It\u2019s tough enough playing the second half of a back-to-back more than a thousand miles away from the previous night\u2019s game.<\/p>\n
But when the opponent is as talented as the Minnesota Wild, it\u2019s almost mission impossible.<\/p>\n
So give the Flyers high marks for hanging in there during Thursday night\u2019s game at Grand Casino Arena in St. Paul, Minnesota.<\/p>\n
They put up a gritty effort and came away with a 3-2 shootout win. The two points, along with the win over Washington on Wednesday night, move them back to within five points of a playoff spot.<\/p>\n
Travis Konecny\u2019s goal was the only marker of the shootout and came on Philly\u2019s final attempt.<\/p>\n
It was the Flyers\u2019 sixth win when trailing after two periods (6-22-5).<\/p>\n
Owen Tippett\u2019s shorthanded goal at 7:58 of the third period lifted the Flyers to a 2-2 tie. Tippett fired a slap shot from the upper edge of the right circle and beat goaltender Jesper Wallstedt with a rising shot.<\/p>\n
Tippett has played some of his best hockey of the year the past two games. Anything different in the way of preparation?<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it\u2019s just the confidence overall,\u201d he said in a televised postgame interview. \u201cI\u2019ve been feeling good. Most importantly I love the guys in the room. We all want to work for each other. I think we\u2019re all feeling pretty good after that one.\u201d<\/p>\n
The team effort for the two games was praised by Tippett.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s awesome,\u201d he said. \u201cI thought we hung in there, I thought our energy was great. Any time you can push and get an extra point, an extra two, that\u2019s huge right now.\u201d<\/p>\n
Noah Cates appreciated the way the Flyers were able to play with energy despite the demanding schedule. The players didn\u2019t hit the sack until about 3 a.m.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve had some tough back-to-backs,\u201d Cates said. \u201cPretty long flight and all that. We showed up in the first period and we were ready to go. The defensive effort the last two games was really smart.\u201d<\/p>\n
Cates tipped his hat to Tippett.<\/p>\n
\u201cHis speed, skill is so dangerous,\u201d Cates said. \u201cThat was a huge goal and he\u2019s been huge for us all year.\u201d<\/p>\n
That quick turnaround and the comeback win were appreciated by coach Rick Tocchet.<\/p>\n
\u201cGutsy effort,\u201d Tocchet said. \u201cYou\u2019re not going to get any negatives from me tonight. Guys got in at three in the morning, they\u2019re resilient. Hell of a job.\u201d<\/p>\n
While the Flyers were surprisingly dominant in the first period, the Wild used their top two scorers \u2013 Matt Boldy and Kirill Kaprizov \u2013 to stage a rally in the second.<\/p>\n
A Nick Seeler penalty led to the first Minnesota goal. Boldy ripped a shot from the left faceoff dot and beat goalie Dan Vladar at 8:37. It was his 37th goal of the season and 74th point, which is a new career high.<\/p>\n
Then as time was running out, Kaprizov found the range for his 38th of the season at 17:50. He circled across the top of the slot and eluded the check of Travis Sanheim. Again, Vladar couldn\u2019t handle a shot that difficult from close range.<\/p>\n
Philadelphia defenseman Emil Andrae opened the scoring with 1:25 left in the first period.<\/p>\n
Trevor Zegras took advantage of a Minnesota turnover to control the puck along the boards. He spotted Andrae, who had sat out the previous three games, rushing down the middle. Andrae connected for his second goal of the season and third of his career.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey were changing,\u201d Andrae said during a first intermission interview. \u201cI saw some space and \u2018Ziggy\u2019 can make those passes. I was glad to contribute.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Flyers looked surprisingly fresh in the opening period considering they had played the previous night against Washington.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey [the Wild] play with high pace and so do we,\u201d Andrae said. \u201cI think we were moving the puck and got some good opportunities.\u201d<\/p>\n
Andrae continues to lead all Flyers defensemen in plus-minus with plus-11.<\/p>\n
![\"Minnesota](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/TMC-Z-Flyers0313490201-1.jpg\")
Minnesota Wild right wing Mats Zuccarello (36) attempts to score while Philadelphia Flyers goaltender Dan Vladar (80) prepares to save the puck during a shootout in an NHL hockey game Thursday, March 12, 2026, in St. Paul, Minn. (AP Photo\/Ellen Schmidt)<\/p>\n
It was a much better effort by Vladar, who gave up six goals in two periods vs. the Rangers on Monday. He stopped all three of the Wild\u2019s best in the shootout.<\/p>\n
Missed opportunity<\/p>\n
Cates, who played in his 300th NHL game, was looking forward to playing against his former teammate, Bobby Brink, who was traded to the Wild last week. But Brink injured a shoulder and was unable to play.<\/p>\n
\u201cHopefully we can see him after the game,\u201d Cates said in a second intermission televised interview.<\/p>\n
Short shots<\/p>\n
The Flyers\u2019 power play has once again sunk to 32nd and last in the NHL. They entered Thursday night\u2019s game at 15.8%. \u2026 Next up on the Flyers\u2019 schedule is the Columbus Blue Jackets on Saturday at Xfinity Mobile Arena. \u2026 Travis Sanheim played in his 199th consecutive game. \u2026 The Wild began the game with a 19-7-7 home record.<\/p>\n
Wayne Fish is a freelance writer. Follow his coverage atwww.flyingfishhockey.com<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It\u2019s tough enough playing the second half of a back-to-back more than a thousand miles away from the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":501033,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5118],"tags":[5,161,38,5280,4,56,43,5095,162],"class_list":{"0":"post-501032","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-minnesota-wild","8":"tag-hockey","9":"tag-minnesota","10":"tag-minnesota-wild","11":"tag-minnesotawild","12":"tag-nhl","13":"tag-philadelphia-flyers","14":"tag-sports","15":"tag-top-stories-tmc","16":"tag-wild"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116221140321216665","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/501032","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=501032"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/501032\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/501033"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=501032"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=501032"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=501032"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}