Marc-Andre Fleury has waited a long time to pass Patrick Roy for second place on the career wins list for an NHL goaltender. After the Wild coughed up a two-goal third-period lead on Friday, the veteran will have to wait at least a little longer.
Philadelphia erased a 3-1 deficit with two third-period goals, and Joel Farabee scored on a 4-on-3 power play in overtime as the Flyers rallied to beat Minnesota 4-3 at Xcel Energy Center.
Ryan Hartman and Matt Boldy appeared to break open a 1-1 game with goals in the first 5 minutes of the third period, but Tyson Foerster and Owen Tippett tied the game with goals less than 2 minutes apart midway through the period.
The teams were skating 3 on 3 when Jake Middleton lost control of a pass in the high slot and the Flyers raced the other way. Mats Zuccarello, reaching from behind for the puck, tripped Cam Atkinson 1:37 into overtime.
After Joel Eriksson Ek missed on a shorthanded chance on the other end, Egor Zamula sent a shot on net that Farabee deflected past Fleury with seconds left in the power play to win it.
Fleury, who pulled within a win of Roy with consecutive victories over Eastern Conference power Boston Dec. 19 and Dec. 23, appeared on his way to finally passing Roy when Boldy scored to give the Wild a 3-1 lead.
But the Wild couldn’t hold on and lost for the seventh time in eight games. Fleury stopped 31 of 35 shots on goal.
Playing in the last year of a two-year, $7 million contract extension, Fleury played in his 1,000th game on Dec. 30, becoming the fourth NHL goaltender to reach that milestone when he subbed in for an injured Filip Gustavsson in a 3-2 loss at Winnipeg.
It has been a long wait for Fleury, who pulled within a win of Roy with consecutive victories over Eastern Conference power Boston Dec. 19 and Dec. 23. He appeared in four games, three of them starts, before he tied Roy in a 4-3 overtime victory at Columbus last Saturday, and now has made two starts with No. 522 in his sights.
Marcus Johansson put the Wild up 1-0 in the first minute of the second period.
Marcus Foligno poke-checked a puck back to the blue line, where it deflected off Philadelphia defenseman Cam York. Joel Eriksson Ek picked up the puck and started a 2-on-1 with Johansson, who skated across the high slot and sent a wrist shot past Carter Hart at 51 seconds.
It was the first time the Wild had scored first in a game since a 3-2 loss Dec. 31 against Winnipeg.
The Flyers tied the score fairly quickly when they turned a bad Minnesota transition pass into a 2-on-1.
The Wild had possession in their own end and were moving the other way when Johansson sent a centering pass to Freddy Gaudreau. But it was a little too hot, and Gaudreau could only tap it forward. It went straight to York, who pitched it forward to Sean Couturier.
The Flyers center bounced a pass off the boards to Travis Konecny, who started a 2-on-1 with Farabee and sent a shot to the crease that just got between defenseman Jon Merrill’s legs. Farabee then deflected it past a lurching Fleury, who had been set up in the corner, to make it 1-1 at 3:37.
Hartman gave the Wild the lead again early in the third period, one-timing a pass from Alex Goligoski from the left circle. It just snuck into the near corner and banged in off Hart for a 2-1 lead.
Hartman set up the Wild’s next goal when he tracked down a loose puck in the Flyers’ end and passed it back to a charging Jake Middleton. The defenseman then found Boldy, who was parked in the right circle and one-timed his pass past Hart at 4:50 for a 3-1 lead.
But the Flyers, who beat the Wild 6-2 on Oct. 26, didn’t go quietly. Foerster pulled Philadelphia within 3-2 when he scored with 10:29 left in regulation, and Tippett tied the game less than 2 minutes later on a delayed penalty when he got a loose puck in the left circle and fired a wrist shot just under Fleury’s glove arm to make it 3-3 at 10:56.
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