The Minnesota Wild traveled to the City of Brotherly Love to take on the Philadelphia Flyers who actually fired their General Manager Chuck Fletcher 13 days ago. Chuck was the Minnesota Wild’s General Manager for 8+ years & 9 seasons from May of 2009 to April of 2018. Say what you will about Chuck but he put the Wild in a spot to have success during a lot of those seasons. They didn’t reach their potential in most of those seasons, never getting past the 2nd round.
The Philadelphia Flyers are a team in rebuild mode since they now know they won’t make the playoffs this season and now 4 straight seasons but games against teams that are out of the playoff race are sometimes the most difficult because you don’t really know what to expect out of them. The Wild had to be ready and had to play their game.
Alright. Enough words. Let’s…
Drop the ClutterPuck!!!
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Here’s how the teams lined up:
Minnesota Wild
Wild projected lineup
Forwards
Marcus Foligno — Ryan Hartman — Mats Zuccarello
Marcus Johansson — Joel Eriksson Ek — Matt Boldy
Brandon Duhaime — Frederick Gaudreau — Oskar Sundqvist
Mason Shaw — Connor Dewar — Ryan Reaves
Defensemen
Jake Middleton — Jared Spurgeon
Jonas Brodin — Matt Dumba
John Klingberg — Alex Goligoski
Goalies
Marc-Andre Fleury
Filip Gustavsson
Scratched:
Samuel Walker, Calen Addison, Jon Merrill, Sam Steel
Injured:
Kirill Kaprizov (lower body), Gustav Nyquist (shoulder)
Status report
Spurgeon will return after missing a 2-1 overtime win at the New Jersey Devils on Tuesday because of the flu. … Dumba and Reaves missed the Wild morning skate for maintenance Thursday, but coach Dean Evason said each will play. … Evason there was one injury-related lineup question but wouldn’t say which player was involved. … Fleury will start after Gustavsson made 47 saves Tuesday.
John Klingberg was scratched. He left the morning skate early but Jared Spurgeon was back in the lineup for the Minnesota Wild.
Philadelphia Flyers
Flyers projected lineup
Forwards
Joel Farabee — Noah Cates — Owen Tippett
James van Riemsdyk — Kevin Hayes — Wade Allison
Brendan Lemieux — Morgan Frost — Tyson Foerster
Nicolas Deslauriers — Scott Laughton
Defenesemen
Ivan Provorov — Cam York
Travis Sanheim — Rasmus Ristolainen
Nick Seeler — Tony DeAngelo
Egor Zamula
Goalies
Carter Hart
Felix Sandstrom
Scratched:
Kieffer Bellows, Justin Braun, Tanner Laczynski
Injured:
Sean Couturier (back), Travis Konecny (upper body)
Status Report
The Flyers did not hold a morning skate Thursday. … Philadelphia could dress 11 forwards and seven defensemen for the second straight game.
Game Recap
1st Period
The Wild were a little off to begin the game as they weren’t connecting with their passes and maybe their mental game. Wild G Marc-Andre Fleury was keeping them in the game with a lot of big saves. The defensive detail of good sticks and clearing pucks was still there for the Wild, too. That seems like a constant right now.
But a few too many mistakes eventually cost them as they were caught puck-watching on the backcheck which allowed a 2-on-1 to develop quickly when a puck was chipped by Jake Middleton. Flyers F Travis Sanheim raced past Middleton then sent a pass to a driving Scott Laughton and he deflected it past Fleury.
7:02 – Goal – Philadelphia – Scott Laughton from Travis Sanheim & James van Riemsdyk
1-0 Flyers
A little more than 3:30 minutes later, the Wild responded. Freddy Gaudreau fed Oskar Sundqvist a pass in the right slot for a quick one-timer but it went wide left and wrapped around the left boards. Wild D Jake Middleton made a good play to keep the puck in the zone then passed to Gaudreau at the left half-wall who sent it right back to Middleton for a shot that Oskar tipped in.
3:25 – Goal – Minnesota – Oskar Sundqvist from Jake Middleton & Freddy Gaudreau
1-1 Tie
A bad turnover quickly followed the tying goal and it required a big save from Flower.
Shots were 10-4 in favor of the Philadelphia Flyers in the 1st period.
2nd Period
Early in the 2nd period, Wild D Jake Middleton was beaten with speed on the outside by Foerster but he recovered by getting around the outside of his stick and knocking the puck off of his stick.
