The Philadelphia Flyers produced another 60-minute effort against a top Western Conference team in the Dallas Stars, but dropped the game in overtime by a score of 5-4. It was a see-saw affair that saw the Flyers erase two 2-goal deficits, but the Stars got the last laugh as Joe Pavelski buried the overtime winner with 2:47 remaining.
Wyatt Johnston and Tyler Seguin gave the Stars an early 2-goal lead before Joel Farabee cut the deficit in half with his 3rd of the season and then Travis Konecny tied things up late with a shorthanded tally and his 4th. Roope Hintz scored 30 seconds into the 2nd period and then Jamie Benn resurrected their lost 2-goal lead midway through the third period as they held a 4-2 advantage with 9:24 left to play.
The Stars were 31-0-2 when leading after 2 periods last season and it seemed like the Flyers might not have a chance to come back after Nick Seeler’s instigator wiped out a potential power play, and then Cam York was whistled for an interference minor.
Their resiliency knows no bounds, however, as Konecny and Sean Walker scored shorthanded tallies 47 seconds apart to tie the game and force overtime. Scott Wedgewood made 36 stops compared to Samuel Ersson’s 20, Johnston and Pavelski each recorded a goal and 2 assists while Konecny scored 2 goals and Noah Cates recorded 2 helpers. Travis Sanheim paced both clubs with 28:28 TOI, his partner in York saw 23:55, and Sean Couturier and Cam Atkinson led the way for the forwards with 20:43 and 20:02, respectively.
The Flyers hit the road tonight to face another Western Conference team with Stanley Cup aspirations in the Dallas Stars. The Flyers entered tonight’s tilt 3-1-0 with victories against Columbus, Vancouver, and most recently the Edmonton Oilers with their lone loss coming against the Ottawa Senators. The Flyers are in the midst of a tough run of games that includes 4 Western Conference powerhouses with the aforementioned Oilers, Stars, Vegas up next, and Minnesota shortly after that.
John Tortorella’s club remained unchanged with the sole exception coming on the backend in Egor Zamula returning to the lineup in lieu of the injured Marc Staal. Sean Couturier, Owen Tippett, and Cam Atkinson reprised their roles at the top of the lineup, followed by the trio of Tyson Foerster, Scott Laughton, and Travis Konecny, Joel Farabee with Bobby Brink, and Noah Cates, and Nicolas Deslauriers, Ryan Poehling, and Garnet Hathaway rounding things out.
Cam York was with Travis Sanheim at the top, Egor Zamula was paired up with Sean Walker, and Emil Andrae was back with Nick Seeler. Samuel Ersson received his first start of the season as he looked to improve on his 6-3-0 record from 2022-23.
The Dallas Stars entered tonight with a 2-0-1 record after dispatching the St. Louis Blues in a shootout in their season opener, then dropping a shootout to Vegas, before a 3-2 victory against Anaheim in their most recent tilt. Scott Wedgewood received his first start of the season as well with Jake Oettinger guarding the crease in the previous 3, and the Stars offense was paced by Miro Heiskanen’s 3 points and Joe Pavelski’s 2 goals early on in the season.
FIRST PERIOD
Wyatt Johnston got the Stars on the board early after he stripped Nick Seeler of the puck in the neutral zone before ripping a shot blocker-side on Ersson just 4:05 into the game for the Stars’ first 1st period goal of the season.
After the Flyers missed a shot in the offensive zone, Stars’ captain Jamie Benn corralled the puck in the corner before flipping it out towards the neutral zone. The bounce must’ve tripped up Seeler who wasn’t able control it, as Johnston quickly stripped it off his stick before roofing it top-shelf off the rush past Ersson for his 1st of the season.
Just over 4 minutes later, the Stars doubled their lead after Tyler Seguin recouped his own rebound and slid it through Ersson’s five-hole for an early 2-0 lead. Entrenched in the offensive zone and cycling from D-to-D, Ryan Suter looked to have intentionally fired a shot from the left circle that hit Seguin before he knocked it down and beat Ersson through his legs for his 1st of the season as well.
The Flyers responded only a few minutes later as the Noah Cates-Bobby Brink-Joel Farabee line struck to get the Orange and Black on the board. Cates took the initial shot from the faceoff dot that was redirected towards Wedgewood, who shouldered it aside, however the rebound fell right to Brink who instead of shooting it himself, fed a perfect pass to Farabee who was camped in the blue paint for an easy finish and his 3rd goal of the season at the 10:02 mark.
With 4:24 remaining in the first period, Cam York was whistled down for a tripping minor, sending a power play that scored twice in their last game onto the ice with a one goal lead. However, a minute into the penalty kill, Travis Konecny finished off his breakaway opportunity with a perfectly placed seed past Wedgewood to tie the game with 3:24 left to play in the first period.
Similar to their shorthanded goal against Edmonton where Sean Couturier pickpocketed Connor McDavid, Noah Cates batted down a pass attempt from Heiskanen at the blue-line before pushing the loose puck ahead to Konecny, who raced down on the goaltender and beat him with a shot glove-side for his 3rd of the season. The Flyers almost scored another shorthanded goal but Scott Laughton’s pass was well defended.
After Seguin scored to give the Stars a 2-0 lead, the shots were 5-4 Dallas, however the resiliency of the Flyers was on full display as they took over the second half of the period by scoring 2 goals of their own to tie the game and outshot the Stars 12-2 in the final 12:08. The Flyers entered the intermission with a 16-7 shot advantage, 13-9 faceoff edge, and 6 hits to Dallas’ 3.
