The Minnesota Wild have pushed themselves toward the top of the NHL standings and will take plenty of confidence into Tuesday’s road game against the Philadelphia Flyers.
Minnesota is 10-3-3 on the season, including an active 4-0-1 stretch, after skating into Washington on Sunday and departing with a 5-1 victory over the Capitals in a game in which stars Matt Boldy, Kirill Kaprizov and Joel Eriksson Ek had plenty of help.
It was a balanced scoring attack featuring five different players scoring a goal and 12 different players registering a point.
“I think it’s a key for any team where top players, you’re relying on those guys to produce, but I think over the course of a season, game in and game out, you do need to get contributions throughout your lineup,” Wild coach John Hynes said. “The games that we’ve had that, we’ve won.”
It helps when goaltender Jesper Wallstedt stops 26 of 27 shots, like he did against Washington. Wallstedt has limited opponents to one goal in three of his last four games.
“I think what makes us successful and what’s fun to see out there is that we never get bored by maybe sometimes playing a boring game,” Wallstedt said. “We chip it in. We get to work. We try to work in their zone.
“We don’t start playing east-west hockey or start to force passes. We stick to what we know is working and we did that over 60 (minutes) and it felt like that gave us a good chance to win today.”
Minnesota has lost one game this season by more than one goal — a 5-2 setback against the Winnipeg Jets on Oct. 13. Since then, the Wild are 6-1-2.
“We’re starting to find our way,” Wild center Michael McCarron said.
Meanwhile, Philadelphia is still looking to find its way after losing 12 of its first 16 games. The team took a step in the right direction Sunday with a 6-3 victory over the Utah Mammoth that was fueled by the return of Travis Konecny.
The Flyers winger had missed the previous 10 games due to a lower-body injury. He notched a goal and an assist Sunday, helping Philadelphia set a season high in goals scored.
Konecny enjoyed a pleasant return while playing alongside Christian Dvorak and Trevor Zegras. Dvorak scored off a feed from Konecny in the third period, while Zegras was a plus-3 as Philadelphia snapped a three-game skid.
“There’s a lot of chemistry there,” Konecny said. “… We had some success last year, and for me, coming back, those guys make it pretty easy.”
The energizing victory for the Flyers came after recent internal comments about the team’s toughness and willingness to compete.
“In the game within the game where he’s emotionally invested, yapping out there and getting himself involved after whistles, it kind of brings everyone in the fight,” Philadelphia captain Sean Couturier said of Konecny. “I think that’s the kind of energy that we’ve been missing lately.”
The Flyers won both matchups against the Wild last season — one in overtime and another in a shootout. They are 5-1-0 against Minnesota over the last three seasons.