Philadelphia Flyers forward Scott Laughton is used to showing up, playing hard and letting the spotlight shine on other players.
This week has been different for Laughton, a 12-year veteran who has spent his full career with the Flyers. He is coming off a career-best, four-goal performance that led to his teammates giving him a standing ovation after the game in the dressing room.
Laughton will try to maintain his newfound star status when the Flyers visit the Minnesota Wild on Saturday afternoon in Saint Paul, Minn.
“Scotty’s one of those guys that it doesn’t matter where he is in the lineup or what his job is, he’s always a good spirit at the rink,” Flyers teammate Travis Konecny said. “He never complains about anything. He just goes and puts his head down and does what he has to do. I think when he’s called upon for offense, he has got a lot of skill.”
The Flyers also are thriving as a group as of late.
Philadelphia is coming off back-to-back wins as it travels to Minnesota. The Flyers have at least one point in 13 of their past 17 games (10-4-3).
Laughton poured in all four goals, including a short-handed marker and two empty-netters, in their 4-1 win over the Detroit Red Wings on Thursday.
“Great play by (Konecny) finding me backdoor,” Laughton said of his goal on the penalty kill. “… We haven’t really been that great on it the last couple weeks so it’s nice to pot one there and get the ball rolling in the right direction.”
Philadelphia’s top scorer is Konecny, who has 36 points (15 goals, 21 assists) in 30 games. Matvei Michkov has 27 points (11 goals, 16 assists) in 28 games.
Like the Flyers, the Wild also are off to a strong start to the season, but they are coming off a lopsided 7-1 loss against the Edmonton Oilers in their most recent game Thursday. They have lost two out of their last three games after winning the previous five in a row.
Kirill Kaprizov leads the Wild with 43 points (18 goals, 25 assists) in 28 games. Matt Boldy is second with 28 points (12 goals, 16 assists) in 29 contests.
Wild goaltender Filip Gustavsson could get an opportunity to bounce back from an ugly performance his last time out. Marc-Andre Fleury relieved Gustavsson in their last game against the Oilers after the Wild gave up five goals in two periods, but Fleury fared no better as the Wild surrendered two more goals on nine shots in the third period.
“I think we’ve had a lot of good things that have gone on for us this year,” Wild coach John Hynes said. “(Thursday) was an uncharacteristic night for us. I’m not going to overthink it. … We have to get ready for Saturday.”
Gustavsson is 14-5-3 on the season with a 2.24 goals-against average and a .922 save percentage. Fleury is 5-1-1 with a 2.71 GAA and a .905 save percentage.
Philadelphia is carrying three goaltenders on its roster.
Samuel Ersson is the top option and could get the start in net against the Wild. He is 6-3-2 this season with a 2.85 GAA and an .893 save percentage.
Aleksei Kolosov (4-5-1, 3.05 GAA, .889 save percentage) is second on the depth chart for the Flyers. Ivan Fedotov (4-4-1, 3.48, .877) is third.
Kolosov has impressed his teammates in his first NHL season. He stopped 25 of 26 shots in Philadelphia’s most recent victory.
“You can tell he’s a gamer, he battles hard, he fights for a lot of pucks,” Flyers forward Sean Couturier said. “He’s really athletic and never quits on pucks.”
–Field Level Media