The outcome didn’t really come as a surprise.
Going into Saturday night’s game at Dallas, the Flyers knew the numbers were against them.
First, there was that disappointing record in the second game of back-to-backs since the beginning of last season.
Plus, the Flyers hadn’t won in the Texas town in 11 years.
So when Philadelphia dropped a 5-1 decision at American Airlines Center, it was pretty much an expected result.
The Flyers, who played Friday night in St. Louis, are now 1-12-2 in game two of these bracket situations.
Without a doubt, the Flyers have to do better in back-to-backs. Not too long ago, the Flyers had a back-to-back with two home games and lost the second one to Calgary, sitting in last place in its division.
“It’s kind of a different game,” Noah Cates said in a televised interview. “You’ve got to be smart. You have to be disciplined. You can’t really get stretched out. You can’t go for the home run. Keep the shifts rollin’. Get the momentum and then stuff comes. Too many one-and-dones.
The Flyers get Sunday off and then have three days to practice and work out some of the bugs before their next game, vs. St. Louis on Thursday.
“We just have to learn on the back-to-backs,” Cates said. “We get a little break here but when the grind starts, that’s when you stay in it. After this break we have to get after it. It’s a huge stretch for us.”
Travis Sanheim wasn’t using the close proximity of two games as an excuse. That, and the fact the Flyers played Edmonton last Wednesday, making it three games in four nights.
“I think it’s been kind of a common theme lately, our starts haven’t been good,” Sanheim said. “It just make it harder to climb back into the game. Third game in four nights, it just makes it tougher on us.”
Dallas broke the game open in the second period when they picked up the first two goals of a natural hat trick from Jason Robertson.
Robertson connected at 11:39 on a bad-break play for the Flyers. Dallas center Tyler Seguin led a charge, watched the puck slide off his stick but then it went straight to Robertson for an easy tap-in past Flyers goalie Dan Vladar.
At 17:02, Robertson was at it again. This time he circled out of the right corner and beat Vladar from about 20 feet.
Having played the night before, the Flyers looked especially sluggish in the first period. They were fortunate to reach the initial intermission down only 1-0.
The Stars ran up a 10-2 shot advantage as they kept the pressure on Vladar.
Lian Bichsel connected at 3:48 for the Stars’ first goal. His shot deflected off the right leg of Bobby Brink, changed directions and escaped Vladar’s late stab.
“The first period we just backed in too much,” coach Rick Tocchet said. “We actually played a good second but it was too late. You’re chasing the game. I have to try to figure out why.”
Couturier said there was plenty of room for improvement in this game.
“We just have to be more aggressive on loose pucks,” Couturier said in a first intermission televised interview. “They’re winning the puck races in our zone. We’re giving them time to create some offense.
“So we have to fix that.”
The Flyers did keep the Dallas power play in check. The Stars had scored in seven straight games with the man advantage.
“They have a good power play but we can’t respect them too much either,” Couturier said. “We respect them but we can still be aggressive and play our style.”
Robertson completed the hat trick at 9:29 on a power play. That extended the Stars’ power-play streak to eight straight games.
Christian Dvorak scored at 10:57 of the third period to get the Flyers on the board. Seguin closed out the scoring with a goal at 13:51.
>Loose pucks
Tyson Foerster was struck in the right wrist by a shot early in the game, winced in pain, but did not go to the locker room for treatment and returned to action a few minutes later. . .Goaltender Jake Oettinger picked up the win for Dallas. . .Just the third time this season Vladar has allowed more than two goals.
Be the first to comment