(Kate Frese/Sports Talk Philly)
By Kevin Durso, Sports Talk Philly editor 
Make it eight in a row for the Flyers with another win in thrilling fashion at Wells Fargo Center.
The Flyers trailed the Dallas Stars entering the final five minutes of regulation on Saturday only to get two quick power-play goals that turned the game in their favor and kept their winning streak alive for another day.
Here are 10 Postgame Points from Flyers-Stars.
- Brayden Schenn took center stage in this one with three timely goals. The Flyers really needed a goal at the end of the first just to avenge a rough start to a game. They got it. Schenn took a bad penalty with 7:41 to play. With 4:54 to play, the Flyers headed to the power play. Schenn scored there to tie the game. Less than two minutes later, he had the hat trick. Schenn’s even-strength play still leaves a lot to be desired, but this is where Schenn’s value comes in. It’s no secret he’s a streaky player. As the Flyers go and as the power play goes, so does Schenn and he had it going on Saturday.
- Early in the second, it looked like Schenn was going to be on pace for the Gordie Howe hat trick, dropping the gloves with Stephen Johns after Johns knocked down Travis Konecny awkwardly into the boards. Schenn obviously never got the assist, but settled for the more traditional hat trick instead. It was Schenn's second career hat trick, the other being in February against the Flames. With that, Schenn has the last two Flyers hat tricks.
- For all the attention Schenn will get with the goals, if anyone deserved the easy tally into an empty net at the end, it was Jake Voracek. Voracek was dominant in this game, controlling on the power play, as energized as always at even strength. Usually the power play runs through Claude Giroux or Shayne Gostisbehere. Gostisbehere left the game in the second and did return, but not to the top power-play unit and Giroux was heavily attended to by the Stars penalty kill. Voracek took over and the rest is history for this game.
- Hockey can be a game of inches, no more so than on the Flyers power play that led to the tying goal. Moments before Schenn scored to tie the game, Radek Faksa was on a 2-on-1 with Antoine Roussel shorthanded. Faksa hit the post with his chance. That close to being 3-1 Dallas and the streak coming to a screeching halt. Instead, the Flyers get three the other way in rapid succession and win.
- The Stars were probably the most physical opponent the Flyers have played during the eight-game streak. This was a hard-fought, tightly-played game and space was limited. For the teams to combine for 45 shots in the entire game and neither team to take more than 10 in a period, it tells you how difficult it was to gain any sort of momentum. It's a credit to the Flyers during the streak, because at this point, they have played in eight very different games, ones where a team throws everything but the kitchen sink at the goalie, games where they have dominated but needed the late goal to come out on top, games where they had to counter an opponent's speed and now one where they had to counter the opponent's physicality. It's a great test for how this team can endure different challenges from very diverse opponents, and they are passing with flying colors.
- Was anyone really surprised that Roussel tried to goad someone into a scrap with the game out of reach? Roussel is one of the game’s well-known pests, but was really playing a clean and solid game all the way through. He had high energy, assists on the Stars’ second goal and was playing physical but clean. With the game out of reach, he tried to get both Radko Gudas and Wayne Simmonds to go with him. Gudas turned away. Simmonds slashed back and dropped the glove as the linesmen stepped in. Both received slashing majors and game misconducts as a result.
- The Flyers power play went 3-for-6, but the officials probably became more of a story than they should. There was never really any consistency to the calls in this game. There were a few that should have gone the Flyers way, there were a few that should have gone the Stars way. The Flyers looked like they got away with two close calls right before the penalty to Seguin that led to the game-winning goal. Credit the Flyers for using that to their advantage, especially late in the game.
- It could have certainly been a very different result for the Flyers in this one if the Stars top line had managed to get even just one goal. The line of Tyler Seguin, Jamie Benn and Jason Spezza was dangerous the entire game and came close to scoring several times. Take note whenever that trio is on the ice. They are without question one of the most lethal lines in hockey.
- That said, the Flyers have a pretty threatening top line too at the moment. Michael Raffl isn’t a name that jumps out as a top line player by any means, but he seems to be the perfect complement to Giroux and Voracek. And when Giroux and Voracek are really locked in, good luck trying to stop them.
- It wasn’t shocking to see Steve Mason in goal for the 13th time in 14 games on Saturday, but whether a 14th game in 15 comes on Sunday may be based off the type of game Saturday was. Mason didn’t face a wide range of shots, just 23 for the game, but said after the game that it wasn’t very taxing on a goaltender, which makes you wonder if he’ll get another start on Sunday in Detroit.
Bottom Line
There hasn't been a single game on this streak that the Flyers have won that has been pretty. They've had to scratch and claw for all eight of them. But that's the thing about hockey. No one truly cares how you do it. It's just getting it done that shows a team's character.
The Flyers have a lot of character right now. In each of these eight games, it's been something different that has helped get them to victory.
In the last few seasons, the focus has always been about how a win streak like this was always needed so much sooner in the season. They always seemed to win three or four in a row around February, March or April. This is an eight-game winning streak from the final two games of November into the middle of December. And as nice as it is to look at the standings and see the Flyers near the top, it's more about the separation they are putting between themselves and the bubble teams that will make more of a difference.
For a change, you're looking to see how close the Flyers are to the top, not how close they are to just getting in. It's hard to look at this streak within anything more than the task at hand and the game that follows, but in the long run, this is helping prove why the Flyers will be there at the end of the season, because of how they are getting it done early in the season.
