The Philadelphia Flyers lost 4-2 to the Minnesota Wild tonight, and an ugly start left Rick Tocchet's team chasing the game all night.
The Flyers were already 27th in the NHL before puck drop. Those numbers are from before tonight's game, and this loss only adds to that picture.
The team account confirmed the final.
Minnesota scored at 4:06 and 4:37 of the first period, and the building went quiet fast. Then came the moment that decided the night. Michael Russo called it an egregious turnover by Jamie Drysdale to Matthew Boldy, and Joel Eriksson Ek made it 3-0 just 42 seconds into the second.
Russo also reported that Trevor Zegras was handed a 10-minute misconduct for stick-tapping at the ref. That is a costly lapse for a team already digging out of a hole.
Credit the Flyers for not folding, though. Tyson Foerster tipped in a Drysdale shot to make it 3-1 with 5:36 left in the second, with Matvei Michkov getting the other assist.
Barkey's first of the season and the iron that kept Philadelphia down
Early in the third, Denver Barkey buried a feed from Porter Martone on the power play at 1:48 to make it 3-2. It was Barkey's first goal of the season, and Zegras had the other assist.
Russo noted the Flyers had good offensive-zone possession in the push, and that Zegras and Martone both hit iron. A little more luck and this one goes to overtime at least.
Minnesota sealed it with an empty-netter that made it 4-2 with 1:24 left. Russo reported the Wild extended their point streak to 6 games, with Jesper Wallstedt stopping 23 shots.
Before tonight, Philadelphia sat 4-8-4 with 12 points, 7th in the Metropolitan Division. The table below is the team's season and excludes tonight's game.
Drysdale's giveaway will get the attention, and it should. A defenseman with a +3 rating before tonight can't hand a team like Minnesota a 3-0 lead, and the Flyers spent the rest of the night paying for it.
Zegras stays at 97 career goals, 3 away from 100. Next up is Thursday at the Rangers, and Philadelphia needs to show it can start a game on time.
