With under seven minutes to play in the third period, the Minnesota Wild finally broke through against the Flyers and grabbed the lead. Their first lead of the game had lasted just 1:21 late in the second period.
This time, the lead lasted just 44 seconds.
The Flyers got the game tied again with 5:44 remaining, forcing overtime and the eventual shootout, where the Flyers claimed a 5-4 win over the Wild on Thursday night at Wells Fargo Center.
Both teams generated some chances early, but the Flyers started to carry the play in the latter half of the period. At 12:58, the Flyers converted off a rush for the game’s first goal.
Travis Sanheim led the rush and got the puck back after a chip pass from James van Riemsdyk. Sanheim centered for Scott Laughton, who buried his 17th goal of the season to make it 1-0.
The Wild only had one shot on goal for the remainder of the period, but it found the net courtesy of a deflection. Jake Middleton‘s shot was tipped in front of the net by Oskar Sundqvist for his 10th goal of the season to make it a 1-1 game at 16:35.
Through 20 minutes, shots were 9-4 Flyers.
The Flyers regained the lead at 7:26 of the second. Joel Farabee scored for the fourth straight game, deflecting a shot from Cam York to make it 2-1 with his 13th goal of the season.
The Wild tied it up at 15:41 as Matt Boldy remained red-hot with his 24th goal of the season to even things at two.
With 1:44 to go in the period, the Wild took the lead for the first time as Marcus Foligno buried the feed from Mats Zuccarello for his seventh goal of the season to make it 3-2.
The lead was short-lived, as the Flyers struck on the power play to even things up at three with 23 seconds left in the period. Rasmus Ristolainen scored his third goal of the season with a one-timer.
Through two periods, shots were 22-14 Flyers.
With 6:28 remaining in the third, the Wild grabbed the lead against as Boldy scored his second of the night and 25th of the season, making a nice play on a rebound with his back to the net and going between the legs of Ivan Provorov and off the pad of Carter Hart.
Just 44 seconds later, Tyson Foerster tied the game with his second goal of the season, firing a shot from the right circle to make it 4-4 with 5:44 to play.
That forced overtime, but each team only managed one shot on goal in the extra session. In the shootout, van Riemsdyk scored the only goal in the second round, while Hart made a pair of saves to lock down the win.
Hart finished with 20 saves on 24 shots in the win. Marc-Andre Fleury made 30 saves on 34 shots in the loss.
Farabee and Tony DeAngelo each finished with two points for the Flyers. Boldy and Joel Eriksson Ek had two points for the Wild.
The Flyers are back on home ice on Saturday afternoon to take on the Detroit Red Wings at 1 p.m.
Box Score
| 1 | 2 | 3 | OT | SO | T | |
| Wild | 1 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| Flyers | 1 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 5 |
Scoring Summary
1st Period
- PHI Scott Laughton (17) (Travis Sanheim, James van Riemsdyk) 12:56
- MIN Oskar Sundqvist (10) (Jake Middleton, Frederick Gaudreau) 16:35
2nd Period
- PHI Joel Farabee (13) (Cam York, Noah Cates) 7:11
- MIN Matt Boldy (24) (Marcus Johansson, Joel Eriksson Ek) 15:41
- MIN Marcus Foligno (7) (Mats Zuccarello, Ryan Hartman) 18:16
- PHI Rasmus Ristolainen (3) PP (Tony DeAngelo, Farabee) 19:37
3rd Period
- MIN Boldy (25) (Jonas Brodin, Johansson) 13:32
- PHI Tyson Foerster (2) (DeAngelo, Morgan Frost) 14:16
Overtime
- No Scoring
Shootout
- PHI Tyson Foerster – Save
- MIN Mats Zuccarello – Save
- PHI James van Riemsdyk – Goal
- MIN Frederick Gaudreau – Miss
- PHI Morgan Frost – Save
- MIN Matt Boldy – Save
Game Statistics
| Wild | Flyers | |
| Shots | 24 | 34 |
| Power Play | 0/3 | 1/1 |
| Hits | 30 | 23 |
| Faceoff % | 54.2% | 45.8% |
| Giveaways | 9 | 6 |
| Takeaways | 2 | 6 |
| Blocked Shots | 18 | 11 |
| Penalty Minutes | 2 | 6 |
