#flyers down #mnwild 5-2. Wild hosts #NHLJets on Saturday at 6pm at @XcelEnergyCtr pic.twitter.com/84MVs5rkCU
— Minnesota Wild (@mnwild) December 24, 2014
Make it four straight losses for the Minnesota Wild after Tuesday night’s 5-2 defeat at the hands of the visiting Philadelphia Flyers. NHL.com has the full recap.
Darcy Kuemper started in goal for the Wild because Niklas Backstrom fell ill before the game. John Curry was recalled from the Iowa Wild just hours before the game started to serve as the backup. Earlier Tuesday, head coach Mike Yeo said Kuemper and forward Erik Haula, both of whom have been struggling, needed to shut their brains off during the holiday break. The Wild is off until Saturday when it plays Winnipeg.
Instead, Kuemper was in net and just over nine minutes into the game the Flyers had a commanding 2-0 lead. Philadelphia’s Sean Couturier and Claude Giroux scored 2:33 apart for the pair of early goals.
Minnesota didn’t hesitate to cut the lead in half, scoring on a slap shot by Marco Scandella just 30 seconds after the Giroux goal.
Charlie Coyle deflected a Jason Pominville shot into the back of the net to tie the game early in the second period. It was Coyle’s first goal since Oct. 23.
Pominville's wicked shot from the point banks in off @CharlieCoyle_3, who gets his 3rd. WATCH: http://t.co/AFMl7y95Na #mnwild
— Minnesota Wild (@mnwild) December 24, 2014
Coyle: I'd rather go through another 25 games without scoring if we're winning. We've got to get ourselves out of this
— Michael Russo (@RussoHockey) December 24, 2014
Philadelphia went up 3-2 on Wayne Simmonds’ 15th goal of the season at 15:22 of the second period. The Wild, according to the Star Tribune, thought it tied the game on a backhanded goal by Zach Parise, but the goal was disallowed because Pominville ran into the net, bumping it off its moorings. Thomas Vanek would later have a goal disallowed by a high stick.
The Flyers scored twice more the third for the comforable, three-goal advantage and win.
Parise: "Same story." Koivu: "I don't think we were even close tonight where we should be."
— Michael Russo (@RussoHockey) December 24, 2014
