PHILADELPHIA – There was nothing textbook about the Wild's strategy, and its effort didn't win any style points either.
Wild scores two quick goals to beat Philadelphia, end four-game losing streak
The Wild became only the third team in NHL history to twice in a season win after facing a deficit four times in a game.
March 4, 2022 at 4:49AM
But considering the circumstances, the destination became more significant than the journey.
After rallying four times, the Wild finally passed the Flyers 5-4 on Thursday in front of 13,876 at Wells Fargo Center to ditch its four-game losing streak.
"The two points is all that really matters," Matt Boldy said.
By overcoming four deficits en route to victory for the second time this season (also a 6-5 overtime decision on Oct. 19 vs. Winnipeg), the Wild became just the third team in NHL history with two such wins in a single season; the 1985-86 North Stars and 1989-90 Penguins are the others.
"When you get down in these kind of low points, it takes a game like that to kind of get out of it," Ryan Hartman said.
Just 25 seconds after Boldy provided the last equalizer, wiring the puck behind Philadelphia goalie Carter Hart, Jonas Brodin capitalized on a point shot with 7 minutes, 19 seconds left in the third period to cap off the comeback.
"I got a pretty good open lane there, so I just tried to put everything into it and luckily it went in," said Brodin, who scored for the first time since Nov. 30 to end a 20-game drought.
That lead was a reward for the Wild's no-quit persistence, which was continually tested by a struggling Flyers lineup that kept answering every Wild positive with a negative.
This script started playing on a loop early in the first period after Scott Laughton intercepted a Marcus Foligno pass in the offensive zone for a breakaway goal at 3:49.
Hartman responded at 11:50 when he directed in a Mats Zuccarello pass, a play their linemate Kirill Kaprizov also factored in, to even the score. The goal was Hartman's 20th, which exceeded the career-best 19 he tallied as a rookie in 2016-17 with Chicago.
But only 1:26 later, the Flyers moved ahead on a one-timer in tight from Patrick Brown.
Then with four seconds to go in the first, the Wild's Frederick Gaudreau knocked down a clearing attempt and went top-shelf on Hart. Over his past 15 games, Gaudreau has picked up 12 points.
"It was a grind," coach Dean Evason said.
More of the same happened in the second: Travis Konecny was left alone in front of Wild goalie Cam Talbot to fling the puck into the net 5:07 into the period before Hartman stuffed in a loose puck at 9:04. That was the second time this season Hartman has scored twice in a game, and his 21 tallies are second on the team, trailing only Kaprizov's 24. Kevin Fiala's assist on the goal was his first of two helpers.
Another last-minute goal closed out the second period, but this one belonged to Philadelphia as James van Riemsdyk had a deflection on the power play at 19:14. The Flyers finished 1-for-3, and the Wild went 0-for-1.
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"We were really good in a lot of areas of the game," Evason said. "We weren't so good in a lot of areas of the game. We just had to keep going. They stayed together, which was a really key point."
The good outweighed the bad in the third period, with the Wild keeping the puck out of its net and racking up two goals at the other end, where Hart totaled 33 stops and Talbot had 26. Not only did Talbot end his four-game slide, but he also picked up his 20th win — the fifth time in his career he's reached that plateau and first since 2017-18.
As for the Wild, it won't have to wait long to try to turn this slump-buster into a different streak. The team is back in action Friday at Buffalo.
"Obviously still some things to clean up," Hartman said, "but definitely a step in the right direction."
The Wild have been the surprise of the league as their high-scoring winger makes a shambles of team scoring records.
