5 THINGS: Flyers @ Wild

John Tortorella's Philadelphia Flyers (20-21-8) are in Saint Paul on Thursday to take on Dean Evason's Minnesota Wild (25-17-4). Game time at xCel Energy Center is 8:00 p.m. ET.

GAME NOTES
The game will be streamed on ESPN+ and Hulu. The radio broadcast is on 97.5 The Fanatic with an online simulcast on Flyers Radio 24/7.
This is the first of two meetings this season between the inter-conference teams and the lone game in Minnesota. The Flyers and Wild will rematch at the Wells Fargo Center on February 23.
The Flyers enter this game coming off a 4-3 home overtime loss to the Los Angeles Kings on Tuesday. James van Riemsdyk (8th goal of the season), Wade Allison (7th) and Rasmus Ristolainen (2nd) scored for Philadelphia. Carter Hart stopped 34 of 38 shots.
The Wild, who have lost three straight games in regulation and are 4-4-2 in their last 10 games, are coming off a 4-2 road loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning on Tuesday. Joel Eriksson Ek (SHG, 17th goal of the season) and KIrill Kaprizov (PPG, 27th) scored second period goals. Eriksson Ek also assisted on the Kaprizov goal.Tampa forged ahead in the third period. Marc-Andre Fleury stopped 35 of 38 shots.
Here are five things to watch in Thursday's game:
1. Post-Christmas Trends
The Flyers are tied for the NHL's 10th best record since the leaguewide holiday break, going 9-4-1.The Wild have gone 6-5-2, tied for 19th. Over the last month, the Flyers have scored 3.29 goals per game (tied for 12th) and allowed an average 2.86 goals per game (tied for 11th). Minnesota has averaged an even 3.00 goals per game (tied for 19th) and has a team 2.92 GAA (14th).
Since the holiday break, the Flyers' power play ranks 19th in the NHL at 19.6 percent (9-for-46) with one shorthanded goal allowed. The penalty kill ranks in a tie for 11th leaguewide at 84.2 percent (opposing power plays are 6-for-38) with three shorthanded goals scored.
Minnesota's power play has been one area that has been clicking for the Wild since Christmas, ranking 5th in the NHL at 25.7 percent efficiency (9-for-35) with one shorthanded goal against. The penalty kill ranks 23rd at 77.3 percent (opposing power plays are 10-for-44), with two shorthanded goals scored.
Full season stats are rankings are below:

2. TK, Hollywood and Laughts
Flyers leading scorer Travis Konecny has never gone three straight games all season without posting a point. Konecny, who has one point in his last four games (0g, 1a), needs a goal or an assist against the Wild to avoid his first such three-game stretch.
Konecny, understandably, has drawn a lot of attention from opposing teams when they prepare game plans against Philadelphia. He's seen tighter checking of late ever since he rattled off a 10-game point streak in which he racked up 20 points (10g, 10a). Since that time, he has three points (0g, 3a) in the last seven games.
Konecny still leads the Flyers in both goals (24) and overall scoring (49 points in 44 points). A big game from TK against the WIld would go a long way toward helping the Flyers pull back to hockey .500 for the season.
While Konecny has cooled off of late, NHL All-Star Game selection Kevin Hayes has started to heat up offensively again after a rough month before the holiday break in December. Since Christmas, Hayes has posted 14 points in 14 games (6g, 8a) including four power play goals. Hayes notched a pair of power play tallies against Winnipeg this season.
For the season, Hayes remains the Flyers' No, 1 puck distributor, leading the club with 29 assists among his 44 points in 48 games.
Dating back to the holiday break, Scott Laughton is the Flyers third-leading point getter (5g, 8a, 13 points in 14 games). He's begun to see the first extensive power play time of his NHL career and has posted three power play goals and one power play assist since the break. Already a fixture on the penalty kill. Laughton leads the Flyers with seven shorthanded points (3 SHG, 4 SHA) this season; one more than regular PK unit linemate Konecny (3 SHG, 3 SGA).
