Wild fall to Flyers, 3-2 in shootout

Sarah McLellan, The Minnesota Star Tribune on Mar 12, 2026

Published in Hockey

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ST. PAUL, Minn. — Only two teammates are top five in goal scoring in the NHL, and they’re on the Wild.

Kirill Kaprizov and Matt Boldy continue to trade tallies, but the duo couldn’t prevent a stinker against the Flyers, who rallied for a 3-2 win in a shootout on Thursday at Grand Casino Arena.

Boldy buried his 37th goal on the power play to tie Kaprizov for the team lead … until Kaprizov nabbed No. 38 to overcome a lackluster start for the Wild.

But pesky Philadelphia wouldn’t go away. After the Wild blew their 2-1 lead on a short-handed wind-up by Owen Tippett early in the third, the Flyers’ Travis Konecny was the only player for either side to convert in the shootout.

The Wild killed off two power plays in OT. They were whistled for too many men late in the third period, the first time that’s happened this season, before Quinn Hughes held Trevor Zegras after losing the puck to him.

Hughes factored in both goals, giving him 60 assists in 60 games. Mats Zuccarello posted the 500th assist of his career, and rookie goalie Jesper Wallstedt stopped 24 shots from the Flyers.

Bobby Brink, who scored in his Wild home debut last game after getting traded from Philadelphia on March 6 for David Jiricek, didn’t play against his former teammates.

Brink sat out because of an upper-body injury after crashing into the boards against Utah before returning to net his first goal with the Wild.

Robby Fabbri subbed in, and Nico Sturm remained a healthy scratch.

“They’re going to love him,” Flyers coach Rick Tocchet said of Brink. “He’s an infectious guy. His teammates love him. Gives an effort every night. Every night he gives you his best. Very coachable.

“Every day’s a new day to him. He might have a tough game, but then the next day in practice he’s working on stuff.”

How it happened

Although Philadelphia played the previous night at home, routing Washington, 4-1, the Flyers were better than the rested Wild in the first period.

They outshot the Wild 9-2 and were ahead 1-0 going into the intermission after Jake Middleton lost the puck just inside the blue line and Zegras found a pinching Emil Andrae for a seeing-eye shot with 1:25 left in the first despite being surrounded by Wild players.

The Wild still weren’t as sharp as they usually are in the second period, but their star players drained two shots to give them the lead.

First, Zuccarello’s pass hit Boldy, who corralled the puck and threw it five-hole on Philadelphia goalie Dan Vladar at 8:39.

With 2:10 to go in the period, Kaprizov stickhandled out of the slot before wiring in the go-ahead goal.

Turning point

But the Wild’s challenging night didn’t ease up.

On their third power play, they gave up a slapshot off the rush to Tippett 7:58 into the third period before getting dinged for having too many men on the ice in the last minute of the period.

Up next

The Wild are back in action Saturday against the Rangers, who the Wild defeated, 3-1, in New York on Oct. 20.