Game Forty: Wild 1, Flyers 3

For the first period, the Minnesota Wild looked like they might be able to skate to an easy victory over the Philadelphia Flyers. They were simply outplaying the Flyers in every part of the ice, and it forced Philadelphia to taking penalties in attempts to slow the Wild down.

Slow them down it did. Minnesota was granted eight power plays during the game, but couldn't convert on a single one, including over a minute with a 5-on-3 advantage. Meanwhile, Philadelphia simply kept applying pressure, snapping Niklas Backstrom's shutout streak at almost 150 minutes while pouring on 3 unanswered goals. It marks a rare Wild loss after scoring the first goal, and only their second regulation loss against the Eastern Conference.

The flu is also ravaging the Wild. Stephane Veilleux scored the team's only goal, despite not being expected to play because of the flu bug. Martin Skoula, who's been very consistent on the blue line this season, missed the game. And, with the way the Wild collapsed in the second period, it almost looked as if they all came down with the bug during intermission.

Game pluses:
- Mikko Koivu. Possibly trying to convince the powers-that-be that he was mistakenly left off of the All-Star roster, Koivu played a strong game in both ends.
- Brent Burns. While Marek Zidlicky made some flashy plays after snapping a stick, Burns casually went about his business, almost connecting on a few chances, including one that got barely pinned by Martin Biron.
- Krys Kolanos. Again, Kolanos played a very strong game, creating chances and simply outskating the Flyers defense. Like most of the Wild, though, he couldn't solve Biron.

Game minuses:
- Special teams. As if going 0-for-8 on the power play wasn't bad enough (and it really was), the Wild gave up the go-ahead goal a mere seven seconds into Philadelphia's only power play.
- Puck possession. Maybe the Wild tried too many passes. Maybe the Flyers just clogged up the lanes. Either way, the Wild lost the handle on the puck too many times to count, including a number of times in their own defensive zone.
- Benoit Pouliot. Given a chance to play, one would hope that Pouliot would have reversed his course from the last few games. And yet, aside from one chance where he got his stick lifted on him, he couldn't keep the puck, and again overskated the play more often than not.

Next up: The Wild look to get back on track Saturday night, as they reach the midpoint of the season with a game against the 18-18-4 Columbus Blue Jackets, who will be coming off of a game tonight in Washington.