3. The Young Guns
Over the course of the season, Tortorella has given increased roles to many of the players under the age of 25. Here's a look at how the team's 22-to-25 year olds have fared over the last 21 games (basically a quarter-season):
* Twenty-three-year-old Morgan Frost has 18 points in the last 21 games (7g, 11a), tied with Laughton for the second-most on the club in that span. His nine credited takeaways are tied for fourth and he has even been credited with 30 hits. He has also improved in the faceoff circle in that span, nearing the break even mark at 49.3 percent (131 wins, 135 losses).
* Twenty-three-year-old Owen Tippett, Frost's regular 5-on-5 linemate along with veteran van Riemsdyk, has 15 points (6g, 9a) in his last 21 games. Tippett also leads the Flyers with 15 credited takeaways in that span. JVR has 16 points (6g, 10a) in the last 21 games.
* Twenty-five-year-old power forward Wade Allison, returned 17 games ago from his 18-game stint on Injured Reserve due to an oblique strain and hip pointer. It took him some time to recover his form but he has come on offensively of late (four points in his last five game). Over the last 17 games, Allison has posted seven points (4g, 3a) and is third on the team with 50 credited hits. He's posted a 2-to-1 ratio of credited takeaways (6) to charged giveaways (3) since his return. In general, he's playing more of the north-south game that Tortorella wants him to play.
* The most NHL-established member of the Flyers' 25-and-under group is left winger Joel Farabee. The 22-year-old, who underwent neck surgery in the offseason, has had an-and-down 2022-23 campaign by his standards but has periodically shown flashes of the form that got him promoted to the Flyers' top line. Farabee, who has dressed in every game this season, has 10 points (4g, 6a) over the last 21. Presently, he's one of the main guys the Flyers need to pick up on his recent pace. Farabee enters Thursday's game pointless in his last six. Before that, he had a stretch of three goals and seven points in six games between Jan. 2 to Jan. 14.
* Moved from left wing to center at the start of the season,23-year-old rookie Noah Cates almost immediately became one of Tortorella's most trusted forwards on the team. Even when not scoring, he's been defensively responsible and a tenacious forechecker. Over the last 21 games, Cates is tied with Farabee for ninth on the Flyers in points (3g, 7a). Tortorella uses Cates in all game situations, including both the penalty kill and power play as well as late in tied or one-goal games. As with Frost, he's still working to improve on faceoffs (42.8 percent over the last 21 games, 39.3 percent for the season). Cates is tied with Frost for fourth on the team with nine credited takeaways in the last 21 games, behind Tippett (15), Konecny (13) and Laughton (10).
* Defenseman Cam York was recalled from the AHL's Lehigh Valley Phantoms 22 games ago. This time around, it looks like the blueliner (who turned 22 on January 5) is in the NHL to stay. He's improved his consistency on both sides of the puck. Over the last month, York has played on the top 5-on-5 defense pairing with Ivan Provorov and is also a power play regular.Offensively, he's posted 10 points (1g, 10a) and averaged 19:24 of ice time
4. Flyers Line Play
The Flyers have gone roughly six weeks with the same arrangement of their five-on-five line combinations and defense pairings. The extra skaters in recent weeks have been veteran defenseman Justin Braun and 24-year-old winger Kieffer Bellows.
Bellows was most recently recalled from Lehigh Valley on Jan. 5. He has been a healthy scratch throughout the call-up. His last game action was on Dec. 31 when the Phantoms played the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins. The Flyers can return Bellows to Lehigh Valley without needed waivers up until San. Feb. 4 (30 days from his most recent NHL recall). Thereafter, he'd need to pass through waivers for the second time this season.
The Flyers will hold an optional morning skate at the xCel Energy Center at 12:30 p.m. eastern time (11:30 a.m. CT). At that time, Tortorella will confirm the starting goalie and whether there are any lineup changes or combination shifts to start the game.
There have been periodic recentt tweeks to power play personnel arrangements. Most recently, James van Riemsdyk and Cam York swapped PP units with Farabee and DeAngelo. The Flyers don't have distinct PP1 and PP2 units per se. In recent games, the unit with Laughton on it oftent took the first shift of a power play with the unit with Hayes taking the second. However, that switched around again in Sunday's game against Winnipeg during the Flyers' second, third and fourth power plays.The Hayes unit typically also received the first shift on power plays against the Kings in Tuesday's game.
