Neuvirth saves Flyers in 3-2 win over WIld

PHILADELPHIA – The Philadelphia Flyers got a strong, perhaps spectacular, performance from Michal Neuvirth in defeating the Minnesota Wild, 3-2, Thursday night.

Neuvirth stopped the Wild’s Charlie Coyle with less than three seconds left in regulation to save the game for the Flyers.

“I knew I hit it with my stick but I wasn’t sure if I had the stick behind the goal line,” Neuvirth said. “I’ve made saves like that sometimes in practice but it was huge for us.”

The win was a much needed two points for the Flyers who are in need of points and help in the Metropolitan Division and eastern conference races.

2016-2-25 NHL PHI vs MIN Goalie Michal Neuvirth (#30)

Michal Neuvirth stopped Charlie Coyle with 2.6 seconds left in regulation

“It was a [heck] of a save. … Especially when you add the time and the way he was able to fight that puck off,” Flyers coach Dave Hakstol said. “It didn’t look like the puck crossed the line, I guess, from the bench. Until you look at it on video, there’s no way to tell for sure. It was a heck of a save in a great time in the game.”

Pierre-Edouard Bellemare, Sam Gagner and Mark Streit scored for the Flyers.

The Flyers are three points behind the Pittsburgh Penguins for the second wild card spot in the east.

“It’s huge,” Neuvirth said. “We talked about it before the game. We wanted to start good. It’s a good win for our confidence. We’ve got to make sure we bring the same effort Saturday.”

Devan Dubnyk made 28 saves in the loss and Thomas Vanek and Mikael Granlund scored for the Wild.

“We missed this game by a half an inch,” Wild coach John Torchetti said. “We have to give another inch more. That’s the bottom line. We lost this game and we have to move on to Washington.”

 

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