After a second period that saw the Flyers surrender three goals, Craig Berube used the intermission to send a message to his team, still in search of its first win.
When the Flyers emerged from the locker room in the third, Ray Emery was between the pipes to relieve Steve Mason. Mason had allowed four goals on 18 shots in the first two periods. All four goals were impossible to stop.
But Mason was the victim in this message-sending act. And the Flyers response was a three-goal third period to force overtime. Two late penalties for the Stars led to Claude Giroux's heroics in overtime of the Flyers 6-5 win on Saturday.
It wasn't a pretty win, but the captain didn't seem to care.
"It was ugly, but you know what, we'll take it," Giroux said.
The Flyers made several defensive gaffes and let the Stars have chances at will. But the resilient Flyers also put together their strongest period to date, just in time for even tougher challenges next week.
Down by two entering the third, the Flyers had to win a period of hockey. The Chicago Blackhawks and Pittsburgh Penguins await the Flyers on Tuesday and Wednesday. The third period, and the rest of the game, turned into a must-win.
Many players contributed to the comeback in the third, but the Flyers seemed to all look to the coach as the reason the Flyers were able to put together the period they did in the third.
"It was quiet in here and then Chief had a good speech, guys regrouped," Mark Streit said. "We stayed patient, we didn’t give up. We just needed one goal to get back in the game."
That one goal came midway through the third when Andrew MacDonald scored on the power play for the Flyers.
"Sometimes you need an ugly win to get one on the board," MacDonald said. "That’s exactly what tonight was."
"It’s a good character win, the team battled back from deficits in the game," Berube said. "We’ll learn the hard way."
With the first win out of the way, it's on to a very tough week with the Blackhawks and Penguins on back-to-back nights. The Flyers have trailed during regulation in four of the five games played this season. It's a habit the Flyers have fallen into in the past and don't want to continue.
Berube discussed a too-many-men on the ice call that led to two late goals for the Stars. The call was questionable, but that wasn't what Berube focused on at intermission.
"That wasn’t the right call, but the end of the period really bothered me," Berube said. "The team has to learn to quit chasing games so much.
"Going down one goal in the third period is not a huge deal. Going down two goals makes it tougher. That’s the kind of stuff we have to clean up."
The chances of that happening don't look good against two of the teams that continue challenge with speed and skill. It will take that dangerous 60-minute effort that Giroux talked about on Tuesday to defeat these two teams.
For as good as the comeback win feels, especially for the first of the season. But Giroux doesn't want to turn it into a habit like last season.
"It’s good to get those kind of wins to bring the boys a little close," Giroux said. "But let’s not have too many of those."
Kevin Durso is the lead beat writer for Flyerdelphia. Follow him on Twitter @KDursoPhilsNet.
