Wallstedt Wins the Goalie Duel as Wild Take Philadelphia 4-2
The Flyers fired more pucks toward the net, but Boldy, Yurov and company found the twine on Vladar when it counted.
Minnesota won 4-2 in Philadelphia on a night the Flyers arguably deserved better. The difference was in goal.
Philadelphia had the edge in play. The Flyers attempted 64 shots to Minnesota's 52 and created slightly better chances overall. Jesper Wallstedt made 23 saves on 25 shots and finished +1.44 in goals saved above expected, which means he kept out roughly one and a half more goals than an average goalie would have against those looks.
At the other end, Dan Vladar stopped 18 of 21. He was -0.91 on the same measure, so he let in about one more goal than those chances usually produce. Matt Boldy (a goal and an assist), Danila Yurov, Joel Eriksson Ek and Michael McCarron did the scoring.
Both teams also rang iron. Kirill Kaprizov and Boldy hit it for Minnesota, and Porter Martone did for Philadelphia. The Flyers' power play went 1 for 3, while the Wild's went 0 for 3. The Flyers carried more of the play, but Minnesota had the better goalie.
In this story
MINPHIMore from this game
- Weak Player PerformanceVladar Beaten Three Times as Wild Jump on Flyers
- Individual Player PerformanceYurov Makes Every Short Shift Count for Minnesota
- Strong Player PerformanceWallstedt Holds Off Flyers as Wild Cling to Lead in Philadelphia
- Hidden InsightsWallstedt Keeps the Flyers Off the Board Early in Philadelphia