A minute later, Zuccarello drew a holding penalty & during the delayed penalty time, a pass was deflected by a Flyers player that cleared the zone and went off the far boards forcing the Wild to skate hard to make sure it didn’t go into the Wild’s net. Would that have counted since it was deflected by a Philadelphia player? 🤔
Philly had the better of the chances on that power play and Marc-Andre Fleury had to come up with some big saves to keep the game tied.
The Flyers continued to put pressure on the Wild and finally got a tipped shot to get past Fleury. It came not too long after Zuccarello was hit with a high stick as he drove to the net but there was no call.
12:34 – Goal – Philadelphia – Joel Farabee from Cam York & Noah Cates
Just the tip needed on that goal. Being able to tip shots is definitely a huge skill to have in your repertoire.
2-1 Flyers
Wild F Joel Eriksson Ek made a great play to intercept a centering pass in the defensive zone then fed Matt Boldy at the top of the circle. Boldy made a great move to avoid Rasmus Ristolainen’s poke check then passed it across the ice to Marcus Johannson going up the right side. Johannson was given a decent gap from Flyers D Nick Seeler likely because of the speed he possesses. Joel Eriksson Ek drove through the center lane and D Jared Spurgeon was skating hard to get into the play as well. All of this was happening and Matt Boldy was just laying back finding some space for a pass and an opportunity to shoot and he put the puck in the upper right corner to tie the game once game.
4:19 – Goal – Minnesota – Matt Boldy from Marcus Johannson & Joel Eriksson Ek
Flyers D Rasmus Ristolainen actually took a look while he was skating back but apparently didn’t see and forgot about Matt Boldy. Oops! Minus 1 for you, Risto.
2-2 Tie
Matt Boldy is on Fire! That’s his 5th goal in the last 3 games and his 7th goal* since Kirill Kaprizov was injured on March 8th 7 games ago.
*24 goals in 72 games this season so far… but there was still time remaining in this game!
Be Boldy, Matt! Be Boldy!!!
2:35 later, Wild D Jake Middleton broke up a one-man Flyers rush when he poke-checked the puck away from Joel Farabee then Wild F Ryan Hartman beat Flyers F Noah Cates to the loose puck at the right boards then headed up ice and cut to the center when he saw teammate Marcus Foligno cut in front of him. He was able to avoid Nick Seeler’s attempted poke-checks then dropped the puck to Mats Zuccarello who held the puck then sent a quick pass to Foligno who caught the pass then shot it past Flyers G Carter Hart to put the Wild up by 1!
For some reason, Flyers D Nick Seeler went to Ryan Hartman but only went so far as to make a couple of poke-checks that missed even though at the time it was a 2-on-3 so he probably could’ve just kept pursuing Hartman to try to end the play. You can see the 3 Flyers players puck-watching instead of reading the play and covering a player and/or getting in the passing lane.
For some reason, Flyers D Nick Seeler went to Ryan Hartman but only went so far as to make a couple of poke-checks that missed even though at the time it was a 2-on-3 so he probably could’ve just kept pursuing Hartman to try to end the play. You can see the 3 Flyers players puck-watching instead of reading the play and covering a player and/or getting in the passing lane.
3-2 Wild
Did Joel Eriksson Ek get a penalty for standing in front of the net and having Flyers D Rasmus Ristolainen run into him? They didn’t show a replay of course. I found it on ESPN+ and yep, he leaned into him but he does have a right to the space he is in and Ristolainen was skating right into him so is he just bracing for the impact? That’s somewhat of a tough call.
He’s ran into the boards and fell down before:
Maybe Rasmus needs some glasses so he can see things better. Or better yet, help from his teammates telling him & anyone else who to cover.
And of course they score, on a shot from the point as Fleury is being screened…
3-3 Tie
3rd Period
With 8:15 left in the 3rd period, Wild F Marcus Johansson sent a pass to the front of the net as Freddy Gaudreau was driving to the net and Gaudreau tipped it but Flyers G Carter Hart was able to keep the puck from getting through him to keep the game tied.
1:45 or so later, the Wild won a faceoff and Matt Boldy had the puck in the left corner and wrapped it around to the right point where Matt Dumba sent it back around the right corner. Matt Boldy had moved behind the net but he let the puck go to Marcus Johansson. He sent it to D Jonas Brodin who took a shot from the left point that was going well wide but Joel Eriksson Ek tipped it on net.
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Carter Hart made the initial save on the Ek tip with his blocker but it deflected to his left. Matt Boldy had moved to the front of the net and he saw the puck and either knew it was between his legs or felt it hit his skate so, with his back to the net, he just threw it back towards the net with a backhand and it went between the goalie’s legs and off his pad and it.
