Flyers Offense Clicks Again In 6-1 Win Over Wild
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) -- Danny Briere, Ville Leino and Andreas Nodl each had a goal and an assist, and the Philadelphia Flyers beat the Minnesota Wild 6-1 on Wednesday night.
James van Riemsdyk, Jeff Carter and Jody Shelley also scored for Philadelphia, 12-2-1 in its past 15 games. The Flyers, tied with Washington atop the NHL standings with 32 points, entered with a league-best 3.5 goals per game. They have scored 39 in the past eight games.
Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 15 shots for his 12th win, one behind league-leading Carey Price of Montreal.
Bobrovsky sat out the previous two games after he allowed four goals in one period of last Thursday's 8-7 loss to Tampa Bay. Flyers coach Peter Laviolette said the break should be beneficial to the rookie goalie, physically and mentally.
Patrick O'Sullivan had the lone goal for Minnesota.
Van Riemsdyk and Carter gave the Flyers a 2-0 lead in the first period. After O'Sullivan cut the deficit in half in the second, Briere scored in the period's final minute. Nodl, Leino and Shelley scored in a 3:25 span midway through the third.
Alone at the post, van Riemsdyk scored at 3:18 on his third whack at a loose puck that goalie Niklas Backstrom and defenseman Greg Zanon were trying to cover. The left wing scored the winning goal Monday against Montreal to end a 22-game scoreless drought.
A little more than two minutes later, Carter picked up a loose puck near the right boards, cut through the circle untouched, and put a backhander between Backstrom's pads.
Minnesota entered 28th in the NHL with 2.42 goals per game, and the Wild offense didn't generate a shot for nearly 19 minutes between the first and second periods before O'Sullivan scored.
O'Sullivan, claimed off waivers Tuesday from Carolina, was Minnesota's second-round pick in the 2003 draft. He scored 47 goals for AHL Houston in the 2005-06 season, but was traded by the Wild for Pavol Demitra on June 24, 2006. O'Sullivan recorded 150 points in 290 games with Los Angeles, Edmonton and Carolina.
Briere scored in the final minute of the second, completing a give-and-go with Scott Hartnell to put the Flyers ahead 3-1.
Philadelphia blew open the game in the third period. The Flyers have scored at least five goals in nine games. Minnesota has done netted five goals only once.
NOTES: Wild C James Sheppard, in his first public comments since fracturing his patella and having surgery on Sept. 4 following in an ATV accident, said his rehabilitation is "going well." There is no timetable for his return. ... A slap shot by Philadelphia's Claude Giroux shattered a pane of glass along the side boards in the Minnesota end with 1:57 left in the first period. The teams went to their dressing rooms, and the remaining time was played before the second period. ... Minnesota LW Matt Kassian, recalled from AHL Houston earlier Wednesday, fought Shelley less than two minutes into the game.
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