Preview: Wild vs. Flyers

ST. PAUL, Minn. -- The Minnesota Wild hosts the Philadelphia Flyers this afternoon after a tough 7-1 loss to the Oilers at home on Thursday. The Wild faced significant injuries against the Oilers, entering the game without C Joel Eriksson Ek, RW Mats Zuccarello and D Jonas Brodin. D Jake Middleton made his exit less than one minute into game play with an upper-body injury and was placed on long-term injured reserve yesterday morning. The team will hit the ice today without the four key players, hoping for a better outcome than Thursday night.

Info for Tonight's Game:

• When: Saturday, December 14 at 1:00 p.m. CT
• Where: Xcel Energy Center (St. Paul, Minnesota)
• Tickets: Buy Now
• Additional Ticket Offers: Wild Winter Bundle Ticket Offer
• Watch: FanDuel Sports North
• Listen: KFAN 100.3 FM
• Gamecenter: Wild vs. Flyers

Wild Record: 19-6-4, 42 points, 2nd in Central Division

Flyers Record: 14-12-2, 34 points, 4th in Metropolitan Division

2024-25 Series Record: 0-1-0

All-Time Wild Record: 12-17-4 (7-5-3 at Xcel Energy Center)

This Season on Wild vs. Flyers

Philadelphia won the series-opening game, 7-5, at Wells Fargo Center (10/26). Eriksson Ek (1-1=2), LW Marcus Foligno (2-0=2) and LW Kirill Kaprizov (0-2=2) led the Wild with two points each. D Brock Faber (1-0=1) and Middleton (1-0=1) also scored for Minnesota. G Filip Gustavsson stopped 16-of-22 shots faced for the Wild.

C Sean Couturier (3-2=5) and RW Travis Konecny (1-4=5) led the Flyers with five points each. D Nick Seeler (1-1=2), RW Matvei Michkov (1-1=2), D Rasmus Ristolainen (1-1=2) and RW Owen Tippett (0- 2=2) each recorded multi-point games. G Samuel Ersson saved 21-of-26 shots faced to earn the win for Philadelphia.

Wild Leaders Against Flyers

• C Marcus Johansson leads Minnesota with 21 points (8-13=21) in 42 career games against the Flyers
• Zuccarello has 20 points (5-15=20) in 43 matches
• Foligno has 11 points (6-5=11) in 26 games
• LW Matt Boldy (6- 3=9 in six games), Eriksson Ek (2-7=9 in 13 games) and D Jared Spurgeon (1-8=9 in 17 games) each have nine points

Flyers Leaders Against Wild

• Couturier leads Philadelphia with 15 points (9-6=15) in 17 games against Minnesota
• D Erik Johnson owns 12 points (2-10=12) in 54 career games against the Wild
• Konecny has 10 points (3-7=10) in 12 games
• D Ryan Ellis (3-5=8 in 35 games), Ristolainen (4-4=8 in 16 games) and D Travis Sanheim (1-7=8 in 12 games) all own eight points

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Connections

• Minnesota Goaltending Coach Frederic Chabot went 0-1-1 in four games with the Flyers in the 1993-94 season
• C Ryan Hartman skated in 19 games with Philadelphia during the 2018-19 season
• Flyers Vice President & Assistant General Manager Brent Flahr served as Wild Assistant General Manager (2009-18) before joining Philadelphia
• LW Noah Cates is from Stillwater and played four seasons at the University of Minnesota Duluth (2018-22)
• LW Nicolas Deslauriers recorded three points (3-0=2) in 20 games with the Wild (2021-22)
• RW Bobby Brink is from Minnetonka
• Johnson is from Bloomington and played one season at the University of Minnesota (2006-07)
• D Ryan Poehling is from Lakeville and played at St. Cloud State University for three seasons (2016-19)
• Seeler was selected by the Wild in the fifth round (131st overall) of the 2011 NHL Draft and collected 11 points (2-9=11) in 99 games with Minnesota (2017-20)

Fast Facts

• Minnesota has posted back-to-back shutouts twice against Philadelphia (last, 11/11-11/14/17)
• The first time was Feb. 10-12, 2003, which also marked the first back-to-back shutouts in team history
• The Wild has shutout the Flyers five times in the 33 all-time meetings – tied for its most shutouts against an Eastern Conference team (also Boston)

For more information on today's matchup, check out the game notes below.