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The Philadelphia Flyers skated to a 2-1 overtime home win against the Minnesota Wild on Saturday evening. Owen Tippett (3rd goal of the season) erased a 1-0 deficit with a bank shot off Jesper Wallstadt at 7:10 of the third period. In overtime, an adventurous puck handling sequence by goalie Dan Vladar created a break down the ice for the Flyers. At 2:38 of sudden death, Noah Cates (2nd) moved over the middle and fired home a shot win the game.
The Flyers moved to 2-2-1 on the young season. Here’s the good, the bad and the ugly from Saturday’s game.
The good
- Strong goaltending. As with Monday’s home opener, Vladar didn’t see a high volume of shots. However, he made the saves he needed to make when tested. Vladar owns both Flyers’ wins in the young 2025-26 season.
- Top defensive pairing. The Flyers’ top duo of Travis Sanheim and Cam York played a vital role in Saturday’s win.Nick Seeler (five blocks, four credited hit) also delivered for the club.
- Tippett rounding into form. The streaky winger atoned for an earlier penalty and missed shot by scoring his bank shot goal. The streak-scoring winger has posted three goals over the last four games.
- Minnesota contained. The Flyers kept Kirill Kaprizov off the scoreboard and held him to two shots on goal. Overall, Philly limited Minnesota to 16 shots on net after holding Winnipeg to 14 on Thursday. It hasn’t been pretty, but it’s been effective. In the first period, the Flyers generated just three shots on goal. However, total shot attempts and possession time stood in the Flyers’ favor despite the lack of shots on net.
The bad
- Michkov still struggling. Things are not clicking for Matvei Michkov through the first five games of the season. Once again, head coach Rick Tocchet shortened the bench in crunch time. On merit, Michkov wasn’t part of it.
- Konecny also hasn’t hit his stride. Most of the discourse so far has centered on Michkov. However, Travis Konecny also has yet to find a rhythm in the early going. He had several low-percentage plays and turnovers in this game. Konecny has made some plays and had some scoring chances but he’s not playing anywhere near his “A” game so far.
The ugly
- Failed challenge. The Flyers lost a coach’s challenge and incurred a delay of game penalty on Vladimir Tarasenko’s goal. The NHL’s explanation fell under rule 83.1: “If a player legally carries, passes or plays the puck back into his own defending zone while a player of the opposing team is in such defending zone, the off-side shall be ignored and play permitted to continue.”
