The Philadelphia Flyers (25-14-6) handled business on home ice for their 5th straight victory after dispatching the Dallas Stars by a score of 5-1.
The victory represented their 25th of the season, their 7th in 10 games against the Central Division, and their first win in 8 games against the Stars. The loss was Dallas’ first loss against the Metropolitan Division in 7 attempts this season.
The Flyers thoroughly dominated the game with a massive shot advantage of 43-16. They started the scoring with Sean Walker at the end of the first period before Owen Tippett scored the first of his 2 goals in the early portion of the second period.
After Tyler Seguin cut the deficit back to 1, Cam Atkinson scored a power play goal, Scott Laughton scored a penalty shot, and then Tippett scored a goal-of-the-year candidate, all in the third period.
Samuel Ersson earned his 12th victory of the season having to make just 16 saves. Jake Oettinger played as well as he could, making 38 stops en route to the loss.
Riding a 4-game winning streak and having just completed a 3-game sweep on the road against Minnesota, Winnipeg, and St. Louis, the Flyers returned home for the first game of a 4-game homestand against the Dallas Stars.
Jamie Drysdale and Sean Couturier returned to the lineup after missing the last 2 games with an illness and minor injury, respectively. Their returns meant that Nicolas Deslauriers and Bobby Brink joined Marc Staal in the press box as they went back to the 11/7 formation. After Carter Hart defeated the Blues, John Tortorella went back to Samuel Ersson – looking for revenge after a tough defeat in Dallas at the start of the season.
As for the Stars, they entered tonight’s game on a 2-game winning streak and a 6-3-1 record in their last 10 games. They entered play on Thursday in 3rd place in the Central Division with a 26-12-5 record because of the streaming Winnipeg Jets and Colorado Avalanche.
The Stars ranked third in the league in goals scored, owned a top-10 power play, 4th-ranked penalty kill, and took the 2nd-least amount of PIM. They also have 6 players with 33+ points with Jason Robertson leading the pack with 45 points and Joe Pavelski and Roope Hintz leading the club with 18 goals apiece.
Jake Oettinger earned his 4th start in their last 5 games after being on the mend for over a month, looking to improve on his 13-8-2 record.
FIRST PERIOD
The Flyers took the last 2 days off and it showed in a very clear and concise way; they utterly dominated the start of the game. Passes were crisp, the skating was smooth, they were completely in sync, and they didn’t allow the Dallas Stars space to create anything.
While the referees missed two blatant penalties – one where Sean Couturier was slashed and another where Nick Seeler was tripped up along the boards – the period was fast paced but tilted towards the Stars zone. Dallas earned the first shot of the game just 31 seconds in from Tyler Seguin but were shut out after that as the Flyers entered the intermission with a 15-1 edge.
Noah Cates had 3 scintillating opportunities that were all stopped by Jake Oettinger, but they finally were able to beat the former All-Star after Morgan Frost deftly tapped a no-look pass into open space to a streaking Sean Walker with just 60 seconds remaining.
Frost had himself a fantastic period with 4 puck retrievals, his aggressive forecheck was on full display, and he showed off his creativity with the pass that set up the walk-in goal for Walker’s 5th of the season.
SECOND PERIOD
46 seconds into the middle frame, Tyson Foerster was whistled for a high sticking minor, but fortunately for the birthday boy, the Flyers killed it off effortlessly – no shots for the Stars.
3:03 into the period, Owen Tippett ripped a seed of a shot right off the faceoff for his 5th goal in 6 games and 17th overall on the season. After Oettinger made a big save to force the faceoff, Couturier won the draw right to Tippett who moved into a favourable spot and let the shot rip top-shelf.
2 and a half minutes later, Jason Robertson was called for a slashing minor against Rasmus Ristolainen at the 5:34 mark of the second period. After not registering a shot for over an hour of real time and 26 game minutes, the Stars’ Esa Lindell had two terrific opportunities shorthanded but Samuel Ersson was up to the task to keep the score at 2-0.
After Jamie Benn and Travis Sanheim were tangled up in the Flyers’ end and distracting most of the players on the ice, Scott Laughton was tripped up near the benches by Sam Steel, sending the power play back onto the ice with just under 10 minutes to go.
After a strong penalty kill from the aggressive Stars, Seguin ripped a shot over Ersson’s left shoulder after Matt Duchene forced a turnover against Walker along the boards. It was Seguin’s 17th goal of the season at the 12:42 mark of the period.
The Stars started taking control of the period after Seguin’s goal as they had the Flyers flat-footed and stuck in the defensive zone. However with 53 seconds left, Thomas Harley was whistled for a high-sticking minor, giving the Flyers a chance to re-take their 2-goal lead.
The Flyers couldn’t do much with the first 53 seconds as they entered the intermission with a 2-1 lead and a 30-9 shot advantage after owning a 15-9 edge in the middle frame.
THIRD PERIOD
44 seconds into the final frame of regulation, the Flyers potted the all-important power play goal after Cam Atkinson deflected a Frost deflected pass past Oettinger. The crisp passing by the top of the umbrella between Foerster, Sanheim, and Jamie Drysdale set up the goal before Sanheim’s one-timer was stopped then deflected forward by Frost.
At the 4:40 mark of the period, Foerster earned his second minor of the night after he was called for a slashing minor as Wyatt Johnston was about to get a really good scoring chance towards the goal.
As we headed into the first commercial break of the period, Ryan Suter was sent off for a delay of game minor at the 7:02 mark. As the penalty expired, Laughton forced a turnover in the neutral zone but was impeded on the breakaway, earning himself a penalty shot.
Patience paid off as Laughton buried it past a sprawling Oettinger but the referees reconvened right after the goal to see if he had gone backwards on his final move. The call was confirmed and Laughton scored his first penalty shot on his 5th career attempt for his 5th of the season at the 9:16 mark.
Tippett scored a highlight reel goal the other night in St. Louis but somehow topped it with an even better goal as he potted his second of the night to give the Flyers a 5-1 lead with a shade over 5 minutes remaining.
The speed demon raced down the wing before making a spinning move against Joel Hanley before finishing off the backhand in one swift motion over the glove of Oettinger.
UP NEXT
The Flyers will welcome the Colorado Avalanche (1:00pm ET, NBCSP) on Saturday in the first leg of a back-to-back set.
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