The Flyers get one more home test before the road trip begins, and Tuesday’s matchup brings a Minnesota team that has been rolling. Philadelphia hosts the Wild at Xfinity Mobile Arena with puck drop set for 7:00 PM ET.
Philadelphia comes in off a 6-3 win over the Utah Mammoth, a game that marked the return of Owen Tippett and Travis Konecny. Konecny was all over the result, three of the four forward lines got on the scoresheet, and Jamie Drysdale turned in a career night with three points and a plus-5 rating.
Minnesota arrives in Philly with momentum of its own. The Wild are riding a five-game point streak, have won four of their last five, and have earned points in eight of their last nine. Through 16 games, they hold the third-most standings points in the league.
Here’s how the Flyers are projected to line up against them.
Trevor Zegras will center Christian Dvorak and Travis Konecny on the top line. Tyson Foerster, Denver Barkey, and Owen Tippett make up the second unit. Porter Martone skates with Noah Cates and Matvei Michkov, while Cole Knuble, Sean Couturier, and Noel Acciari round out the forward group.
On defense, the pairs are Travis Sanheim with Jamie Drysdale, Cam York with Oliver Bonk, and Nick Seeler with Simon Benoit. Dan Vladar is projected to start in goal, with Joseph Woll listed behind him.
The power play units are set with Drysdale, Zegras, Barkey, Martone, and Michkov on PP1, while Bonk, Dvorak, Foerster, Tippett, and Konecny form PP2. On the penalty kill, PK1 features Couturier, Dvorak, York, and Sanheim, while PK2 includes Cates, Foerster, Drysdale, and Seeler.
There’s also a familiar face on the other side. Tuesday is expected to be Bobby Brink’s first game against the Flyers since being traded to Minnesota in a one-for-one deal that sent defenseman David Jiricek to Philadelphia.
Brink was hurt the one time the Flyers went to Minnesota after the trade, so this will be his first game in Philadelphia and his first matchup against his former team. He deserves a tribute video.
The Flyers can also lean on what they showed Sunday against Utah. They looked more like the team that had success during the 2025-26 season, buzzing with a hard forecheck, forcing turnovers, and cashing in when mistakes opened the door. Minnesota is a different kind of challenge, and a tougher one in some ways, especially with the goaltending edge they bring.
The Wild have scored 52 goals, good for seventh in the league, and they’ve allowed just 36, the fourth-fewest in the NHL. The roster Bill Guerin has put together is going to ask plenty of questions of Philadelphia.
One more thing to watch: Rick Tocchet talked about getting either Dan Vladar or Joseph Woll into a more traditional top goalie role instead of the every-other-game setup. With Vladar playing well and Woll having some shaky recent starts, Tuesday could be the night Vladar gets the nod again. That decision should come after Tocchet’s morning media availability.
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What makes this start so intriguing for Philadelphia is how fast Knuble has translated those traits into real impact, especially for a team that has also gotten encouraging signs from other young players such as Oliver Bonk. The Flyers have spent much of the season navigating injuries, so every promising development matters, and Knubles emergence gives the organization another reason to believe it may have uncovered a useful piece sooner than expected. [Read more 🡒]
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Hunter McDonald was the corresponding casualty, sent back to the Phantoms as the Flyers looked to adjust on the fly. There was also a bit of added intrigue around Shane Wright, who had been connected to Philadelphia before ending up with the Nashville Predators, another reminder that the Flyers are still navigating both immediate lineup concerns and the bigger-picture uncertainty hanging over the roster. [Read more 🡒]
Flyers Rough Start Is Fueling A Debate Fans Never Wanted
The Flyers rough opening has pushed an uncomfortable conversation back to the surface: whether this season should be about trying to stay afloat or about leaning into a longer reset. Early struggles have a way of sharpening every roster question, and in Philadelphia that means the usual debate over development, patience and how much value there is in keeping veteran pieces around if the bigger picture is still uncertain.
For a team that has spent years trying to find the right balance between competing and rebuilding, the next stretch matters as much for what it reveals as for what it changes. Trading veterans and giving young players a longer look would fit one path, while the allure of a stronger draft position keeps hovering in the background as the kind of upside that can alter a franchises direction, even if the payoff is still far off. [Read more 🡒]