Stars 2 - 4 Flyers
Final
  for this game

Flyers shoot down Stars to stay hot

Mar 21, 2014 - 3:21 AM Philadelphia, PA (SportsNetwork.com) - Wayne Simmonds scored a pair of goals and Steve Mason stopped 33 shots as Philadelphia claimed a 4-2 victory over Dallas on Thursday.

Mark Streit and Michael Raffl also lit the lamp for the Flyers, who improved to 4-0 against top-flight competition in the last five days and have won seven of their last nine overall.

"Well I thought tonight wasn't as good, for sure. We were sloppy tonight at times," noted a nonplussed Flyers head coach Craig Berube. "But overall our team's competing hard and working hard and playing like a team, and that's what you've got to do."

Jamie Benn recorded both goals and Tyler Seguin added two assists for the Stars, who have dropped four straight games.

Tim Thomas gave up all four scores on 29 shots in defeat.

Simmonds gave the hosts some badly-needed breathing room on his goal with 7:39 left in regulation. Vinny Lecavalier gave him a backhanded dish in the neutral zone, then Simmonds did the rest. He weaved his way into the Stars' zone from left to right, split two defensemen and beat Thomas with a hard shot to the far side.

"It hit the seven-hole on me," Thomas quipped. "That's a save that I should make. "Sometimes that's hockey, but I can guarantee you I'm going to be better for the guys moving forward from here on out."

It was 3-2 only 30 seconds later when Benn followed up a Seguin miss which caromed back into the crease off the end boards and beat Mason with a squibber through the pads.

Raffl then sailed past Stars defenseman Trevor Daley up the middle and slid a backhander through Thomas with 3:12 on the clock and the Flyers led 4-2.

Thomas was pulled for an extra skater twice in the final two-plus minutes to no avail.

Streit blew a knuckling shot past Thomas from the bottom of the circles off a left-circle faceoff win by Claude Giroux at 10:23 of the opening period.

"He [Giroux] told me where to stand and he got the puck right back to me with a perfect pass, and I just one-timed it," Streit said.

It was 2-0 at 13:21 on the ensuing Philly advantage, as Simmonds fought off a checker in front and slammed home a Scott Hartnell shot which caromed off the both posts before settling in the crease.

Mason withstood a 17-shot barrage by a reawakened Dallas in the second period, only faltering on a power-play marker by Benn with 7:12 remaining. The Stars had squandered a 31-second 5-on-3 edge just prior to the marker.

That stopped a string of 18 consecutive short-handed situations over the last five games killed off by the hosts.

Game Notes

Simmonds posted his fifth multi-goal effort of the season and second in the last three contests. His 13 power-play goals are second in the NHL only to Washington's Alex Ovechkin (20) ... Philadelphia owns a record of 30-12-3 when Giroux posts at least one point ... The Flyers, who were 2-1-6 vs. Dallas at home from 1993-2004, improved to 4-1-0 as the host against the Stars since 2007 ... Seguin extended his point streak to seven games (6G, 8A).






Related News