Wild keep low moment short, defeat Philadelphia Flyers

The Wild are getting pelted with injuries, but they sure have a knack for dodging losing streaks.

They’re the only team in the NHL that hasn’t dropped two in a row in regulation after another bounce-back game, this time a 4-1 reset against the Flyers on Saturday afternoon at Xcel Energy Center on the heels of their worst loss of the season.

“You need those responses,” alternate captain Marcus Foligno said. “You need to do this, and that was something we never got last year and couldn’t get our feet going. So, when you have something that’s disappointing from last game, this group’s really good.”

Kirill Kaprizov scored twice to get to a team-high 20 goals, Matt Boldy buried a breakaway for his 200th career point, and goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury made 21 saves in a more Wild-like performance than the 7-1 drubbing by Edmonton on Thursday, but the team did have Mats Zuccarello and Jonas Brodin back in action after lengthy injury absences.

“It kind of was the right recipe,” coach John Hynes said. “To come off a tough loss at home and then everyone’s a little bit ornery and wants to get back at it, and then you have those two guys come back in the lineup. I think that also invigorates the group for sure.”

Still, the Wild played shorthanded for a second straight game after Jake Middleton suffered an upper-body injury Thursday that’ll sideline him for the foreseeable future.

Jakub Lauko left with a lower-body injury and was placed on injured reserve. Ahead of facing the Golden Knights on Sunday, the Wild recalled Jesper Wallstedt from Iowa in the American Hockey League under emergency conditions, but it’s unclear which goalie Wallstedt might need to replace. The team also sent Cameron Crotty back to the minors; after the Wild claimed defenseman Travis Dermott off waivers from the Oilers on Friday, Dermott arrived in time to suit up against Philadelphia, but the Wild didn’t need him with Brodin ready after sitting out eight games.

“It’s been bugging me a little bit, but it’s fine,” Brodin said of his upper-body injury. “I feel good now, so hopefully it stays like that.”

Zuccarello reunited with Kaprizov and Marco Rossi after getting hit by a Brock Faber shot in the midsection 14 games earlier and missing a month, a “freak” injury that required surgery and had Zuccarello idle for about three weeks before he skated just a few times ahead of returning.

“It was a rough week, week and a half with pain,” Zuccarello said. “But the doctors and everyone did a good job.”

This wasn’t the first time Zuccarello was hurt after getting struck by a puck: He said he was hospitalized after once getting hit in the head.

“That’s why I stay on the perimeter and outside the crease,” he said, “and let the other guys do the dirty job.”

His addition coincided with Yakov Trenin’s exit, as the winger was scratched with an upper-body injury. The Wild are also still without Joel Eriksson Ek, who is week-to-week with a lower-body injury.

But the team recalibrated like it always has after going pointless and is now 6-0 after regulation losses.

Fleury set the tone early with his best save of the season, a glove snare that robbed the Flyers’ Travis Konecny of a near empty-net goal.

“I was a little late getting across, so I got a little lucky,” said Fleury, who improved to 6-1-1 in his 1,003rd start, tying Patrick Roy for third in NHL history. “But I’ll take it.”

Later in the first period, Kaprizov made his own dazzling play, wiring in a shot off Philadelphia goalie Samuel Ersson’s mask from near the goal line at 14 minutes, 18 seconds.

“He’s probably doing that 30 to 40 minutes after practice, then he gets in a game and does it,” Hynes said. “So, it’s the Catch-22, right? ‘Kirill, can you get off so you can be rested for the game?’ But then he does this.”

Boldy doubled the Wild’s lead with 4:39 left in the second period when he slid a Faber clear under the right pad of Ersson (19 saves) to become the second-fastest player in Wild history to reach 200 points — getting there in 233 games to trail only Kaprizov’s 169.

This was Boldy’s sixth game-winner, tied for first in the NHL, and although he took his sixth penalty over the past four games, the penalty kill went 3-for-3 while the power play blanked on its lone look.

Then, 9:34 into the third period, Zuccarello set up Rossi for an uncontested shot from the left circle.

“You get tired a little bit more quicker,” Zuccarello said. “Just a difficult injury. You can’t really do much for a long time, but figure it was better to get into a game again to get into game shape. We got some big games coming up before Christmas, so it was good.

“Linemates, teammates made it easy for me.”

The Flyers’ Travis Sanheim wrecked Fleury’s shutout bid with 5:42 to go, but the Wild still won comfortably.

After a sprawling clear by Foligno, who fought Garnet Hathaway in the first period in reaction to what Foligno called cheap shots against the Wild in the Flyers’ 7-5 victory on Oct. 26, Kaprizov dumped his 20th goal into an empty net with 2:11 to go for his 45th point, which ranks second in the NHL. Kaprizov’s six empty-netters are tops in the league, and Fleury’s 33 victories vs. Philadelphia are his second most against a single opponent.

As for the Wild (20-6-4), their 44 points stand tied for second in the NHL, and they tied the 2011-12 season for fewest games in franchise history to reach 20 wins.

But not even that team avoided back-to-back regulation losses for as long as the Wild have.

“A lot of character,” Fleury said. “A lot of consistency in our play from night to night.”