The Philadelphia Flyers hosted the Minnesota Wild (2-3-1) at Xfinity Mobile Arena and picked up a 2-1 overtime win. Noah Cates scored the overtime winning goal to give the Flyers their second win of the season.
Dan Vladar got the start between the pipes for the Flyers. He saved 15 of 16 shots throughout the night and picked up his second win. So far, Vladar has saved 71 of 76 shots he’s faced this season.
Similar to Thursday night’s game against the Winnipeg Jets, Saturday night was another low-shooting affair. The Flyers finished with 21 shots on goal compared to 16 from the Wild.
Despite a fight between Nicolas Deslauriers and Marcus Foligno in the opening two minutes, it was mainly an uneventful first period. No goals were scored, and there was limited offense from both teams. The Flyers were getting the better of the Wild during the first 20 minutes, but weren’t able to break through on anything.
Early in the second period, the Wild struck first. Just under two minutes in, Vladimir Tarasenko broke the deadlock by firing a one-timer from the left circle to beat Dan Vladar on his glove side.
Throughout the rest of the period, the Flyers were mainly on the penalty kill. The Flyers challenged Tarasenko’s goal to see if there was a potential offside during the play, but the goal stood, resulting in a penalty for Philadelphia. Trevor Zegras served the bench minor for the unsuccessful challenge.
A few minutes later, Owen Tippett went to the box for tripping Jonas Brodin. The Flyers spent most of the second period in their defensive zone, but they only held the Wild and their hot power play to just one goal.
In the third period. Tippett tied the game 7 minutes and 10 seconds in. Tippett fired a shot that Jesper Wallstedt saved before losing control of the puck. Tippett then deflected the puck, ended up behind the net, and scored off a bank shot that hit the back of Wallstedt and ended up in the net. The goal was Tippett’s third of the season, and Trevor Zegras and Christian Dvorak picked up the assists.
After 60 minutes of play, the game headed to overtime still tied 1-1.
The Wild had an early chance to seal a win, but Joel Eriksson Ek missed an almost open net.
Nearing the halfway point of overtime, Vladar made a risky decision by keeping the puck in play instead of holding it for a whistle. Vladar managed to dish the puck over to Jamie Drysdale, who pushed it up ice to Tyson Forester, who then made a drop pass to Cates, who buried a shot past Wallstedt.
Cates picked up his second goal of the season and also two points for the Flyers.
The Flyers host the Seattle Kraken on Monday night. The puck drops from Xfinity Mobile Arena at 7:00 pm.
