A tired Flyers team overcame a somewhat off night by Dan Vladar, another string of horrid power plays and a rested Minnesota Wild to eke out a 3-2 shootout victory in what was one of the grittier efforts of the season.
The basics
First period: 18:36- Emil Andrae (Trevor Zegras)
Second period: 8:39- Matt Boldy (Mats Zuccarello, Quinn Hughes) (PPG), 17:51- Kirill Kaprizov (Brock Faber, Quinn Hughes)
Third period: 7:58- Owen Tippett (Carl Grundstrom, Travis Sanheim) (SHG)
Overtime: No scoring
Shootout: Mats Zuccarello – No goal, Matvei Michkov- No goal, Kirill Kaprizov- No goal, Trevor Zegras- No goal, Matt Boldy- No goal, Travis Konecny- Goal
SOG: 26 (PHI) – 23 (MIN)
Some takeaways
Back-to-back blues? Not on this night
The Flyers won a hard fought game against Washington on Wednesday night. With little down time, some travel involved and facing a team priming themselves for a deep playoff run, Philadelphia needed to get off to a quick start while they still had their legs and some gas in the tank. They did a good job in the opening handful of shifts, blocking a few shot attempts and keeping Minnesota with minimal space and time. Another plus was the quick pace, getting the puck out quickly and relatively cleanly. This was evident on a great outlet pass that started with Jamie Drysdale passing to Tippett who sent himself, Trevor Zegras, and Carl Grundstrom off. No goal resulted but it was a smart outlet that stifled any Minnesota forecheck. Late in the first Tippett and Grundstrom had a two-on-one but Tippett’s pass was a bit behind Grundstrom.
From good sticks, aggressive play and tight checking, the Flyers made things difficult for Minnesota most of the evening. And made Quinn Hughes look human more often than not.
No Brink
Former Flyer Bobby Brink is now a member of the Wild. But unfortunately he never had the chance to play against his former club on this night. The winger scored a goal earlier this week but suffered a huge questionable hit that drove him almost head first into the side boards. He remained in the game. However it wasn’t meant to be on this evening. Flyers head coach Rick Tocchet praised Brink prior to the game basically saying he was a great guy to coach and came every day to the rink ready to put the work in.
Drysdale far from dry
Jamie Drysdale has four goals in his last 10 games. He’s found the net a lot more, is reading plays a lot better and gaining some confidence for the first time in a while. After scoring Philadelphia’s third goal Wednesday night against the Caps, Drysdale was back at it again, paired with Cam York, and looking very solid. From making aggressive plays to stop Wild rushes dead, or bulldozing Kirll Kaprizov off the puck in the second, the blueliner was in fine form. Probably his biggest play of the night was rushing back to catch Chris McCarron and nailing him to the end boards, negating a Minnesota chance.
Seeing Drysdale coming into his own — even at this late stage of the season — can only be a plus. He’s no longer looking like a borderline third-pairing project who may not pan out. He’s a solid top four defender who is starting to evolve as an offensive threat.
Michkov meddlng
Matvei Michkov started the game receiving a rather hard hit by Vladimir Tarasenko, sending the Mad Russian on his backside. He then took a minor which the Flyers killed. The Flyers initial power play (now dead last in the league) saw Michkov drive to the net but came up empty-handed. In the second, the winger got involved in a little scrum after the play but was quite engaged throughout, much like a lot of Flyers realizing these games are must wins to keep any playoff hope alive. Late in period two Michkov got into a post-whistle scrum of sorts, not giving an inch to the likes of Jacob Middleton and Tarasenko.
On the stat side, and the metrics in particular, Michkov was the lowest of all Flyers in terms of expected goals with just 14.30 per cent. Then again his teammates weren’t exactly miles ahead of him as all but four players were under 45 per cent after 40 minutes. The winger also had a chance in the shootout but was foiled by Wallstedt.
Andrae doubles his scoring total for the season
Emil Andrae returned to the lineup and was rewarded with a goal late in the first, a period that the Flyers fared in quite well. Andrae took a pass from Zegras who battled for the puck and his shot somehow found its way through Jesper Wallstedt. A 1-0 Flyers lead? Yes! And after the first the Flyers were outshooting Minnesota 9-2. But back to Andrae. It was a timely goal for a guy who is still trying to fight his way into the lineup consistently.
