5 THINGS: Flyers @ Stars

In the third match of a four-game road trip, John Tortorella's Philadelphia Flyers (29-35-13) are in the Lone Star State on Thursday to take on Peter DeBoer's Dallas Stars (42-21-14). Game time at the American Airlines Center is 8:30 p.m, EDT.

GAME NOTES
The game will be televised on NBCSP. The radio feed with be on 93.3 WMMR with an online simulcast on Flyers Radio 24/7.
This is the second and final meeting of the season between the clubs, and the only game in Dallas. At the Wells Fargo Center back on Nov. 13,, the Flyers fell to the Stars by a 5-1 score.
So far on the current road trip, the Flyers have lost by identical 4-2 scores to the Pittsburgh Penguins and St. Louis Blues. In both games, the Flyers trailed 3-0 in the third period, scored twice to draw back with a single goal but were unable to find an equalizer before yielding empty net goals. Samuel Ersson absorbed the loss in goal in both games.
Here are five things to look for tonight.
1. Hart Back in Net?
Flyers No. 1 goalie Carter Hart (21-21-10, 2.90 GAA, .909 SV%, two shutouts) has missed the last five games with a lower-body injury sustained during the morning skate prior to the team's March 28 home game against the Montreal Canadiens.
Hart is on the road trip with his team, and has been working out since this past weekend. On Wednesday, the Flyers reassigned Ersson (6-3-0, 3.07 GAA, .899 save percentage, one shutout) back to the Lehigh Valley Phantoms. This is a hopeful sign that Hart is ready to return to the net to start against Dallas.
If Hart is able to back up but not quite ready to start, Felix Sandström (2-11-3, 3.64 GAA, .882 SV%) would get the starting nod tonight. There will be more clarity later this morning when the Flyers hold their morning skate at the American Airlines Center, and Tortorella addresses the media.
After tonight, only four games will remain in the Flyers' 2022-23 season: Saturday on the road against the New York Islanders, Sunday at home against the President's Trophy winning Boston Bruins, next Tuesday at home against the Columbus Blue Jackets and next Thursday on the road against Chicago.
2. Milestone Watches: Farabee, Frost and JVR
Despite missing a total of 22 games this season due a right hand injury suffered in November and an upper-body issue sustained in February, Travis Konecny leads the Flyers in scoring this season with 56 points (29g, 27a) in 55 games to be the only Philadelphia player averaging a point per game overall for the season.
The 26-year-old Konecny will achieve the first 30-goal season of his NHL career with a goal tonight or within the subsequently remaining four games. His previous high in goals was 24, attained three straight seasons between 2017-18 to 2019-20. Konecny needs five points over the remaining five games to match his current single-season career high in points (61 points during the 2019-20 season).
Since Dec. 1, Morgan Frost is the Flyers' leading scorer with 38 points (16g, 22a) over the club's last 54 games played. Narrowing it to the 40-game time period since New Year's, Frost tops the team with 29 points overall (five more than runner-up Scott Laughton), 25 even strength points (seven more than Laughton and Noah Cates), and 17 assists (one more than Tony DeAngelo). Frost's 12 goals in that span also lead the team (one more than Owen Tippett).
Note: Konecny is still the Flyers' leading points per game (0.88) and goals per game (0.46) player in the 24 games he's been able to play since New Year's.
Frost enters tonight's game needing one goal over the rest of the season in order to attain a 20-goal campaign in the 23-year-old center's first full season in the NHL. He needs two points the rest of the way for a 45-point season and seven points over the final five games to attain a 50-point season. His current five-game point streak (5g, 2a, seven points) is a career-high to date.
James van Riemsdyk has had a disappointing season in the final year of his second stint with the Flyers. However, after scoring a deflection goal in Tuesday's game at St. Louis, JVR sits on the brink of a major career milestone: He needs just one goal to achieve 300 in his regular season NHL career.
Tonight's game will be the 523rd of JVR's two stints in Philadelphia. He will tie Murray Craven for 32nd on the Flyers' all-time games played list. If van Riemsdyk dresses in all the remaining games and gets to 527, he will also surpass the late Ilkka Sinisalo (526 GP) for 31st on the all-time franchise list.
3. Sustained "Compete Level"
Flyers assistant coach Rocky Thompson is a well-liked a highly respected figure within the team's dressing room who has established an excellent rapport with many of the team's forwards.
As with most assistant coach dynamics, it is Thompson and fellow assistants Brad Shaw, Darryl Williams and goalie coach Kim Dillabaugh who do more direct work with players on a daily basis than head coach Tortorella. Head coaches focus on the macro details of getting the team ready to play, assessing performance and making lineup and strategic decisions.
Recently, in fhree of the Flyers' last four games, Tortorella has not been behind the bench. He tabbed Shaw to serve as acting head coach for two games. Thompson ran the bench for the game in St. Louis and the apparent plan is for him to do it again in Dallas. Williams will also get at least one of the remaining games.
In Tuesday's game in St. Louis, the Flyers came out flat and played with markedly low energy for the first and second periods (especially the former). While Thompson prefers to strike a positive-minded tone with players in his assistant coaching role, he had to get stern in his second intermission locker room comments to the players.
