After two games off, Flyers defenseman Emil Andrae was slid back into the lineup last night in Minnesota, and stepped up quite quickly and decisively as a driver in the success that the team found against a tough Wild opponent.
Through much of these last couple of months, Andrae’s usage has been, in a word, sparing — with an extended sidelining beginning in the end of January which stretched to the other side of the Olympic break, it was a full month between games for him, and so far he’s only seen playing time in six games since they got back from that break — but on the second leg of the back-to-back, he was able to get back into the lineup after sitting for those two, and made quick work of a strong impression.
Back in the lineup and right onto the scoresheet. 🙌#PHIvsMIN | #LetsGoFlyers pic.twitter.com/7ApoZyLXtX
— Philadelphia Flyers (@NHLFlyers) March 13, 2026
Andrae certainly started this one with some pop, coming in with perhaps an expected level of extra energy from being off the previous night and making use of it quickly. After a bit of back and forth early, he was able to get the Flyers on the board before they got out of the first period, making a heads up move to jump up into the play on the rush, and capitalizing on a nice shot to earn them their first lead of the game.
This was definitely one way to make a strong first impression in his return to the lineup, but just as impressive was how he was able to maintain a sound level of play away from that scoring flash, holding up well against one of the more dangerous teams in the league. Despite the bit of the layoff that he had to bounce back from, he was able to get back to the core of his game quite quickly, advancing the play up-ice well in transition, and making a few strong plays along the boards along the way. Even if it didn’t come in terribly high usage — Andrae played the least of any defenseman with 13:22 of ice time — it was just the kind of effort he needed to deliver in that first game back.
“Obviously at the last little while here I’ve been… in and out from the lineup,” Andrae told media in Minnesota postgame, “and obviously when you’re in you want to stay in and prove your game, and prove that you can play. So yeah, obviously it’s huge for me and huge for the for the team too, to contribute and contribute to a win.”
Andrae acknowledges that it’s going to take more than just one big goal to solidify his place in the lineup, but his contributions in all three zones across the whole of the evening, combined with his continued team playing and clearly avoiding getting down on himself about these longer spells that he’s been on the outside looking in on the lineup should work in his favor, should make a good impression.
“Yeah, [he had a] big goal for us,” head coach Rick Tocchet acknowledged after the game, “you know, gotta come up in the play, you know, as the fourth guy… Yeah, I think he’s, yeah, I think the first period everybody played well, I think, and then we kind of lost our game, but yeah, I thought he did a good job.”
If Tocchet’s sentiments were a little lukewarm, it shouldn’t detract from the good work that Andrae inarguably put in throughout this game. The reality of his situation is such that he seemingly needs to hit a high bar to continue to put money in the bank — to borrow an old Alain Vigneault parlance — and earn himself more minutes and more games, and he certainly threw his all into doing that last night.
But for Andrae, this game was just as much about showing that he can hang, and he’s deserving of staying in the lineup for a longer stretch as it is the team coming together for a good final rally, a push for the playoffs that they still have all of the belief in the world in.
“Yeah, obviously [this win was] huge,” he went on. “We know all the the last couple games here, on the, in the regular season are huge for us to make this push, and, you know, no nobody believes in us but we do in this group. So, we’re just going to uh keep battling, keep winning as much games as we can and let’s see what it takes.”
Say what you want about the difficulty of the task ahead of them still — the Flyers are five points back on the Bruins and would need to jump them and two other teams to get into that final wildcard spot — but this team has really come together of late, and they’re throwing everything they have at this push to remain in the playoff mix. It’s certainly going to take everything that have, too, with everyone giving their best and pulling in the right direction, but they’re getting that right now, and Andrae’s making a strong case for himself to remain a part of that solution.
