PHILADELPHIA – Noah Cates scored in overtime, lifting the Philadelphia Flyers to a 2-1 come-from-behind win over the Wild on Saturday night, handing Minnesota its fourth loss in the past five games.

Leading with less than 14 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 game. Minnesota fell to 2-3-1 with the loss.

Jesper Wallstedt, making his second start of the season for the Wild, had 19 saves in the game, 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 game’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 game 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 game with just under eight minutes to play in the opening period.

The game 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 game’s first penalty. Through all the chaos, the Wild managed just three shots on goal in the opening period for the second game in a row.

Minnesota finally 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 game. 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 few 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 game 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 game 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 15 saves for the Flyers, who are 2-2-1 in their first season with Tocchet at the helm.

The Flyers make their only regular season visit to Minnesota on March 12 for a game 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.

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ST. PAUL — Thousands of homeowners in Minnesota are seeing delays in energy bill assistance due to the ongoing government shutdown.

The Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program, known as LIHEAP, cannot provide benefits while the shutdown continues.

In 2024, Minnesota received $125 million in federal funds, helping 125,000 homes with their utility bills.

An official with the Minnesota Department of Commerce said she is hopeful the shutdown will end soon and encouraged residents to apply for assistance.

“We need folks to say, ‘Hey, I qualify, and this is who my utility provider or my heating provider is’ so that we are ready and have that set up in the system. We’re able to do that part, but we really can’t start issuing any payments until we have those federal dollars in,” said Lissa Pawlisch of the Minnesota Department of Commerce.

North Dakota Health and Human Services said it is also taking LIHEAP applications. When asked whether the shutdown would delay benefits, a representative said, “No directives have been received about LIHEAP at this time.”

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Earlier in the season, St. Thomas coach Glenn Caruso praised the way Amari Powell handled losing the starting quarterback job to transfer Andy Peters.

Saturday afternoon at O’Shaughnessy Stadium, that praise was extended to include Powell’s performance on the field in the Tommies’ 55-17 win over Valparaiso.

With Peters sidelined after taking a helmet-to-helmet hit during last week’s win at Davidson, Powell played the best game of his Tommies career. He completed 13 of 20 passes for 265 yards and three touchdowns while also rushing for 42 yards and a touchdown before being replaced by Ryan Jackson in the third quarter.

“He played magnificently,” Caruso said.

Powell, a senior from Valencia, Calif., has had trouble throwing the ball with accuracy in the part. But not on Saturday. He said it’s simply the result of continuing to try to get better.

“The motto is ‘Chop wood, carry water,’” Powell said. “So you continue to stacks days, you continue to put your head down and work. When my time was called I was ready to go.

“This was just pitch and catch, the way we’ve been playing throughout fall camp and practices,” Powell added. “Going out there and trusting the guy — trusting the guys in front of me — and just getting the ball into their hands.”

With the win, St. Thomas improved to 4-3 overall and 2-2 in the Pioneer Football League. Valparaiso (1-6, 0-3) came into the game having allowed an average of 47.7 points per game in its previous four losses. The Tommies, coming off a 57-13 win over Davidson, topped that number midway through the third quarter.

The Beacons scored a touchdown on the opening drive of the game, but the hosts responded with a touchdown of their own. They went on to dominate the rest of the first half, taking a 34-10 lead into the locker room at intermission.

Powell scored on a 20-yard run to give the St. Thomas a 24-7 lead midway through the second quarter. After a Valparaiso field goal, Powell connected on a 56-yard touchdown pass to JaShawn Todd.

Powell threw his third touchdown pass of the game early in the third quarter when he connected with Quentin Cobb-Butler in the end zone for a 41-10 St. Thomas lead.

It gave Cobb-Butler at least one touchdown catch in four consecutive games. He was impressed by Powell’s performance and happy to see him succeed.

“I was super proud of Amari,” Cobb-Butler said. “He’s a guy that shows up every day. Some guys, if they’re a (backup), they complain they’re not getting time. He just shows up every day and puts smiles on other guys’ faces, works his tail off.

“He is just quiet and just comes and plays like he just did, which was amazing.”

There’s a good chance that Peters will be ready to go next weekend when the Tommies travel to Stetson. Caruso said it was too soon to say whether Powell will get playing time should Peters start. But he expects Powell to contribute to the team regardless.

“The way he goes about his work is for everybody who’s attached to the program,” Caruso said. “It’s phenomenal to see a guy who can work that diligently and prepare himself event though he might not be in the roll that he dreamt about as a kid. But he is everything you could ever want. He’s a well-raised kid who understands his responsibility to others.”

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PHILADELPHIA – Young defensemen still learning their way in professional hockey need to play. Watching NHL games from the pressbox in a nice suit generally does nothing to help grow their game. That’s why the Minnesota Wild sent project David Jiricek down to Iowa last week, after he’d played in their season-opener at St. Louis, then had been a healthy scratch for three games at the NHL level.

But injuries are seemingly inevitable when you play defense at this level, and Jiricek’s stay in the land of Cyclones and Hawkeyes proved to be brief. On Saturday, prior to their road meeting with the Flyers, Wild general manager Bill Guerin got Jiricek on a plane from Charlotte – where Iowa had a road game on Saturday – to Philadelphia and the 21-year-old Czech was back on Minnesota’s blue line at Xfinity Mobile Arena.

The move came after veteran Wild defenseman Zach Bogosian suffered a lower body injury when he blocked a shot in Friday night’s 5-1 loss at Washington. Bogosian missed the third period, and Wild coach John Hynes listed him as day to day.

“David, I think he’s a good puck-moving defenseman and we’re looking for him to be able to move the puck,” Hynes said prior to the meeting with the Flyers. “I think his shot is a threat. When he gets in the offensive zone, he can deliver pucks for us.”

Looking to spark the team’s fourth line, the Wild also sent Liam Ohgren down to Iowa and recalled veteran forward Tyler Pitlick. Skating with Danila Yurov and Yakov Trenin on Saturday night in Philadelphia, Pitlick saw time with his ninth NHL organization, but his first with his home state team.

Pitlick, 33, played high school hockey for Centennial and skated one season of college hockey for Minnesota State in Mankato. Signed by the Wild in the off-season, he was one of the final cuts in training camp.

“He’s very similar to some of the guys we had last year when they came up…he’s a big body, he’s a physical player, he’s got good experience,” Hynes said. “Him, along with (Trenin) and Yurov in the middle could be a real strong line. All three guys are big, strong guys and they can skate.”

Saturday’s game was the 421st of Pitlick’s career, having previously played for the Oilers, Stars, Flyers, Coyotes, Flames, Canadiens, Blues and Rangers. He spent last season in the Bruins system, but did not get any NHL time with Boston. Pitlick’s uncle, Lance, was a Gophers standout and had a lengthy NHL career. Tyler Pitlick becomes the second member of his family to skate for the Wild, after his cousin Rem – a former Gophers captain – played 20 games for Minnesota in the 2021-22 season.

Ohgren, a first round draft pick by the Wild in 2022, had skated in Minnesota’s first five games this season without recording a point.

“We had a good conversation with (Ohgren) last night,” Hynes said. “We’re looking at where he’s playing and what he’s doing. It’s only really his second year in North America. So it’s going down to play, finding his game.”

Over it with Ovechkin

The goal and assist that Capitals star Alex Ovechkin recorded versus the Wild on Friday in Washington was the continuation of a trend over the past 20 years. Ovechkin now has 40 points in 26 career games versus Minnesota. His points-per-game average of 1.54 versus the Wild is Ovechkin’s highest against any NHL team.

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