SECOND PERIOD
The Stars retook the lead only 30 seconds into the second period after Roope Hintz snapped a shot low-blocker-side past Ersson for his 2nd of the season. It was a simple play conducted by the Stars as they went from defense to offense with Joe Pavelski moving the puck forward to Hintz, who quickly passed it towards the corner boards to Jason Robertson before he dropped it right back to Hintz as they entered the offensive zone with speed. Hintz made no mistake on his shot from the faceoff dot as the Stars were able to regroup in quick order.
The following 6 minutes we saw the Flyers trying to claw back but Wedgewood had all the answers. As the Flyers were attempting to traverse into the offensive zone, Owen Tippett and Sean Couturier had their wires crossed and turned the puck over which allowed the Stars to set up Tyler Seguin for a mini-breakaway that beat Ersson but clanged off the post, short-side again which seemed to be the Stars’ directive early in the game.
With 7:00 remaining in the middle frame, Egor Zamula was called for a delay of game penalty after redirecting a puck into the crowd. The Flyers did an outstanding job down a man as the Stars weren’t able to get a shot on goal as two early attempts were blocked off by Cam York and Sean Walker and then the Flyers’ aggressiveness didn’t allow them to set back up.
Then with 2:22 left on the clock, Mason Marchment was called for a slashing penalty on Bobby Brink, sending the struggling power play unit onto the ice for the first time in the game.
The Flyers were parked in the offensive zone for nearly the entire 2 minutes, fired 3 shots on goal, had several more that didn’t reach the net but nothing all too dangerous for Wedgewood to handle. The period came to a close shortly after with the Stars holding a 3-2 lead but the Flyers still up in shots (29-14) and faceoffs (26-18).
THIRD PERIOD
The first play of the third period saw Travis Sanheim turn the puck over to Joe Pavelski but fortunately for the top pair defender, Samuel Ersson aggressively came out of the blue to cut out the angle and make the stop. The Stars seemingly woke up to start the period as they picked up the intensity, were creating dangerous chances that were not present in the first 40 minutes, and it helped that the hits were starting to rise.
With 10:34 remaining in regulation, the Flyers were set to embark on another power play after Jani Hakanpaa landed a hit on Travis Konecny, but Nick Seeler jumped in and dropped the gloves with the 6’7” defender as he took offence to the initial hit. Unfortunately, the power play was wiped out as Seeler was awarded 2 minutes for instigating, 5 for fighting, and a 10 minute misconduct with Hakanpaa getting 2 for roughing and 5 for fighting.
The temperature was quickly rising before that tilt after Seeler had delivered a massive check on Jamie Benn earlier in the period, and then Joel Farabee followed through with his own check on Wyatt Johnston shortly after.
Apparently someone must’ve tipped off the Stars on Ersson’s weakness because Benn came down the wing on an odd-man rush and ripped one short-side to give Dallas an huge 2-goal lead with 9:24 left to play in regulation.
26 seconds later, York was called for an interference penalty as Matt Duchene was looking to set out an another odd-man rush. 25 seconds into the penalty kill, Couturier was trying to control a bouncing puck before he sent out a slap-pass to Cam Atkinson whose breakaway attempt missed the net, although he looked to have been impeded but unfortunately there was no call.
That didn’t seem to matter as the Flyers turned around and cut the deficit in half with Konecny scoring his 2nd shorthanded goal of the night. Scott Laughton jump-started an odd-man rush, passed it to Sanheim as the trailer-man whose shot was blocked, he picked up his own rebound and passed it to Konecny short-side as he had a wide open net to shoot at for his 5th of the season.
47 seconds later, Egor Zamula made the very smart and attentive play of corralling the loose puck and making an offensive play instead of clearing it down the ice. Zamula fed Sean Walker who jumped on an odd-man rush after Matt Duchene’s stick snapped in the offensive zone and similarly to his shorthanded tally against the Oilers, he took the shot instead of making a pass and it beat Wedgewood for his 2nd of the season, his 2nd shorthanded tally in as many games, the Flyers’ 2nd shorthanded goal within the same penalty kill, and their 3rd shorthanded tally of the night.
After a scrappy effort in the third period, the Flyers forced overtime with 2 more shorthanded tallies. After 3 periods of play, the Flyers held a 38-23 shot advantage, 40-26 edge in faceoffs, and up 19-10 in hits.
OVERTIME
Laughton, Konecny, and Sanheim started things out with Duchene, Seguin, and Heiskanen.
With 3:07 remaining in the overtime period, the Stars jumped out on a 2-on-1 with Robertson and Hintz against Tippett after Sanheim’s offensive zone turnover but Ersson robbed Hintz’s one-time attempt with a massive glove-save to keep the game going and saving Sanheim’s hide.
20 seconds later, Joe Pavelski finished off a nice deke past Ersson for the victory and his 3rd goal of the season.
Pavelski won the faceoff against Couturier and as he tied up Couturier’s stick, the veteran forward jetted towards the net as the 3 white jerseys were focused on the puck carrier in the corner. Johnston fed the pass through the seam and Pavelski was left all alone against Ersson, who had no chance on the in-tight opportunity as the Stars took the 2 points and kept the Flyers winless in Dallas once again.
UP NEXT
The Flyers will remain on the road as they head off to Las Vegas to face the Golden Knights on Tuesday night at T-Mobile Arena at a special time of 11:00pm ET with all 32 teams in action and all puck drops spaced out by 15-30 minutes as part of ESPN’s Frozen Frenzy.
2024 Stadium Series Trip
Flyers Nation and Philly Sports Trips have teamed up to bring you on an amazing bus trip to the 2024 NHL Stadium Series between the Flyers and Devils. Place an early deposit to reserve your spot at the ultimate tailgate experience at MetLife Stadium before the game. The package includes a game ticket, round-trip charter bus, an all-inclusive tailgate party with unlimited cold beverages, “Philly Style” catered food, live entertainment, and more.
