The Flyers spent Tuesday night digging out of a three-goal hole, and the climb never quite got them all the way back.
Philadelphia fell 4-2 to the Wild at Xfinity Mobile Arena, dropping to 4-9-4 after a game that started with a flurry of Minnesota goals and never fully settled into the Flyers’ favor. Tyson Foerster and Denver Barkey scored for the Flyers, with Barkey’s power-play goal 1:48 into the third period pulling the club within 3-2. But after that, Philadelphia couldn’t cash in on another power-play chance, and Minnesota finished the job with an empty-netter.
“I feel like we’ve always competed and never quit, but we just can’t be chasing the game,” Barkey said. “Against a top team like that, it’s a lot harder to come out on top.”
That was the story of the night for Rick Tocchet’s group: effort was there, but the margin for error vanished fast. The Flyers were down 3-0 before the second period was barely underway, and they never recovered enough to erase the damage. The loss also snapped the momentum from Sunday’s 6-3 home win over the Mammoth.
“It’s one game,” Sean Couturier said Tuesday after morning skate. “We’ve got to build on that, do that consistently. It almost has to just become automatic in our minds, in the way we play.”
Through 17 games, consistency has been the Flyers’ missing piece. They have 12 points. At this same point last season, they had 21.
Minnesota, now 11-3-3, looked every bit like the Western Conference contender Tocchet expected. The teams meet again Dec. 5 at Grand Casino Arena.
Dan Vladar stopped 18 of 21 shots.
The first period put Philadelphia behind the eight ball immediately. Matt Boldy opened the scoring just 4:37 into the game with a blast, and Michael McCarron made it 2-0 only 31 seconds later after a puck deflected off Porter Martone’s skate and landed right for him in the slot.
“Bad bounces happen every night,” Drysdale said. “It’s unfortunate that they directly resulted in goals against.
That sucks, it’s never fun. But I felt like we had a chance, I felt like we played some good hockey, some good stretches.”
The second period got worse before it got better. Just 42 seconds in, Jamie Drysdale tried to move the puck up the boards, it struck one of the officials, and the Wild turned the fortunate bounce into a goal by Joel Eriksson Ek to push the lead to 3-0.
Right after that sequence, Trevor Zegras received a 10-minute misconduct and was forced to sit for half the period. Zegras appeared to tap his stick as he skated past referee Kyle Rehman.
“Just a little frustrated and I can’t be doing that,” Zegras said. “I’ve known Kyle for a long time. Just a stupid decision by me.”
Tocchet was blunt about it.
“You’re showing the ref up,” Tocchet said. “Whether you’re pissed, you can’t tap the ice. You shouldn’t do that.”
The Flyers did create chances, but too many of them slipped away. Zegras had a good look on the opening shift and missed wide. Later in the first, Porter Martone rang the post on the power play with Philadelphia still down 2-0.
After Foerster got the Flyers on the board in the second, Travis Konecny had a prime chance to make it a one-goal game on a 2-on-1 feed from Barkey, but he missed. Konecny said the missed chances sat with him.
“I have an open net, 2-on-1,” Konecny said. “There were a couple of looks I had in the slot.
For me, I’m mad at myself. I had a lot of good looks tonight, I had zero shots.
So it’s unacceptable.”
The Flyers also spent part of the second period killing off back-to-back Nick Seeler penalties, one for crosschecking and one for holding.
Tocchet pointed to the missed opportunities as the difference.
“I think we had nine or 10 scoring chances where we miss the net,” Tocchet said.
Foerster’s goal came with help from Matvei Michkov and Drysdale. Michkov picked up a secondary assist, giving him 24 points - 14 goals and 10 assists - over his last 24 regular-season games, a stretch that goes back to April 3 of last season. Drysdale’s assist was his fourth over the last two games.
Barkey’s power-play marker came with assists from Martone and Zegras.
Minnesota’s top line of Eriksson Ek, Boldy and Kirill Kaprizov was a problem all night, just as Tocchet expected. The trio has not been scored on at 5-on-5.
Jesper Wallstedt made 23 saves for the Wild.
Bobby Brink also had a notable night in Philadelphia, returning as a visiting player for the first time since last season’s deadline deal. The Flyers sent Brink to Minnesota in exchange for David Jiricek.
Brink, who spent parts of four seasons with the Flyers, has a goal and eight assists in 17 games this season and picked up a secondary assist on McCarron’s goal. Jiricek, meanwhile, was a healthy scratch and hasn’t played in two weeks.
“To see his development as a young guy coming in to where he’s at today, a lot of credit goes to him and the way he has become a regular NHL player,” Couturier said. “I’m happy for him.”
The Flyers now head into a five-game road trip, starting Thursday against the Rangers.
“We’ve got a big road trip coming up that if we play well, it could bring a lot of energy to the group for this next little stretch here,” Zegras said. “Our game’s coming, it’s coming.”
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