Lindy Ruff was very complimentary of the Carolina Hurricanes after his Dallas Stars blew a 5-1 lead in the third period Tuesday night here at American Airlines Center.
A Patrick Sharp tally with 18 seconds left made things right again at 6-5 and saw the Stars’ point total get to 44 already- But they know they have some improvements to make after that one.
“We’ve got to put it behind us,” Tyler Seguin said after, “but there’s a lot we can learn from this game. It was a bit of a flashback to last year. We’re not going to blame our goalie and we can’t really blame one guy. It was a team effort. Obviously attention to detail wasn’t good enough tonight.”
They’re learning a lot of lessons this season, but they’re doing it while collecting points.
This evening Dallas gets a Flyers team that played in St. Louis last night, taking a big 4-2 win and two points away from the rival Blues.
Jason Demers is expected to return from injury this evening and get reunited with Johnny Oduya. Mike Heika reports that Jyrki Jokipakka could draw back in with Jordie Benn on the third pair.
Antti Niemi is expected to get the start, as Kari Lehtonen’s splits against the Flyers (1-10-3) are unfavorable, as discussed every season.
Philadelphia lost eight of ten games in a stretch that encompassed nearly all of November, but since have turned their luck around with a 6-1-1 stretch that includes wins over Central Division foes Nashville and St. Louis.
The Flyers got goals from their big guns last night in the form of Giroux, Read and Raffl, plus an empty-netter from Ryan white. They are 2-3-0 on the second night of back-to-backs this season.
Philly had a scare last night when by the first intermission defensemen Nick Schultz and Shayne Gostisbehere (Ghost is be here?) had gone to the tunnel after apparent injuries but both returned for the second so they should be good to go tonight.
Philly is hoping the have a John Klingberg situation with Gostisbehere (they call him “Ghost” up there on Twitter) as he was called up in place of injured Mark Streit and has recorded four goals and four assists in his first 13 games as an NHL rookie. So look out for #53 tonight.
Their lineup, or something like it-
Raffl-Giroux-Schenn
Read-Couturier-Simmonds
VandeVelde-Bellemare-Voracek
Umberger-Laughton-White
Del Zotto-Gudas
Schultz-Medvedev
Manning-Gostisbehere
Even without Mark Streit, Sam Gagner and Luke Schenn that’s a pretty salty group there in some places, and if “Ghost” is an dynamic as they say they may have something here after their 7-10-5 start.
They received a very strong performance from Michal Neuvirth in goal last night as he grabbed 35 of 37 shots against, and Tim Panaccio (Philly beat writer) says don’t be surprised if he plays again tonight.
From Stars PR:
FLY AWAY HOME
The Dallas Stars and Philadelphia Flyers meet for the second and final time of the 2015-16 season on Friday night at American Airlines Center. The Stars won the first meeting of the season, 2-1, at Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia. Stars captain Jamie Benn (1-1=2) and forward Tyler Seguin (1-1=2) each recorded multi-point games with goaltender Antti Niemi stopping 34-of-35 shots. Dallas has collected points in three of their last four home games against the Flyers (1-1-2) and in four of their last five overall (3-1-1) against them. In the most recent game played against Philadelphia at American Airlines Center on Oct. 18, 2014, the Flyers defeated the Stars, 6-5, in overtime.
OH CAPTAIN, MY CAPTAIN
Stars captain Jamie Benn tallied a season-best four points (1-3=4) on Tuesday night against the Carolina Hurricanes. Benn leads the NHL with 19 goals this season and is tied for second with 39 points (19-20=39). Benn has has tallied at least one point in 21 of the first 28 games this season and has now recorded a point in 33 of his last 43 games (31-33=64) dating back to last season. Since being named captain before the start of the 2013-14 season, Benn has tallied at least one point in 126 of 191 games (87-117=205), the most games with a point of any NHL skater over that span. The native of Victoria, B.C. has nine points (4-5=9) in nine career games against the Flyers and has notched points in seven of his last eight games (4-5=9) against them. In his first game of the season against Philadelphia, Benn tallied two points (1-1=2) and the game-winning goal.