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(Sports Network) - It took seven seasons, but Patrick O'Sullivan is finally ready to make his Minnesota Wild debut.
The recently claimed winger is expected to be in the lineup this evening when the Wild shoot for a third straight victory over the Philadelphia Flyers in a matchup at the Xcel Energy Center.
The 25-year-old O'Sullivan was placed on waivers by the Carolina Hurricanes before being claimed by the Wild on Tuesday. He had just one goal in 10 games this season after posing 11 goals and 23 points in 73 games with the Oilers last season.
O'Sullivan was originally selected by Minnesota in the second round of the 2003 draft, but never made it to the Wild's NHL roster after getting traded to Los Angeles in June of 2006 in a deal that landed Pavol Demitra. His best season came in 2007-08 with the Kings, a 22-goal, 53-point campaign.
Minnesota will hope the acquisition of O'Sullivan will help offset the loss of forward Guillaume Latendresse, who is expected to undergo surgery to fix a torn labrum in his hip and a bilateral sports hernia. The dual procedures are expected to sideline the 23-year-old for a majority of the season and he had three goals and six points in eight games after netting 25 goals last year.
The Wild kicked off a three-game homestand on Saturday with a 5-2 setback to the Marian Gaborik-led Rangers. Gaborik, who had 219 goals and 218 assists after being the Wild franchise's first ever draft pick, joined New York as a free agent two offseasons ago and had an assist during New York's three-goal second period.
Matt Cullen scored his first goal since Oct. 19 and Martin Havlat added the other as Minnesota had its three-game win streak halted. Niklas Backstrom gave up all five goals on 30 shots.
"Obviously we dug ourselves too big a hole and they converted too many mistakes in the second," Cullen said. "We don't commit turnovers and they don't get the momentum swing."
Minnesota will hope to rebound tonight against a Philadelphia club it lost four straight to before sweeping a two-game set last season. The Wild picked up a 2-1 home win on Feb. 6 and have two wins and a tie in the four all-time meetings in Minnesota.
Havlat has a pair of goals and six assists over a five-game point streak and has totaled four goals and 10 points in 18 career games against Philadelphia.
Backstrom is 1-2-0 with a 2.97 goals-against average in his career versus the Flyers, who come into this meeting having won two straight while going 11-2-1 over their last 14. Their 30 points on the season ties them with Washington for the most in the NHL.
Philadelphia fell behind by two goals early to Montreal on Monday, but scored the next three goals to claim a 3-2 victory. James van Riemsdyk had the game- winner on the power play in the third period, the first regular-season tally since April 1 for the second overall pick of the 2007 draft.
Claude Giroux and Ville Leino also scored and Brian Boucher made 29 saves in his second straight start for Philadelphia. Giroux has five goals and nine points over his last seven games.
"From a team standpoint I think our first period wasn't very good," said Boucher. "They came at us hard and we hung in there though. In the second period we responded with a real good second. [We] got ourselves back in the game and had a real strong period in the third and that was all the difference."
It is unknown if Boucher will get a third straight start tonight or if head coach Peter Laviolette will go back to rookie Sergei Bobrovsky, who made 12 straight starts before Boucher's current run and hasn't played since allowing four goals in just 20 minutes of action versus the Lightning on Nov. 18.
Boucher is 4-3-3 with a tie and 3.04 GAA in his career when facing the Wild.
Flyers Run Wild in Win Over Minnesota
St. Paul, MN (Sports Network) – Danny Briere, Andreas Nodl and Ville Leino posted a goal and assist each as Philadelphia used a late burst of offense to dispatch Minnesota, 6-1, at Xcel Energy Center.
Jeff Carter and Jody Shelley also lit the lamp for the Flyers, who have taken three in a row and six of their last eight.
“Well I don’t know if it’s simple, but the guys are working really hard,” said Flyers head coach Peter Laviolette. “There is confidence in what we are doing. We tried to carry that over from last year. We’ve got good players in the locker room. They work hard, they’re consistent in their work ethic.”
Sergei Bobrovsky needed to make just 15 saves for his 12th win of the season.
Patrick O’Sullivan scored for the Wild, who have dropped two in a row — both at home to Atlantic Division foes. Minnesota took a 5-2 loss to the Rangers on Saturday.
Niklas Backstrom was torched for a season-high six goals on 28 shots.
A three-goal burst in the final period gave Philadelphia control of the contest for good.
Bobrovsky got the rush started when he stoned Martin Havlat from in front on a Wild power play roughly 7 1/2 minutes in, and Nodl’s breakaway goal gave the Flyers a 4-1 advantage at the 7:47 mark.
Seconds after that Minnesota advantage ended, the Flyers broke into the Minnesota zone. Leino’s spin-a-rama pass to Briere deflected off his skate, but right back to Leino for an easy tap-in. It was 5-1 for Philadelphia just 1:05 later.
Shelley then made a beautiful backhand-to-forehand move in front and tallied his first as a Flyer to make it 6-1 with 8:48 remaining.
“I think I’ve stood up in front of you guys a number of times and been really disappointed with how we played,” admitted Wild head coach Todd Richards. "I know it’s a 6-1 game and the last 12 minutes, right after they scored the short-handed goal, that part was disappointing, but up to that point I didn’t mind the way we were playing.
The Flyers got on the board 3:16 into the contest, when Braydon Coburn’s right-point shot was blocked in the crease. James van Riemsdyk kept shoveling away, though, and Wild defenseman Greg Zanon appeared to have smothered the disc, but it somehow trickled over the goal line.
Carter upped the mark to 2-0 at 5:32 when he beat Backstrom through a screen on the backhand in a 4-on-4.
O’Sullivan halved the Wild’s deficit at 14:49 of the second when his wide shot caromed in off the stick of Flyers defenseman Andrej Meszaros, but Briere restored Philly’s two-goal edge when he redirected a Scott Hartnell feed with 59.3 seconds left in the frame.
“Yeah, it was a big momentum changer,” said Briere of the goal. “It seemed to take a little of the life out of them. I think it was Kimmo (Timonen) who got it turned over, moved it to Ville (Leino), and I found Hartsy (Scott Hartnell) in the slot, and he was able to find me on a redirection. It’s all about chemistry.”
Game Notes
This was the most decisive Flyers victory over Minnesota since the Wild entered the NHL in 2000…The previous best was four goals in a 5-1 win at Philadelphia on December 8, 2001…Wild defenseman Marek Zidlicky missed the game with a leg injury…Shelley’s goal was his first since the final game of the regular season in Philadelphia on April 11 when he played for the Rangers…The first period was halted and the ice resurfaced after a shot from Flyers forward Claude Giroux shattered a pane of glass along the right-wing boards with 1:57 remaining.
Nov 25 1:23a by Geoffrey Detweiler - 0 comments