4-3 Wild
It took just 42 seconds for the Flyers to respond as Tyler Foerster took a shot that appeared to go off Wild D Jon Merrill’s stick and in…
Did the Wild go into their prevent or zone defense? They had just a one-man forecheck which allowed the Flyers to easily get out of their own zone and get through the neutral zone without really any resistance. Foerster then got the puck at the blue line while standing still and was able to skate in and take a shot. Standing still in your own zone isn’t a great way to play defense. Merrill was the left defenseman and he was to the right of the middle of the ice so he wasn’t even close to Foerster when he got the puck. That’s not how the Wild have defended through the majority of this great stretch they are on.
4-4 Tie
The Flyers took a hooking penalty on Matt Boldy with 1:34 remaining in regulation but the Wild
The Wild couldn’t get set up so this game went to…
OVERTIME!
The Wild started the overtime with 26 seconds of power play time remaining so it was 4-on-3 to begin OT!
The Wild lost the puck on a bad pass so those 26 seconds went by quickly.
There weren’t a ton of chances but Matt Boldy had a mini-breakaway late and he chose to fake a shot and go to his backhand but shot it way wide.
Marcus Johansson had a decent chance in a final rush but he shot it wide so they went to a shootout.
Shootout
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Final-SO
Minnesota Wild 4 | 5 Philadelphia Flyers
Goals
MN: 1. Oskar Sundqvist(10), Matt Boldy(24), Marcus Foligno(7), Matt Boldy(25)
PHI: 1. Scott Laughton(17), 2. Joel Farabee(13), 3. Rasmus Ristolainen(3)-PPG, 4. Tyson Foerster(2)
*PPG=Power-Play Goal, ENG=Empty-Net Goal
Assists
MN: 1. Jake Middleton(12), Freddy Gaudreau(19), 2. Marcus Johansson(22), Joel Eriksson Ek(32), 3. Mats Zuccarello(42), Ryan Hartman(19), 4. Joel Eriksson Ek(33), Jonas Brodin(10)
PHI: 1. Travis Sanheim(13), James van Riemsdyk(16), 2. Cam York(14), Noah Cates(21), 3. DeAngelo(28), Joel Farabee(20)-PPG, 4. DeAngelo(29), Morgan Frost(22)
Goalies
MN:
Marc-Andre Fleury
30 Saves on 34 Shots, .882 Save% – 4th Overtime Loss
PHI:
Carter Hart
20 Saves on 24 Shots, .833 Save% – 20th Win
Game Notes
*
Matt Boldy scored 2 more Goals
He now has 25 goals on the season including 6 in the last 3 games and 8 in the last 7 games or since Kirill Kaprizov has been out of the lineup with a lower-body injury.
So, Mr. Boldy has stepped up his game as he, like the rest of the team, knew they would need to do more to make up for #97 not being available to put the puck in the net.
Scoring goals is really nothing new for Matt Boldy. From 2017-19, he scored 62 goals in 126 games with the United States National Team Development Program and 29 goals in 62 games when the USNTDP played in the USHL.
He struggled in his first season of Division I hockey with Boston College scoring just 1 goal (& 4 points) in his first 17 games but he ended that first season scoring 8 goals (& 22 points) in the last 17 games while helping BC win the Hockey East Conference. He also made the Hockey East all-rookie team.
The next season he scored 11 goals (& 31 points) in 22 games. He had no goals (but 6 assists) in 2 Hockey East tournament games & the lone goal for the Eagles in their NCAA Tournament game.
That season, he also was counted on to score goals for Team USA (5 goals in 7 games) to help them win gold in the 2021 World Junior Championships.
So… in the long run, will we look back at this Kirill Kaprizov injury being a chance for Matt Boldy to grow into or get back to the goal-scorer he was developing into?
Ahh… only time will tell but it sure has looked good so far!
**
Not tied for 1st in the Central
When the game started, the Wild had the same amount of points, 90, as the Dallas Stars so some reporters like to say they are “tied for 1st place” but there are tiebreakers that show they aren’t tied which you would think reporters would know. Those are:
- Points Percentage (P%)
- Regulation Wins (RW)
- Regulation or Overtime Wins (ROW)
- Total Wins (W)
- Points earned in the games between the two or more teams
- Goal Differential (DIFF)
- Goals For (GF)
Dallas has more regulation wins so… they were still in first to begin this game and also after the game since they won and thus have more points.
Is it possible the “reporters” don’t know this?
Sorry. This has happened every time the Wild has had the same point total as Dallas and, if you couldn’t tell, it’s annoying.
Next up:
The Wild face the Chicago Blackhawks at home at 4pm CST on Bankrupt.. Bally Sports North!
Thanks for Reading!!!
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