The Minnesota Wild failed to correct their early season trend of starting flat and then they dug themselves in a hole by allowing three third-period goals in their 6-2 loss to the Philadelphia Flyers inside Wells Fargo Arena Thursday night.
"We got what we deserve," Marcus Foligno told the media. "Karma."
"Six goals a night’s not gonna win in this league," Pat Maroon told the media, "I’ll tell you that right now. That's not on the goalies. It’s on the players."
As a result, the Wild now sit 3-3-1 and have started their three-game road trip on the wrong note. And there's a small window for reflection as the Wild face the Washington Capitals Friday and New Jersey Devils Sunday.
The Wild have tried a number of different things to improve their starts and nothing has seemed to work. On Thursday, Maroon tried to set the tone early for the Wild when he fought former Wild forward Nic Deslauriers off the opening faceoff.
It didn't work, and now the Wild have to go back to the drawing board.
The Wild were once again fortunate to be down 1-0 after the first. The Flyers' offensive attack pressured early and often from puck drop. It mirrored what the Wild hope to do at some point when they figure out their first-period woes.
The Flyers had seven of the game's first eight shots and had much of the offensive zone time early. By the end of the first, Philadelphia had a 12-4 edge in shots. The Wild struggled to exit their zone and were careless with the puck.
Travis Konecny started the scoring six minutes and three seconds into the contest when his snipe from the left circle off the rush beat Filip Gustavsson glove side under the bar.
Konecny now leads the Flyers this season with six goals, and former Wild defenseman Nick Seeler earned the primary assist on the goal.
For Gustavsson, it was the first of six goals against on 35 shots. The 25-year-old had a tough night, allowing 3.17 goals above expected, according to Natural Stat Trick. He has now given up 22 goals in four starts since opening night.
The Wild failed to record a shot in the final six minutes and 51 seconds of the first period and had recorded just five shots through 28 minutes.
The Wild appeared to wake up at the start of the middle frame, but the Flyers capitalized twice in the second period on the power play — Vinni Lettieri and Jake Middleton were the culprits — after entering the game 1-for-20.
Sean Couturier tucked home Cam Atkinson's rebound from the top of the crease, and Bobby Brink scored his first NHL goal five-hole on Gustavsson from in front of the net after the puck took a fortuitous bounce off a ref's skate.
The Wild once again had their chances and even had six shots within a 90-second span in the second period against Carter Hart, who stood tall and made 24 saves on 26 shots. Yet, they still found themselves down 3-0 to open the third.
The Wild had momentum at the start of the third and pulled within one with a pair of goals. Mermis scored his second NHL goal 3:05 into the final frame to cut the Wild's deficit to 3-1 after he found a loose puck at the top of the crease.
Then Foligno scored on Marcus Johansson's smooth cross-slot feed to get the Wild within one after Johansson made a nice play in the high slot.
The Wild couldn't continue the momentum and made three critical turnovers that added to the Flyers' 3-2 lead. Owen Tippett beat Gustavsson glove side on a breakaway with 13:26 left after Kirill Kaprizov turned the puck over at the offensive blue line.
Brink scored his second of the night on a backdoor tap-in on a 2-on-1 rush with 8:58 left after another turnover by the Wild, and Travis Sanheim sealed the deal with the Flyers' sixth goal with a shot from the high slot with 5:14 remaining.
The Wild have now given up 25 goals in their four losses and can't be healthy soon enough, but the injuries haven't stopped. Freddy Gaudreau was out Thursday night due to injury — Jujhar Khaira was recalled in his absence — joining the likes of Jared Spurgeon, Matt Boldy and Alex Goligoski who are all sidelined with injuries.