Opening a four-game homestand, John Tortorella's Philadelphia Flyers (24-14-6) will take on Pete DeBoer's Dallas Stars (26-12-5) at Wells Fargo Center on Thursday evening. Game time is 7:00 p.m. ET.
The game will be televised on NBCSP. The radio broadcast is on 97.5 The Fanatic with an online simulcast on Flyers Radio 24/7.
This is the second and final meeting of the season series between the teams and the lone game in Philadelphia. At the American Airlines Center in Dallas on October 22, the Stars beat the Flyers in overtime, 5-4. The Flyers recovered from deficits of 2-0 (first period) and 4-2 (third period) to force overtime. Philly lost in sudden death as Joe Pavelski scored moments after a faceoff to end the game. Two shorthanded goals by Travis Konecny and one by Sean Walker keyed the Flyers' comebacks in regulation.
The Flyers have been a strong road team this season (14-6-4) but will be looking over the homestand to improve on their 10-8-2 mark at the Wells Fargo Center. The Stars have been very good regardless of venue, going 12-4-3 in away matches to go along with their 14-8-2 home record. Thursday's game marks the start of a four-game eastern road trip for Dallas.
Here are five things to watch on Thursday:
1. No start-of-homestand letdowns
The Flyers have won four games in a row and swept a difficult three-game road trip despite missing the services of top-line center Sean Couturier (minor injury) and recently acquired defenseman Jamie Drysdale (illness) the last two games. It was an impressive accomplishment, especially in shutting out the Winnipeg Jets to end Winnpeg's eight-game winning streak and 14-game (12-0-2) point streak.
The Flyers have been a very busy team of late: five games in eight nights across four cities and two time zones with over-and-back border crossings along the way. Following Monday's victory in St. Louis, the team returned home to Philadelphia overnight.
An originally scheduled practice on Wednesday in Voorhees was canceled to give everyone an extra day to recuperate. The Flyers have now had back-to-back days off at home, and are a rested team for the homestand.
However, it's been a hockey truism that the first game of a lengthy homestand -- especially when coming off a successful road trip -- can often be an elusive one to win. The Dallas Stars are far too good of an opponent for the Flyers to overcome without churning out the same workmanlike performances that spurred the wins over the Jets and Blues.
The availability of Couturier and/or Drysdale for Thursday's game is unknown as of this writing. The Flyers will hold a 10:30 a.m. ET morning skate at Flyers Training Center on gameday. At that time, the statuses of the the two players along with the confirmation of whether Carter Hart (12-8-3, 2.67 GAA, .912 SV%, one shutout) or Samuel Ersson (11-5-3, 2.33 GAA, .910 SV%, three shutouts) will start against Dallas.
2. Flyers center stepping up
In the absence of Couturier, the Flyers rotated three centers against Winnipeg. In St. Louis, Noah Cates returned to the lineup for the first time since sustaining a broken foot on November 25, enabling the Flyers to have a full complement of centers available. All four Flyers centers -- Morgan Frost, Scott Laughton, Ryan Poehling, and Cates -- stepped up big for the team.
Frost, who has five points (2g, 3a) in his last six games, generated a slew of attack time and scoring chances in both the Winnipeg and (especially) the St. Louis game. In fact, the Flyers' revised top line in the latter game with Owen Tippett and Travis Konecny flanking Frost, collectively had a dominating performance. Frost contributed assists in each of the two games.
Laughton logged a massive 24:50 of ice time in Winnipeg (he played every other shift in most of the third period, with Frost and Poehling alternating the second). He provided tenacious checking all night. In St. Louis, he opened the scoring with his fourth goal of the season.
Poehling used his speed and checking ability effectively in 16:06 of ice time in Winnipeg, while also going 11-for-16 on faceoffs. In St. Louis, Poehling batted a rebound into the net (5th goal of the season) to give the Flyers a 2-1 lead. He also went 9-for-13 on faceoffs.
Cates did not get on the scoresheet in St. Louis. Nevertheless, in his return game, Cates provided strong two-way play -- the Flyers' fourth line generated forechecking pressure for the first time in several weeks -- and also won three of four faceoffs.
If Couturier is able to return against the Stars, it would be a boon to the Flyers. It's possible the Flyers could return Cates to a wing. He was on wing at the time of the injury on November 25. In fact, it was arguably the player's best shift-to-shift offensive game of the 2023-24 season. If Couturier is not ready to return, Cates is certain to remain at center.
3. Tipp-ing point
Owen Tippett has tallied a goal in four of his last five games (4g, 1a, 5 points). In the game against St. Louis, he generated 10 shots on goal (11 attempted) and was knocking on the door of a goal all night until he tallied the game-winning goal in the third period.
