Wild fall to Flyers in lackluster loss

After a hot start, the Wild gave up a late goal in the first and early goal in the second to lose to the visiting Philadelphia Flyers.

Eric Staal forced a turnover ahem that definitely wasn’t Steve Mason giving the puck up ahem and Zach Parise buried it to give the Wild an early lead.

That was the high point for the Wild. After several big chances, the Wild were still only ahead by a goal through poor shooting and decent goaltending from Mason.

Late in the period, the Wild gave up a goal through Sean Couturier. The goal came off a giveaway by Hanzal and a lack of defense from everyone else.

Coming out of the break on level terms, Philadelphia wasted no opportunity and took the lead after just 21 seconds. Matt Read got the puck and slotted it home.

The Wild played poorly, failing to connect passes or play defense, and ended the period down 2-1. While the Wild had some decent chances, including several shots on an open net, none converted, and on the balance of play the Wild deserved to be down.

The third period was the worst of the bunch. The Wild failed to register a shot for the first six minutes of play, and only registered 3 before the final minutes, and only registering 4 over the course of the period.

The Wild’s fate was sealed when Jakub Voracek netted an ENG to ice the game.

The Wild completely failed to execute any kind of gameplan. They were out-shot and out-chanced, despite the Flyers having the lead for most of the game. Dubnyk’s 25 saves on 27 shots is far from terrible, but the Wild offense and defense just failed to show up.

Hopefully the Wild can muster a better game on Sunday.