Emil Andrae returns to the lineup and cashes in to open the scoring, 1-0 Flyers. Good play by Trevor Zegras to win the puck battle and locate Andrae.
— Andrew Coté (@acote_88) March 13, 2026
Goal: Andrae (2) pic.twitter.com/PvLWZft1Hh
In the third, with the game tied, Andrae had another chance to score. He walked right down the middle but his backhand attempt was stopped by the Wild goalie.wild
Vladar battles, stones in shootout
With the save percentage still above .900 but slowly dipping a little bit, goaltender Dan Vladar had his work cut out for him. The Wild are stacked with talent, from defenseman Quinn Hughes to Kirill Kaprizov, Minnesota have one offensive weapon after another, not to mention their depth. So, Vladar needed to get off on the right foot. He almost missed a shot by Mats Zuccarello but it looked to be going wide for starters. After a Matvei Michkov slashing minor, the Wild tried to open the scoring. The Wild seemingly made more passes in their first 70 seconds of their power play than the Flyers did on their own power play in December.
Vladar’s biggest test early was against Darila Yurov who beat the goalie but not the crossbar. It proved to be a swing as Philadelphia opened the scoring seconds later. But it was in the second that Minnesota woke up a bit more, throwing their weight around on those who they could hit. Jamie Drysdale was one of the Flyers who wheeled to avoid some bigger guys after him. Sadly, Vladar looked a bit leaky yet again on the Wild’s opening goal. A Matt Boldy shot that was low simply went through the netminder to tie things up 1-1. It’s a goal you almost never saw Vladar give up starting the season, but something that’s becoming a bit more evident as he adds to his career-high workload..
After giving up another by Kirill Kaprizov that made him look out of sorts. Then again he can make a lot of goalies look out of sorts. Vladar was battling the puck yet again. Rebounds weren’t juicy but the keeper just had a lot of difficulty reading plays and looking comfortable.
KIRILL KAPRIZOV WOWOWOWOWOW! 🟢🔴 pic.twitter.com/YKWOaaiMNn
— NHL (@NHL) March 13, 2026
In the third Vladar battled and got run over with about nine minutes to go in regulation. But he toughed it out. And came up huge in the shootout with some key saves over Minnesota’s elite snipers.
Tippet and TK offer more of the same
They weren’t tossing their bodies around as much as the night before, but the tandem of Owen Tippett (who once again ended up with six shots) and Travis Konecny realized the importance of the contest. And each came ready to go. Tippett still show flashes of his speed and had a two-on-one chance in the second but didn’t score. He then nailed a Wild defender before heading to the bench. As for Konecny, he was around the net a lot but also took a needless penalty in the third that put a quite deadly Wild power play back in action.
Tippett bailed Konecny out huge when he intercepted the puck and simply blew a slapper by Jesper Wallstedt to tie things up 2-2. It’s a shot that might have worked in the free-wheeling days of the ’80s, but nowadays is a rarity. Regardless, Tippett keeps firing on all cylinders.
SLAP SHOT IT HOME, TIPPETT pic.twitter.com/U4WL4V6Zc2
— Justin Lever ❤️⚾️ (@JustinLever3) March 13, 2026
The Flyers had a glorious chance late to go ahead. A two-on-one between Tippett and Konecny left Konecny with a great chance but he missed the shot. The Wild somehow took a dumb minor late for too many men on the ice. The Flyers couldn’t score to end the third, but still had time to pot the winner in overtime. They didn’t. But not to worry. Quinn Hughes hauled down Zegras in overtime, resulting in another Flyers power play in overtime.
The shootout saw Konecny with a chance to end it. And he did just that, earning the Flyers all four points in this back-to-back.
Travis Konecny calls game in the shootout for the Flyers! 🟠⚫️
— SleeperNHL (@SleeperNHL) March 13, 2026
pic.twitter.com/1PjtFFaEXc
