Five minutes of fiery play put the Wild back in the game after trailing 3-0 through two periods and then the wheels fell off as the Flyers cruised past Minnesota 6-2 Thursday night in Phildelphia.
Pat Maroon and Nic Deslauriers opened with a fight just two seconds into the game and then Philadelphia continued its early season form scoring an 11th first period goal when Travis Konecny slotted the puck over the right should of Filip Gustavsson 13:57 into the first period.
Gustavsson shut out Florida in the season opener and has since allowed 7 goals to Toronto, 5 to Columbus, 4 to Edmonton and now 6 more to the Flyers to raise his goals-against average to an ugly 4.36.
Former Minnetonka High School star Bobby Brink scored his first NHL goal to make it 3-0 Flyers heading into the third period and he would later add his second career goal en route to earn the First Star of the game.
The Wild, meanwhile, failed to register a shot over a 20-minute stretch the spanned the first and second periods. Minnesota finally came to life getting goals from Dakota Mermis and Marcus Foligno in the first five minutes of the third period to cut the scored to 3-2, but Owen Tippett’s breakaway goal ended any chance of the comeback.
Philadelphia added two more for good measure to seal the 6-2 Thursday win.
The Merrrrr man 🧜‍♀️#mnwild pic.twitter.com/xNUb5AZqBc
— Minnesota Wild (@mnwild) October 27, 2023
The Wild have a quick turnaround with Friday night’s game against the Capitals in Washington. The puck drops at 6 p.m. CT.
