After a tough home loss to the Winnipeg Jets on Thursday, the Flyers continued their homestand with a visit from Kirill Kaprizov and the Minnesota Wild.
Noah Cates’ overtime goal propelled the Flyers to a 2-1 victory.
Oct 16, 2025; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; Philadelphia Flyers left wing Noah Cates (27) against the Winnipeg Jets at Wells Fargo Center. Mandatory Credit: Eric Hartline-Imagn Images / Eric Hartline-Imagn Images
The Flyers created their initial strong scoring opportunity when Sean Couturier delivered a pass from behind the net to Travis Konecny, who was positioned in the slot. However, the play was soon overshadowed by an injury.
Minnesota forward Joel Eriksson Ek had to leave the ice and head to the locker room for repairs after getting accidentally struck by a lifted stick. The incident occured when Matvei Michkov checked Zeev Buium’s stick, causing it to hit Eriksson Ek and draw blood, necessitating an immediate exit from the game.
Flyers forward Nicolas Deslauriers, making his season debut after starting the first three games as a healthy scratch, made the fans know he’s a big part of the team.
Prior to the faceoff in his penultimate shift, Deslauriers dropped the gloves with Marcus Foligno, sending Xfinity Mobile Arena into a sea of roars.
The remainder of the first saw a goaltending duel between Dan Vladar and Jesper Wallstedt.
Just 1:55 into the second period, Minnesota drew first blood. A perfectly executed play saw Marco Rossi deliver a pass to the top of the right circle to an open Vladimir Tarasenko, who powered home a one-timer, giving the Wild a 1-0 lead. An unsuccessful offside challenge from the Flyers sent Minnesota to the power play, looking to add on to their league-best power play.
Just as the Flyers penalty served by Trevor Zegras expired, Owen Tippett skated over to the box after tripping up Jonas Brodin, giving the Wild another chance at the man-advantage.
The latter-half of the second period saw the Wild take over on possession. Despite racking up several minutes in the Flyers end, Vladar stood on his head, denying all the chances Minnesota threw at him.
With under 10 seconds to play in the period, a tripping call against Ryan Hartman sent the Flyers to a late power play that would carry over to the third, giving them a chance to score only their second power-play goal of the season.
Wallstedt had stone-walled the Flyers all night, frustrating their offense until the third period. Tippett finally broke through, shooting and then battling for the loose puck to execute a wraparound that bounced off the netminder’s pad and in. The opportunistic goal, Tippett’s third of the season, tied the game 1-1 with 12:50 remaining.
Philadelphia began to pull away in the shot category as the clock trickled down late in the third. An icing call against the Wild gave the Flyers an offensive-zone draw with 4:35 to go with the two squads deadlocked at 1-1.
60 minutes was not enough for the Flyers and Wild as the teams went to overtime. For Philadelphia, it marked its second overtime game of the season after falling to Carolina in the second game of the year.
After back-and-forth action in the extra-session, Cates found himself open in the slot and took a shot that ripped past Wallstedt for the game-winner.