After a first period that saw them trail by two goals, the Philadelphia Flyers (28-34-9) put together a strong effort that resulted in an overtime appearance against the Dallas Stars (44-21-4). Unfortunately, a miscue led to a goal for the Stars just nine seconds into the extra frame to hand the Flyers a 3-2 loss.
Sam Ersson was on the hook for the loss despite 15 saves on 16 shots after relieving starter Ivan Fedotov. Travis Konecny ended his 13-game goal drought and Ryan Poehling racked up his third goal in the last five games to help the Flyers get one standings point.
The Flyers have now lost nine of their last 10 games and dropped the season series to Dallas at 0-1-1.
“I went in there [the locker room], I never go in after games, I went in there tonight right after the game, told them how well they played,” said head coach John Tortorella. “I can’t tell you what I said, but we’ve just gotta stay, we’ve just got to get to the next day now, right? We don’t have much time, we’re going to fly to Chicago and play and just keep on trying to play. I think that all three games on this trip we’ve played well. We have been involved in all of them, haven’t found a result. We’ll just keep banging away.”
FIRST PERIOD
Score: 2-0 DAL
Shots: 8-3 PHI
Thomas Harley scored the icebreaker for the Stars at 6:27 on a shot from the point that eluded a cluster of bodies in front of Fedotov. It was Dallas’ first shot of the game.
Their second shot of the game was just as successful as Esa Lindell joined the rush, received a pass from Mikael Granlund, and fired one by the glove of Fedotov to make it 2-0 Stars.
Despite those goals, the Flyers generated more shots on goal and really made Jake Oettinger work to keep them off the board after some quality scoring chances. Philadelphia had two power play opportunities late in the period – the latter carried over into the second period – but could not cash in on either one.
SECOND PERIOD
Score: 2-2
Shots: 13-10 PHI
The Flyers had a golden opportunity to get on the board on a 3-on-1 between Emil Andrae, Jakob Pelletier, and Olle Lycksell but Pelletier’s pass to Lycksell with a yawning cage caught him in the skates and went through him.
Just over 13 minutes into the period, Konecny finally got on the board with a tremendous shot. Sean Couturier made a fantastic pass across the ice and Konecny blew it by Oettinger for his first goal since February 8th.
“Been getting lots of chances,” said Konecny. “Just sticking with it and that one happened to go in.”
Matt Duchene almost restored the Stars’ two-goal advantage with a dazzling move in close but Ersson got a pad on the shot and then Andrae cleared away the puck as it was inching across the goal line. It was as close as you could get to not scoring as a video review confirmed the puck barely stayed out.
Philadelphia also had their penalty kill to thank for keeping the Stars at bay. The Flyers took three minor penalties in a 6:06 stretch and after some saves from Ersson, good positioning, and some key blocked shots, they’d walk away unharmed on the scoreboard.
The Flyers tied the game with the period winding. Matvei Michkov took a hit to make a nice play as Ryan Poehling took his pass and danced in to beat Oettinger with a nifty goal with just 1:12 remaining in the period.
“I’m just playing with the puck,” said Poehling. “I think we’re holding on to it, making a lot of good plays, and like I said our team’s playing great so that obviously helps. We’ve just got to continue to do more of that stuff.”
THIRD PERIOD
Score: 2-2
Shots: 24-18 PHI
Just like their prior game in Washington, the Flyers put together a strong third period and had the Stars on the ropes on multiple occasions.
Their best chance came when Nick Seeler spotted Konecny with an amazing feed and the Flyers’ leading scorer rang iron while gunning for his second goal of the contest.
Dallas did have some solid pressure late in the period and had the Flyers on their heels, but Ersson made some solid saves and the skaters worked hard to eventually get the puck out of the zone before we reached overtime.
OVERTIME
Score: 3-2 DAL
Shots: 24-19 PHI
A bad pass from Ersson to Konecny was broken up and Harley was all alone to slide home the backhander just nine seconds into the extra period to lead the Stars to a 3-2 victory.
3 STARS OF THE GAME: 1) Thomas Harley – DAL, 2) Travis Konecny – PHI, 3) Esa Lindell – DAL
UP NEXT
The Flyers immediately continue their road trip on Sunday afternoon when they take on the Chicago Blackhawks at United Center (3:00pm ET; NBCSP, NHL Network).
You must be logged in to post a comment Login