Flyers beat Wild in shootout, now 5 points back in Wild Card race with 17 games left
The Flyers needed a response after getting kicked in the teeth by the Rangers on Monday. They got one.
Philadelphia came back from a 2-1 third period deficit to beat the Minnesota Wild 3-2 in a shootout Thursday night at Grand Casino Arena, sweeping the back-to-back set after beating Washington 4-1 on Wednesday.
Travis Konecny was the lone scorer in the skills competition. Dan Vladar made a big stop on Matt Boldy to seal it.
Travis Konecny wins it for the Flyers in the shootout
Emil Andrae gave the Flyers a 1-0 lead heading into the first intermission after returning from a couple of healthy scratches.
The Wild took over in the second period, with Matt Boldy erasing the lead on a power play and Kirill Kaprizov putting Minnesota ahead with just over two minutes left in the period.
Philly has given up five power play goals over the last three games, which is a problem that is not going away on its own.
Owen Tippett fixed it anyway. He blasted one home shorthanded in the third to tie it at 2-2 and sent the game to overtime. Over the two-game road set Tippett had two goals, an assist, and 12 shots.
He also now leads the team with three shorthanded goals this season after coming into the year with zero in his career. The penalty kill experiment that looked interesting last season is paying off in a real way.
Vladar was the other story. He finished with 21 saves on 23 shots and the Flyers gave him the effort he deserved after hanging him out to dry against New York.
Through 40 games he is 21-11-6 with a 2.50 GAA and a .904 save percentage. Minnesota dropped to 27-0-4 when holding a lead entering the third period. The Flyers snapped that.
With the Bruins losing to the Sharks on Thursday, Philadelphia moved to within five points of the East’s second Wild Card spot with 17 games remaining.
The Flyers improved to 31-23-11 and have earned at least a point in nine of their last 12 games. They also swept the Wild in the season series, with the first meeting back in October going to overtime as well.
The Flyers are home Saturday against the Blue Jackets at 7:30 PM ET on NBCSP.
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