also got an assist to make it 4-1.

The Wild once again won’t have much time to think about this game as they’re in the midst of a back-to-back and will play host to the Vegas Golden Knights tomorrow, Sunday, Dec. 15. The  Flyers will stay on the road with a few days off as they head back east to take on the Detroit Red Wings on Wednesday, Dec. 18.