Minnesota Wild’s win streak ends with 7-5 loss in Philadelphia

PHILADELPHIA – The Wild are making a compelling argument for why they’ve changed.

Unlike last season, their start hasn’t been atrocious. They’ve persevered through injuries to key veterans, and they’ve received clutch performances from multiple players.

What would have made their case even more convincing was if they dismissed the lowly Flyers.

Instead, it was one-win Philadelphia that finally sent the Wild off the ice empty-handed, the Flyers prevailing 7-5 on Saturday afternoon at Wells Fargo Center to double their victories while serving the Wild their first regulation loss of the season (5-1-2) after four wins in a row.

This also cost the Wild their season-opening point streak, a seven-game run that ended one shy of tying the franchise record set in 2007-08 when they went 7-0-1.

“It’s frustrating, frustrating to lose a game like that,” Joel Eriksson Ek said.

But even in defeat, the Wild still endorsed their turnaround: They lost despite being the better team, and that didn’t always happen a year ago.

“We outplayed them for the most part,” Brock Faber said. “The slow start definitely hurt us. In the end, we just let it slip.”

That’s what this result boils down to, an early stumble and late blip.

Sean Couturier buried a rebound just 1 minute, 18 seconds into the first period, the first time the Wild didn’t open the scoring, and Eden Prairie’s Nick Seeler walked into the slot to drain the Flyers’ next shot uncontested at 3:51.

But after sinking into their first two-goal deficit – the Wild trailed for a mere 1.6% of their season coming into the game – they were in control.

They rallied, eked out a third-period lead and netted a third tying goal before Matt Boldy lost his stick, Philadelphia peeled away for a 4-on-2 and Rasmus Ristolainen whacked in a loose puck in the crease to break the 5-5 stalemate with 2:24 to go.

Couturier completed his hat trick into an empty net with 1 minute left, this after Mats Zuccarello drew a penalty but had it negated by a scrum that included the Flyers’ Garnet Hathaway. In the second, Hathaway hit Eriksson Ek, who suffered a broken nose earlier this month, in the face.

BOXSCORE: Philadelphia 7, Wild 5

Wild goalie Filip Gustavsson, who had given up seven goals across five previous starts, made 16 stops; one came right before the puck sat in the crease for Ristolainen’s game-winner.

“If Gus makes that first save and then kicks it to the corner, then it’s probably not in the net,” coach John Hynes said. “But I think in a game like that, that’s usually what’s going to happen when the goals are going in like that.”

In between the beginning and the end, the Wild showed why they’ve been such a tough matchup.

They went 21:30 without allowing a shot on net, dominating the puck the rest of the first period and into the second despite not getting rewarded for it.

Finally, on their 16th attempt at 14:54, the Wild connected on a Faber redirect off a Kirill Kaprizov shot.

Only 33 seconds later, Marcus Foligno capped off a near end-to-end rush by wiring the puck past goaltender Samuel Ersson while falling to the ice – a highlight-reel goal (Foligno’s first on just his second shot of the season) that he celebrated by jumping into the boards.

Philadelphia quickly retaliated when Matvei Michkov capitalized during a delayed Wild penalty with 1:44 remaining in the second.

“We’ve given up a few of those through the year,” Hynes said, referring to the 6-on-5 goal. “We got to button that up.”

But the Wild had the last laugh of the second when Kaprizov passed off to Eriksson Ek for a tap-in on the power play (1-for-4) with 4 seconds left. Kaprizov’s two assists extended his multipoint game streak to five, a career high.

Then 2:18 into the third, Foligno scored on a deflection to continue his best showing of the season.

“It’s frustrating to lose in a good game, and our line it seems the last few games has been really good,” said Foligno, who’s playing with Frederick Gaudreau and Yakov Trenin. “I’m just more happy we’re getting offense going. It’s nice to finally cash in.”

The Wild’s lead didn’t last long.

By 4:55, both teams were tied again after Travis Konecny converted on a Flyers power play (1-for-2). Then at 8:26, Couturier pounced on another puck that pinballed around the front of the Wild crease.

A shot from the point by Jake Middleton that squeaked through Ersson (21 saves) at 13:28 of the third looked like the start of another Wild comeback, but they faded instead – perhaps a sign of fatigue from their week-plus road trip.

“We needed a little bit more energy in the third,” Foligno said, “and we lost it and didn’t really have it in waves like we did in the second.”

One loss after all the Wild’s recent wins isn’t alarming, especially since they’ve been without captain Jared Spurgeon and Ryan Hartman as they heal injuries.

“We’ve gotten a lot of points,” Hynes said. “We’ve done well. Our identity is really starting to show.”

But the Wild still have to prove they’re different, and they can continue to do that by bouncing back on Tuesday when their stretch of seven consecutive road games comes to an end in Pittsburgh.

“Everyone in this room is still confident in the way we play,” Faber said, “and who we are as a team this year and the difference this year.”