Philadelphia @ Minnesota preview

Last Meeting ( Feb 12, 2019 ) Philadelphia 5, Minnesota 4

Off to a fast start this season, the Philadelphia Flyers were slowed in their tracks after learning that co-leading goal scorer Oskar Lindblom has been diagnosed with Ewing's sarcoma, a rare form of bone cancer. The Flyers will look to rebound from the devastating news on Saturday when they continue their three-game road trip against the Minnesota Wild.

Lindblom, 23, is expected to be out for the remainder of the season while fellow 11-goal scorer Travis Konecny is sidelined indefinitely for Philadelphia, which struggled to generate offense in a 3-1 setback at Colorado on Wednesday. Captain Claude Giroux tallied against the Avalanche for his ninth point (five goals, four assists) in his last 10 games and scored a goal and set up three others in last season's series sweep against Minnesota. The Wild fell to 8-15-2 in 25 encounters with the Flyers after that stretch, but they answered a 6-11-1 start to the season by recording at least a point in 13 of their last 14 contests (9-1-4). Minnesota posted a 6-5 victory over Edmonton on Thursday to extend its home point streak to 11 consecutive contests (8-0-3), two shy of a franchise-best 13-game run (10-0-3) set from Dec. 27, 2017, to Feb. 13, 2018.

TV: 7 p.m. ET, NBCS Philadelphia, FS North (Minnesota)

ABOUT THE FLYERS (17-9-5): James van Riemsdyk one-upped Giroux by collecting five points in the season series with Minnesota, highlighted by recording a hat trick in a 7-4 win on Jan. 14 before tallying twice in a 5-4 victory on Feb. 12. Unfortunately for van Riemsdyk, those five goals are just one shy of his total in 31 games this season. Jakub Voracek is also heating up with nine points (two goals, seven assists) in his past nine games overall, and he has 19 (three goals, 16 assists) in 23 contests versus the Wild.

ABOUT THE WILD (15-12-5): Ryan Donato has pieced six (five goals, one assist) of his nine points this season over the last eight games, including goals in each of his last three since being elevated to injured captain Mikko Koivu's spot on a line with Zach Parise and Kevin Fiala. Jason Zucker collected a goal and an assist in three of his last five contests overall to boost his team-leading totals in goals (12) and points (23) and had one of each in the season series versus Philadelphia in 2018-19. Marcus Foligno, who scored and set up a goal against the Flyers in 2018-19, tallied versus the Oilers to extend his point streak to three games.

OVERTIME

1. Philadelphia D Philippe Myers (back spasms) is expected to draw back into the lineup versus Minnesota, coach Alain Vigneault announced Friday.

2. Wild D Jared Spurgeon had a team-leading three points (one goal, two assists) in last season's series with the Flyers.

3. While Philadelphia's Carter Hart earned his first career win versus Minnesota last season, fellow G Brian Elliott owns a 9-4-0 mark with two shutouts, a 1.91 goals-against average and .921 save percentage in 15 appearances versus the Wild.

PREDICTION: Wild 4, Flyers 1