Off the back of a massive comeback victory on Friday against the St. Louis Blues, the Philadelphia Flyers (9-6-3) were right back at it as they visited the Dallas Stars (12-4-3).
Unfortunately, the goal scoring well was tapped dry after their 5-goal explosion in St. Louis as the Stars were victorious over the Flyers by a score of 5-1.
The game went almost exactly as you would have expected it to have gone. The Stars controlled the play for most of the game, outside of a stretch in the second period where the Flyers looked to have regained their legs.
Unfortunately, Jason Robertson’s natural hat trick buried the Flyers as the 26-year-old scored the eventual game-winner midway through the second before adding another one 5:23 later and then sealed the hat trick – and the game – midway through the third.
Christian Dvorak got the Flyers on the board but that was all she wrote as they dropped their first game in regulation since the 2nd of November – a stretch in which they went 3-0-2.
FIRST PERIOD
After just missing out on the game’s opening goal in the first minute or so, the Dallas Stars kept their feet on the gas, and eventually broke through Dan Vladař and the Flyers defense just 3:48 into the period. Lian Bichsel was credited with the goal after firing a shot from the point that deflected off of Bobby Brink and in. Prior to the goal, the Stars were peppering away with 3-4 ten bell chances.
The pressure continued as the Stars were outshooting the Flyers 10 minutes into the period by a margin of 7-1. Wyatt Johnston and Mikko Rantanen almost connected another two times but were either denied by Vladař or missed the net.
The Flyers, on the other hand, were running around in circles in their own zone, and if they ever got the puck they just dumped it out of the zone and went off for a line change. Travis Konecny registered their second shot of the game with just over 4 minutes remaining.
With the Flyers looking to have stabilized a little bit and the Stars having just managed one shot on goal in nearly 8 minutes, Brink was sent to the box for a tripping minor at the 16:47 mark. The Flyers survived, but once again, the Stars were all over them with two registered shots and a few more that were blocked or missed.
SECOND PERIOD
The Flyers came out for the second period in much better spirits and had almost flipped the script after a sleepy 20 minutes. Unfortunately, it didn’t last, after the Stars doubled their lead on just their 3rd shot of the middle frame.
It was a well executed play from Dallas as they got out of their own zone with speed before Robertson finished off the loose change in front of the net after an accidental pass from Tyler Seguin hit him right on the tape at the 11:39 mark.
Robertson then doubled his goal tally after wiring a hard shot glove-high past Vladař after some great cycling by the Stars with 2:58 remaining. Robertson was initially taken down behind the net, but not before he rimmed it around the boards to the point. Esaa Lindell fed Roope Hintz before he found Robertson cutting into the slot.
Colin Blackwell was handed a high-sticking penalty on the next shift, sending the Flyers onto their first power play of the night, however it resulted into just one shot on goal as the Stars entered the intermission up by 3.
THIRD PERIOD
With a 3-goal lead and just 20 minutes remaining, it was business as usual for Dallas as they were able to keep the Flyers at bay while controlling play.
Robertson completed his natural hat trick at the 9:29 mark of the third period on the power play after Tyson Foerster went to the box for a high-sticking minor. The 2nd-ranked unit went to work and the goal came to fruition after solid passing plays from Hintz to Rantanen to Robertson, who was left all alone in the slot.
At the very least, the Flyers would not be shut out, as the red-hot line of Dvorak, Owen Tippett, and Trevor Zegras got them on the board – for their 6th straight goal going back to Friday.
The puck was loose in the slot and players converged into the slot before the puck landed on Dvorak’s stick blade. He finished it off with relative ease for his 6th of the season.
The ever-dangerous second line for the Stars were back on the board shortly after with Seguin scoring his 7th of the season off the rush after the puck had initially exited the zone. Ilya Lyubushkin caught the Flyers on a bad line change, fired a pass to Seguin off the rush, and then he finished low-glove at the 13:51 mark.
On the second leg of their back-to-back, the tired legs were evident, but the Stars were also just too dominant, deep, and loaded.
UP NEXT
The Flyers will look to get back on track on Thursday night when they play host to the St. Louis Blues (7:00pm/ET; NBCSP).
