Cates’ OT goal lifts Flyers over Wild

PHILADELPHIA Noah Cates scored in overtime lifting the Philadelphia Flyers to a - come-from-behind win over the Wild on Saturday night handing Minnesota its fourth loss in the past five games Leading with less than minutes to play on Vladimir Tarasenko s first goal as a member of the Wild the Flyers turned the tables and dominated the late stretches of the tournament Minnesota fell to - - with the loss Jesper Wallstedt making his second start of the season for the Wild had saves in the event as Minnesota failed to gain separation after taking a lead Already beset with their share of injuries the Wild lost top-line center Joel Eriksson Ek on the tournament s opening shift While defending in front of the Minnesota net a high stick by Flyers winger Matvei Michkov caught Eriksson Ek in the face There was a delay of the match while the arena crew cleaned Eriksson Ek s blood off the ice in front of the Wild crease No penalty was called on the play He returned to the challenge with just under eight minutes to play in the opening period The championship was not yet two minutes old when gloves hit the ice and Wild winger Marcus Foligno fought Philadelphia s Nicolas Deslauriers in the neutral zone The scoreless first period ended with Minnesota killing the event s first penalty Through all the chaos the Wild managed just three shots on goal in the opening period for the second contest in a row Minnesota completely broke the deadlock early in the second via a pretty individual play by Tarasenko First he knocked down a waist-high pass from Marcus Johansson at the blue line to keep play in the offensive zone The puck went down low to Marco Rossi as Tarasenko drifted toward the net Rossi s centering pass landed perfectly on Tarasenko s stick blade and the veteran ripped a rising shot over the shoulder of Flyers goalie Dan Vladar Philadelphia coach Rick Tocchet unsuccessfully challenged the play for offside giving the Wild their first power play of the battle Minnesota controlled the play on that man advantage and on a second one a short time later but failed to double the lead But where the power play has been quiet for the last sparse nights the penalty killers have been spot-on With Wild players going to the penalty box late in the first and second periods Minnesota kept the Flyers off the board and kept the crowd out of the battle by consistently icing the puck and with Wallstedt smothering pucks in and around the crease It took a fortunate bounce for the Flyers to tie the battle in the third period when Owen Tippet swatted blindly at the puck from behind the Minnesota net and it glanced off the back of Wallstedt s leg landing over the goal line Vladar finished with saves for the Flyers who are - - in their first season with Tocchet at the helm The Flyers make their only regular season visit to Minnesota on March for a tournament at Grand Casino Arena After a day off on Sunday the Wild s five-game road trip continues with a Monday night visit to Madison Square Garden for a meeting with the New York Rangers Related Articles Wild add David Jiricek Tyler Pitlick after Zach Bogosian is injured Ovie show too much for Wild again as they fall in DC Kirill Kaprizov now calls former idol Alex Ovechkin a friend For Wild s lopsided offense it s too early for celebration or concern Jake Middleton hit leaves Matt Duchene injured Wild ignited