Flyers Offense Struggles as They Fall to the Wild in Minnesota
Dec 14, 2024; Saint Paul, Minnesota, USA; Philadelphia Flyers defenseman Travis Sanheim (6) celebrates with defenseman Jamie Drysdale (9) and forward Ryan Poehling (25) after scoring a goal against the Minnesota Wild with defenseman Jamie Drysdale (9) and forward Ryan Poehling (25) during the third period at Xcel Energy Center. Mandatory Credit: Nick Wosika-Imagn Images
Coming off a big win over Detroit, the Flyers traveled to Minnesota Saturday afternoon, and their offense struggled.
Samuel Ersson started the game off strong, making several impressive saves. However, just under 15 minutes into the first period Kirill Kaprizov showed his craftiness by cleaning up a pass banked off the boards behind the net for the first goal of the game. Kaprizov is one of the best scorers in the NHL, and this would not be the only time he found the back of the net this game.
Marc-Andre Fleury made nine saves on nine shots for the Wild in the first period, which included two penalty kills. He also had an unreal glove save on Travis Konecny that just makes you marvel at the 40-year-old netminder.
Konecny had another chance to beat Fleury in the second period with a wide-open net, but Matvei Michkov inadvertently blocked the shot with his stick, keeping Philly off the scoreboard.
Unfortunately, this would be the theme of the game for the Flyers as nothing seemed to go their way. Later on in the second, the Flyers would seem to be pressuring offensively on a 4-on-4 before the Wild quickly took control and scored their second goal of the game.
After this point, the game wasn’t really close. The Wild would score again halfway through the third period to go up 3-0. Travis Sanheim would finally put the Flyers on the board with just over five minutes left to play. Kaprizov would score his second goal of the game when the Flyers pulled Ersson in a last-ditch effort to make the game competitive. Game over, Wild win 4-1.
We really can’t be surprised or disappointed at a game like this. The Wild are just flat-out a better team, and they played like it. This was the outcome that most people expected. This doesn’t mean that the Flyers played their best game though, far from it. It really felt like there was no fight in this team. Once Fleury made that incredible save on Konecny in the first period it just seemed like all the life was sucked out of the team.
There haven’t been a lot of games like this from the Flyers this year, so you’d have to imagine they’ll be able to put it behind them and focus on the next game.
The Flyers will head to Detroit to take on the Red Wings on Wednesday at 7:00 pm EST. The game can be watched on TNT.
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Bo Lynett
Bo has been a fan of Philly sports his whole life and has spent the entirety of his four years at Colgate University working to start a career in sports media. Double majoring in Economics and Film & Media Studies gave him the opportunity to study both the financial/ analytical and broadcasting/ production sides of the sports world. Outside of the classroom, he’s worked as a director and producer for Colgate’s athletic events streamed on ESPN+ and a writer for the Colgate Athletic Website. Through all of this, however, it was his love of Philly sports that drove him to this career.
