Flyers 5 - 2 Wild
Final
  for this game

Flyers hit break with three straight road wins

Dec 24, 2014 - 4:35 AM St. Paul, MN (SportsNetwork.com) - Ray Emery made 22 saves and five different players recorded a goal, as Philadelphia claimed a 5-2 victory over Minnesota at Xcel Energy Center.

Sean Couturier, Claude Giroux, Wayne Simmonds, Vincent Lecavalier and Michael Raffl all lit the lamp for the Flyers, who won three straight for the first time since early November to start an eight-game road trip.

Marco Scandella and Charlie Coyle tallied for the Wild, who have dropped four straight games. Darcy Kuemper, pressed into duty for Niklas Backstrom after he suffered an undisclosed injury, stopped 25 shots in the setback.

"I think it's a blessing that we have three days off to step away," said Wild forward Matt Cooke.

Down 3-2, the Wild might have been cheated out of a tying goal with 1:28 gone in the third.

Zach Parise's second try from the left side along the goal line was ruled to have eluded Emery but only after the net was dislodged at the far post by a collision between Philly defenseman Andrew MacDonald and Minnesota forward Jason Pominville. Replay seemed to suggest neither post was noticeably off its moorings.

That reprieve galvanized the Flyers, who went up 4-2 at 5:29 after Lecavalier redirected a MacDonald shot from the left side of the crease.

"That fourth goal obviously gave us a little breathing room," said Lecavalier. "After that we kind of chipped it in and played a simple game and made sure we got it out at the right time."

Minnesota had another potential score inside of three minutes remaining waved off due to a high stick, when Thomas Vanek was ruled to have clearly touched the puck illegally with his blade well above his head.

Raffl hit the empty net with 29 seconds to play thanks to Jakub Voracek -- who extended his NHL-leading point total to 46 with the primary assist.

Couturier picked up a failed clear in the right circle, moved wide and then slipped a pass into the crease intended for R.J. Umberger, who didn't even touch it as it deflected off a Wild player's skate and slid past Kuemper at 7:16 of the opening period.

Giroux pounced on a Luke Schenn rebound and popped it home from the left side to make it 2-0 at 9:33, but 30 seconds later the Wild halved their deficit on a Scandella blast from the left point.

Philly committed back-to-back penalties early in the second and Minnesota cashed in at 3:43 when Coyle deflected a Pominville drive while gliding between the circles.

The visitors took a 3-2 lead with 4:38 remaining in the period as Simmonds picked the far corner from the right wing.

Game Notes

The Orange and Black hadn't taken three straight since Nov. 4-8, and hadn't won three in a row on the road since Feb. 1-March 2, 2014 a span interrupted by the Olympic break ... Prior to the game, the Wild recalled goaltender John Curry from Iowa of the American Hockey League under emergency conditions ... Both teams are off until Saturday, when Philadelphia goes back out on the road in Nashville and Minnesota hosts Winnipeg.






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