Flyers get a 3-2 shootout win over the Wild to close the gap on the final wild card spot

SAINT PAUL, Minn. ― Facing the NHL’s fourth-best team, and after a late-night flight that took a few hours following a chippy — and physical — game against the New York Rangers, this one could have gone wrong for all the right reasons.

Instead, the Flyers picked up a gutsy win by beating the Minnesota Wild, 3-2, in a shootout.

Travis Konecny scored in the shootout to seal the victory after the Flyers had four minutes of power-play time starting with 52 seconds left in regulation.

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The Flyers have won two straight and six of the past eight as they try to grab a playoff spot. With a win and a Boston Bruins loss, they are now five points back of the final wild card in the Eastern Conference. Philly is tied with the Washington Capitals and Ottawa Senators at 73 points.

Emil Andrae, who returned to the lineup after being a healthy scratch the past two games, gave the Flyers a 1-0 lead.

Trevor Zegras lost an offensive-zone faceoff, and the Wild controlled the puck with Zach Bogosian doing defenseman-to-defenseman with Jake Middleton. Middleton sent a stretch pass to Danila Yurov, who was flying up the ice, and blew past a flat-footed Andrae. But the centerman shot it off the post, and the Flyers headed up ice, but the puck went back to Middleton.

His pass back toward the Flyers’ end was knocked down in the neutral zone by Owen Tippett, who shot the puck off the outside of the net near the right post. Middleton picked the puck up behind the net and carried it up the boards, but was met by Zegras, who poked the puck away and used his 6-foot, 185-pound frame to steal the puck from the 6-3, 219-pound blueliner.

Zegras stopped to feed Andrae as he joined the play. The defenseman settled the puck as he skated in and scored through the five-hole of his countryman, Minnesota goalie Jesper Wallstedt.

Andrae’s second goal of the season gave the Flyers a 1-0 lead for the 21st time this season. Thursday was their 65th game of the season.

The Wild tied it up in the second period after Minnesota’s Nick Seeler, who grew up 27 miles west of Saint Paul in Eden Prairie, was called for slashing.

Mats Zuccarello entered the Flyers’ zone and tried to send the puck across the way with a hard pass, but it hit Matt Boldy. He the puck on his stick, skated down, and the Olympic gold-medalist beat Dan Vladař five-hole.

It is the seventh power-play goal the Flyers have allowed in the past six games (61.1%) after a perfect penalty kill in the eight games prior.

Kirill Kaprizov gave Minnesota a 2-1 lead with 2 minutes, 10 seconds left in the middle frame with a sleek goal. Rasmus Ristolainen blocked a shot by Minnesota’s Quinn Hughes, and Brock Faber corralled it before chipping it to Kaprizov. The Russian kicked it to himself with his right skate, cut across the middle, almost lost it, but recovered and beat Vladař somewhat easily.

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But this Flyers team played well all night. They kept up with the Wild with good sticks to break up their onslaughts, and they got rewarded with a tying goal in the third.

Skating short-handed with 10 seconds left on Konecny’s penalty for interference, Tippett put pressure on Marcus Johansson, which allowed Travis Sanheim to snag the puck in the neutral zone. The Flyers defenseman fed it to Carl Grundström, who sent it across to Tippett, and this time, instead of using his legs, he used his big shot to beat Wallstedt to tie the game at 2-2. The Minnesota goalie allowed a slapshot from Tippett to go under his right armpit, and he held his head in his hands after.

Zegras had one assist to extend his point streak to four games (one goal, three assists). … Center Noah Cates played in his 300th NHL game. He grew up in Stillwater, part of the Minneapolis-Saint Paul metro area. … Defenseman Noah Juulsen and forward Luke Glendening were healthy scratches. … Members of the gold-medal-winning U.S. women’s hockey team were honored before the game. … Hughes and Faber were also members of the U.S. men’s hockey team that won gold at the 2026 Milan Cortina Olympics.

The Flyers are off on Friday before a game on Saturday at Xfinity Mobile Arena against the Columbus Blue Jackets (7:30 p.m., NBCSP). Philly is four points back of Columbus, the ninth-best team in the East, in the standings.