"I said it's not about X's and O's. Quite frankly, it looks like some guys in here don't even care. Not trying. I said I'm not going to call anybody out but your teammates know and you know. I'll give everybody here another chance," Thompson said.
Thompson also issued an ultimatum: Even with the team playing for the fourth time in six nights (across four different cities), he would bench anyone who did not take advantage of the teamwide clean slate he was offering for the third period. Overall, the Flyers found a way to dig deep and make it two-thirds of the way back on the scoreboard (plus another would-be goal that was disallowed).
Tonight, the Flyers will be playing their fifth game in eight nights and they've got a very tough opponent with whom to deal. Taking off a period or two is not an option.
4. Flyers Line Play
It is not out of the realm of possibility that the Flyers could make line combination alterations and/or personnel tweaks to Thursday's starting lineup from Tuesday's starting combos. Combos were juggled in the third period last game.
If the Flyers go back to Tuesday's starting lineup, it could look like this:
74 Owen Tippett - 48 Morgan Frost - 11 Travis Konecny
86 Joel Farabee - 49 Noah Cates - 57 Wade Allison
25 James van Riemsdyk - 13 Kevin Hayes - 21 Scott Laughton
44 Nicolas Deslauriers xxxxx - 22 Brendan Lemieux
9 Ivan Provorov - 45 Cam York
6 Travis Sanheim - 55 Rasmus Ristolainen
24 Nick Seeler - 77 Tony DeAngelo
47 Ronnie Attard
79 Carter Hart
[32 Felix Sandström]
Available: 20 Kieffer Bellows, 58 Tanner Laczynski, 61 Justin Braun.
If the Flyers come back instead with the combos that played in the third period, it would look more like this:
Tippett- Cates - Konecny
Farabee - Frost - Allison
JVR - Laughton - Deslauriers
Hayes - xxxxxx - Lemieux
5. Behind Enemy Lines: Dallas Stars
The Stars have already clinched a playoff spot in the Western Conference. With a win tonight, Dallas will achieve a 100-point season. The biggest keys to the Stars' success:
* Excellent goaltending from Jake Oettinger (33-11-11, 2.47 GAA, .917 SV%, four shutouts) and capable backup work from Scott Wedgewood (8-8-3, 2.81 GAA, .915 SV%, one shutout).
* Jason Robertson has blossomed even further this year from rising young star to a 23-year-old bonafide superstar. Originally a Stars second-round pick (39th overall) in the 2017 NHL Entry Draft, Robertson has racked up 43 goals, 58 assists, 101 points and a traditional plus-33 in 77 games played to date.
* Stingy team defense. The Stars rank 7th in the NHL with a team 2.73 GAA) and 9th for the fewest shots allowed per game. Oettinger and Wedgewood have taken care of the rest.
* A resurgent season from 33-year-old team captain Jamie Benn. It wasn't all that long ago that there were fears that former Art Ross Trophy winner (2015-16) and Hart Trophy finalist (same season) Benn was in an irreversible decline. He's put that talk to rest this season with 32 goals and 72 points in 77 games: Benn's highest goal total and highest points output since 2017-18.
* Deep offense with contributions across multiple lines. At age 38, Joe Pavelski is still ticking (25 goals, 72 points). Big-framed center Roope Hintz (35 goals, 70 points) has played well in all three zones. Miro Heiskanen (68 points, 25:34 TOI) anchors the defense.
* Hard team to target matchups. The Stars, as a team, are plus-24 in their 5-on-5 goal differential (165 GF to 141 GA), rank 3rd in the NHL in penalty killing efficiency (83.2 percent success rate) and 7th on the power play (24.0 percent).
For these reasons, the Stars are a club that's capable of a deep run in the Stanley Cup playoffs. First order of business: try to win the Central Division championship and play a wildcard team in the Conference Quarterfinals rather than the dreaded 2 vs. 3 divisional matchup.
The Stars, the defending Stanley Cup champion Colorado Avalanche and the Minnesota Wild all have 98 points on the season. The Central Division championship is very much up for grabs, although the Avalanche currently hold one game in hand over Dallas and Minnesota. Dallas holds the tiebreaker edge with 35 regulation wins to the 32 regulation wins that the Avalanche and Wild have earned to date.
Left winger Mason Marchment is out of the lineup while dealing with a knee injury. He is expected to return in the playoffs. Joel Kiviranta was a healthy scratch last game, with Fredrik Olofsson slotting into the lineup in his place. Kiviranta is available for tonight's game if DeBoer chooses to dress the player.
Potential lineup (subject to change)
21 Jason Robertson - 24 Roope Hintz - 16 Joe Pavelski
14 Jamie Benn - 53 Wyatt Johnston - 63 Evgenii Dadonov
18 Max Domi - 91 Tyler Seguin - 10 Ty Dellandrea
42 Fredrik Olofsson - 12 Radek Faksa - 11 Luke Glendening
4 Miro Heiskanen - 20 Ryan Suter
23 Esa Lindell - 2 Jani Hakanpää
6 Colin Miller ´- 55 Thomas Harley
29 Jake Oettinger
[41 Scott Wedgewood]