Flyers Hold On to Snap Losing Streak Against Stars

(Photo: Kate Frese)

By Kevin Durso, Sports Talk Philly editor 

If the Flyers were going to snap an eight-game losing streak, it wasn't going to come easy. And this one certainly didn't.

With 2:51 to play, Carter Hart saw his shutout bid foiled and the Flyers were suddenly back in a one-goal game. A disallowed goal kept the margin at one for the final 63 seconds, but the Flyers held on, ending their losing streak at eight games with a 2-1 win over the Dallas Stars on Thursday night at Wells Fargo Center.

After a scoreless first period that featured minimal action, the Flyers jumped on the board early in the second.

James van Riemsdyk got to a loose puck at the left circle and turned a backhand pass to the front of the net for Travis Konecny, who tipped it past Anton Khudobin for the first goal of the game at 1:23 of the second.

On a delayed penalty call midway through the period, the Flyers got a fortunate bounce to take a 2-0 lead. Claude Giroux attempted to put the puck on net and it was tipped by van Riemsdyk. After hitting van Riemsdyk, the puck hit off the skate of Esa Lindell in front of the net and rolled by Khudobin to make it 2-0 at 8:51.

The Flyers killed off a Dallas power play late in the period and had two power play attempts of their own, failing to score on the first and having the second carry over into the third.

After two periods, shots were 20-12 in favor of Dallas.

For most of the third, the goaltenders stole the show. Hart continued to turn aside the Stars chances. Khudobin kept the Stars in it, making three saves on Flyers odd-man rushes.

Late in the period, all of that proved to be huge as the Stars finally solved Hart. From the slot, Jamie Benn got a shot on goal that leaked through Hart to end his shutout bid with 2:51 to play.

The Flyers appeared to get a goal at the other end as Jake Voracek scored with 1:03 remaining, but after a coach's challenge, there was goalie interference on the play and the goal was disallowed.

Hart made a couple more saves in the closing moments to secure the win, ending the Flyers losing streak. Hart finished with 37 saves in total. Khudobin stopped 20 shots in the loss.

van Riemsdyk had two points, a goal and an assist.

The Flyers are back on the ice on Saturday as they travel to face the New Jersey Devils. Game time is 1 p.m.

Box Score

Scoring Summary

1st Period

• No Scoring

2nd Period

• PHI Travis Konecny (11) (James van Riemsdyk, Radko Gudas) 1:23
• PHI van Riemsdyk (7) (Claude Giroux, Sean Couturier) 8:51

3rd Period

• DAL Jamie Benn (18) (Tyler Seguin, John Klingberg) 17:09

Game Statistics