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East-leading Flyers down Stars

Feb 6, 2011 - 4:00 AM Philadelphia, PA (Sports Network) - Brian Boucher stopped 30-of-31 shots as Philadelphia downed Dallas, 3-1.

Boucher earned his first win since January 16 and improved to 12-6-2 on the year as Philadelphia extended its lead over idle Pittsburgh to three points in the race for the Atlantic Division and for the top spot in the East.

Andrej Meszaros, Darroll Powe, and Jeff Carter tallied for the Flyers, who have won two in a row and eight of 10 overall.

Brenden Morrow provided the lone offense for the Stars, who have lost three straight and five of six to suddenly put their Pacific Division lead in jeopardy.

Kari Lehtonen took the loss after allowing all three goals on 32 shots.

Carter gave the Flyers some breathing room with 9:23 left in the third period, when he knocked down a high pass in the left circle and shot the puck through traffic and past Lehtonen.

Dallas had few quality chances down the stretch, and failed to mount an attack with an extra skater in the final 1:33 of regulation.

After Philadelphia came up empty on a pair of power play chances earlier in the first period, Meszaros got the Flyers on the board with a wrister from the left circle with 1:20 left in the frame.

Ville Leino set up the score when he was able to carry the puck from the left wing all the way behind the Dallas net and out the other side. Meszaros moved from the right wing to the left before releasing his fourth goal of the year.

"I just tried to find a shooting range that was waiting, because two guys were going down," Meszaros said. "I was just a little bit patient and burst it in, and I guess the goalie didn't see it, so it just went in."

Dallas skated with a carry-over power play into the second period, but Powe snapped a wrister over Lehtonen's glove from the right wing at 1:19 for a short-handed tally.

"That was a big goal for them, no doubt," Morrow said. "We came back and made it 2-1 after that. There are momentum changes all throughout games. That was a big goal for them, but I thought we answered it pretty well."

Morrow put the Stars on the board with 7:53 to go in the second, when he batted in a Mike Ribeiro rebound from the top of the crease.

Game Notes

Philadelphia has beaten Dallas in four straight meetings since November, 2008...Powe hadn't scored since November 15...Flyers forward Blair Betts had an assist, his first point since November 26...Dallas fell to 2-5-6 in Philadelphia since moving from Minnesota in 1993.