Of all the losses the Wild have suffered this season, from the blowouts to the nail-biters, they’d never had a collapse like this.
They blew their first two-goal lead — in the final 10 minutes of the third period, to boot — and were chastised with a 4-3 overtime rally by the Flyers on Friday at Xcel Energy Center to drop a third consecutive game.
Overall, the Wild have won only once in their past eight.
“We got to find ways to win those games,” Ryan Hartman said. “We got to be better. We got to be able to hold those leads, and I think we sat back a little bit and caused some mental mistakes, and we should have been trying to get four or five goals there instead of trying to keep the puck out of our net.”
Philadelphia’s Joel Farabee tipped in a point shot with 2 seconds left on a 4-on-3 power play for the Flyers at 3 minutes, 36 seconds of overtime after Mats Zuccarello was penalized for tripping.
Seconds earlier, Joel Eriksson Ek had a chance at the game-winner, one of the Wild’s top goal scorers peeling off for a shorthanded breakaway as he was chased by the Flyers’ Jamie Drysdale, who pushed the puck away before Eriksson Ek could get a shot off.
No penalty was assessed on the play.
“Clear-cut penalty,” Wild coach John Hynes said. “Clear-cut penalty. Reaches over, grabs his jersey, holds him. It’s disappointing that the call wasn’t made at that time.”
The Wild wouldn’t have even been in overtime if they did a better job of protecting the lead they built with a businesslike start to the third period.
They flipped a 1-1 tie into a 3-1 advantage on a pair of one-timers, first from Hartman (1:48), then Matt Boldy (4:38).
But Philadelphia clapped back with its own two-goal tear.
“It wasn’t a change in style of play,” Hynes said. “It’s the discipline and details at key moments in the game, particularly when you have a lead. You have to do your job in those situations. That’s the difference in the game.”
The Flyers busted the Wild’s coverage, working the puck around three players to earn a 2-on-1 look down low that Tyson Foerster deposited behind Fleury at 9:31.
“That was a breakdown,” Hynes said.
Then just 1:25 later, Owen Tippett converted during a delayed penalty; Philadelphia went 1-for-3 on the power play and the Wild 0-for-2.
“They were in the zone buzzing a bit and went across and couldn’t see the release, and it’s a tie game,” said Wild goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury (31 saves).
That was actually the second lead the Wild coughed up.
After a goalless first period, Marcus Johansson scored off the rush 51 seconds into the second period.
But by 3:37, the Flyers responded on Farabee’s first of the night, a redirect after he got behind the Wild, who had 26 shots stopped by Philadelphia’s Carter Hart.
“I thought for us this was a good game, one of our good ones lately I think,” Fleury said. “Didn’t give them too much. Didn’t give them too many great chances. We got the lead in the third, too, so that was nice. But, yeah, still stings to lose it.”
Had the Wild won, they would have had the chance to pull even with Arizona in the standings on Saturday in their Central Division clash in St. Paul.
Now they can’t catch the Coyotes, but the Wild might have a different look to their lineup.
Injured players Kirill Kaprizov, Jonas Brodin and Filip Gustavsson will be reevaluated Saturday morning after all three skated with the team on Friday, a sign they’re getting closer to returning.
And with the team in another rut, the Wild could sure use a boost.
“Losing that one, obviously coming off a bunch of losses already, it’s frustrating,” Brock Faber said. “But it’s a quick turnaround. So, all we can do right now is look at tomorrow and focus on getting a win tomorrow and going from there.”