Projected lineup (subject to change)
86 Joel Farabee - 49 Noah Cates - 11 Travis Konecny
25 James van Riemsdyk - 48 Morgan Frost - 74 Owen Tippett
13 Kevin Hayes - 21 Scott Laughton - 57 Wade Allison
44 Nicolas Deslauriers - 38 Patrick Brown - 17 Zack MacEwen
9 Ivan Provorov - 45 Cam York
6 Travis Sanheim - 77 Tony DeAngelo
24 Nick Seeler - 55 Rasmus Ristolainen
79 Carter Hart
[32 Felix Sandström]
PP1: Tippett, Laughton, Konecny, JVR, York.
PP2: Hayes, Frost, JVR, Cates, DeAngelo.
Extras: 61 Justin Braun, 20 Kieffer Bellows
5. Behind Enemy Lines: Minnesota Wild
The Wild enter play on Thursday one point behind the Calgary Flames -- but with two games in hand -- in the race for the lower wildcard spot in the Western Conference. On home ice, the WIld have posted a 12-9-3 record to date. Thursday's game marks the start of a mini two-game homestand that will conclude the pre All-Star Game portion of Minnesota's schedule.
NHL All-Star Game selection Kaprisov leads the Wild in every major category on offense: goals (27), assists (30) and points (57). He's followed by veteran playmaker Mats Zuccarello (18g, 27a, 43 points in 44 games), Eriksson Ek (17g, 22a, 39 points) and 21-year-old left winger Matt Boldy (14g, 19a, 33 points). The Wild recently signed Boldy to a seven-season, $7 million AAV, contract extension that runs through the 2029-30 campaign.
Thirty-three-year-old defenseman Jared Spurgeon (8g, 14a, 22 points) still plays a crucial role on the Wild blueline. The team captain averages 21:16 of ice time per game and has blocked 105 shots to date this season. Recently a one-game healthy scratch, veteran Matt Dumba (4g, 8a, 21:14 TOI) returned to the lineup against Tampa Bay. He was paired with veteran shutdown defenseman Jonas Brodin (1g, 6a, 84 blocked shots, 22:20 TOI). Offensive-minded defenseman Calen Addison (3 goal, 23 points, -14) is a power play regular and is working to improve his two-way game.
In goal, Fleury has appeared in 29 games this season (14-10-3, 2.95 GAA, .903 SV%, one shutout). Filip Gustavsson has played in 19 games (11-7-1, 2.26 GAA, .922 SV%, one shutout),
Former Flyers forward Ryan Hartman had a breakout season last year at the age of 27 (34 goals, 31 assists, 65 points, plus-31 in the regular season, five assists in six playoff games). He's struggled to duplicate it this year, posting five goals and 14 points in just 25 games, while dealing with a shoulder injury that kept him out six weeks from the end of October to mid-December. Hartman has also dealt this season with overall inconsistency and a return of the undisciplined penalty issues (47 PIM) that has periodically gotten him in hot water with his NHL coaches over the years.Hartman appeared to be turning the corner in the latter half of December but has just two points (0g, 2a) and 23 PIM to show for his last eight games.
In his second season with the Wild, veteran forward Frederick Gaudreau has posted 11 goals and 21 points to date in 46 games. He chipped in 14 goals and 44 points one season ago. Veteran Marcus Foligno, dealt with a lower body injury in December and recently missed a game due to illness. Foligno (4g, 14 points in 37 games) returned for the Tampa game.
Projected lineup (based on last game, subject to change)
97 Kirill Kaprizov - 13 Sam Steel - 36 Mats Zuccarello
12 Matthew Boldy - 89 Frederick Gaudreau - 38 Ryan Hartman
17 Marcus Foligno - 14 Joel Eriksson Ek - 18 Jordan Greenway
21 Brandon Duhaime - 26 Connor Dewar - 75 Ryan Reaves
5 Jacob Middleton - 46 Jared Spurgeon
25 Jonas Brodin - 24 Matt Dumba
4 Jon Merrill - 2 Calen Addison
29 Marc-Andre Fleury
32 Filip Gustavsson
PP1: Zuccarello, Eriksson Ek, Boldy, Kaprizov, Addison
PP2: Gaudreau, Steel, Hartman, Spurgeon, Dumba
Extras: 15 Mason Shaw, 33 Alex Goligoski