Coincidentally or not, Tippett's scoring surge and increased shooting accuracy of late has overlapped with a switch to Travis Konecny's stick model. It's possible the stick change has provided a little more control of his shots. Rather than missing the net (and often rimming out), the pucks have been on target of late. Tippett has registered 26 shots on goal over the Flyers' last five games.
With Tippett (16g, 11a in 44 games played this season), it's never a question of whether he will use his combination of side and speed effectively to take the puck to the net. Rather, it's sometimes been a matter of shot selection and finding the seams when he doesn't have the puck so a teammate can set him up in scoring range. Of late, he's been firing on all cylinders.
4. Flyers special teams vs. Dallas special teams
The Flyers went 0-for-2 on the power play against the Blues and 2-for-3 on the penalty kill. One of the Philadelphia power plays was abbreviated (54 seconds). The latter was a full two minutes. On this power play, Tyson Foerster was set up at point blank range by Frost, but was unable to finish the chance. The Flyers saw their five-game power play scoring streak end.
The Flyers' power play enters Thursday's game ranked last (32nd) in the NHL at 12.2 percent success (17-for-139, two shorthanded) goals allowed. The penalty kill dropped a spot on Monday but still ranks second in the NHL at 86.3 percent (opponents are 19-for-139). The Flyers are tied for the NHL shorthanded goal lead with 10 (five by Konecny, two by Walker, one apiece for Poehling, Laughton and Garnet Hathaway).
Dallas, meanwhile, has been very good throughout the season on both sides of special teams.
The Stars' power play checks into Thursday's game ranked 10th in the NHL at 23.3 percent (28-for-120, three shorthanded goals allowed. Dallas' penalty kill ranks third in the NHL at 84.9 percent (opponents are 21-for-139).
The Stars share the NHL lead for shorthanded goals with the Flyers and Flames at 10 apiece. Roope Hintz, Wyatt Johnston, Radek Faksa and Sam Steel have scored two SHGs apiece, while team captain Jamie Benn and defenseman Thomas Harley have each chipped in one.
5. Behind Enemy Lines: Dallas Stars
The Stars have four of their last five games and bring back-to-back wins into Thursday's match with the Flyers. On Saturday in Chicago, the Stars earned a 3-1 win over the Blackhawks. On Tuesday of this week, Dallas skated to an impressive victory over the recently struggling LA Kings.
Hintz (18th goal of the season). Evgenii Dadonov (10th), and Wyatt Johnston (12th) each had a goal and an assist, while Steel (5th) scored a mid-third period shorthanded goal and the seemingly ageless Pavelski (18th) tallied a point for the fourth straight game (3g.1a). Jason Robertson notched his 29th and 30th assists of the season. NHL All-Star Game selection Jake Oettinger turned aside 31 of 32 shots.
Robertson got off to a slow start this season but has been making opponents pay ever since. He leads the Stars with 45 points (15g) in 45 games. Hintz is second with 40 points in 41 games, followed by Pavelski's 39 points and Matt Duchene's 39 points (14g, 25a).
Eight different Stars players have tallied at least 10 goals to date this season. Former Art Ross Trophy winner Benn, now 34 years old, has posted eight goals and 29 points.
In goal, Oettinger has appeared in 24 games (13-8-2 record, 2.87 GAA, .905 SV%, one shutout) while Scott Wedgewood has made 19 starts and one relief appearance (12-4-3, 3.03 GAA, .897 SV%).Wedgewood was unavailable for the game against LA, as Matt Murray backed up Oettinger. However, Murray has since been returned to the AHL's Texas Stars.
Entering Thursday's game, the Stars are the NHL's third highest-scoring team (3.67 goals per game) and rank in a tie for 13th defensively with a 3.00 team GAA. By comparison, the Flyers rank 24th offensively (2.86 GPG) and seventh defensively (2.68 team GAA).
The Stars are a strong 5-on-5 puck possession team, both in terms of shot attempt quantity (52.58 percent team Corsi, ranked 7th) and shot attempt quality (53.17 percent expected goals share, ranked fifth in the NHL). The Flyers are 16th in team Corsi (50.06 percent share) and 12th in expected goals share (51.37 percent) at 5-on-5.
On most nights, Miro Heiskanen (37 games played, 4g, 23a, 25:03 average TOI) logs massive ice time for the Stars. He leads Stars' blueliners in scoring, but is currently day-to-day with a lower-body injury after missing six games. He's traveled with the team on the road trip. He has 20 points in his last 24 games played. In his absence, Harley has seen increased minutes as well as PP1 time.
Offensively this season, Heiskanen is followed by Harley (9g, 12a, 19:35 TOI) and Esa Lindell (3g, 15a, 20:02 TOI).
