Pavelski scores in OT, Stars recover to defeat Flyers

DALLAS -- Joe Pavelski scored 2:13 into overtime, and the Dallas Stars recovered for a 5-4 win against the Philadelphia Flyers at American Airlines Center on Saturday.

Pavelski won it after backhanding a shot past Flyers goalie Samuel Ersson on an assist from Wyatt Johnston following a face-off.

“It’s different every time [in front of the goaltender],” said Pavelski, who also had an assist. “You’re thinking all kinds of things. When you get that much time, you want to make it count. A lot of times I’ll be shooting the puck. Today, it just felt right to make that move and I think he read it well as well, and I was able to slide it between the blocker.”

Johnston had a goal and two assists, and Jamie Benn had a goal and an assist for the Stars (3-0-1). Scott Wedgewood made 36 saves.

Travis Konecny had two short-handed goals, and Sean Walker also scored short-handed for Philadelphia (3-1-1). Noah Cates had two assists, and Ersson made 20 saves.

The three short-handed goals tied a Flyers franchise record for the most in a single game.

“I’m disappointed. I feel like this isn’t the best version of me,” Ersson said. “It [stinks]. I feel like when the guys in front of me play so well today, I feel like we earned two points. Positive still, we battled back very strong, and I think that’s something we definitely can take with us moving forward here.”

Philadelphia scored two short-handed goals in 47 seconds in the third period to force overtime. Konecny’s second of the game cut it to 4-3 at 11:58 on a shot from the bottom of the left circle. Walker tied it 4-4 at 12:45 on a 2-on-1 breakaway.

“There’s a responsibility [on the power play], obviously we’re going, trying to score. They came hard and we didn’t handle it,” Pavelski said. “It’s a lesson that early in the season you learn, it’s something you know. But when you are in those positions, you might have to come back and [defend] a little bit. Give up one, it happens occasionally on a breakaway here or there, breakdown. To give up three is unacceptable out of our group, and we were not happy with it at all.”

Johnston gave Dallas a 1-0 lead at 4:02 of the first period when he stole the puck off the stick of Scott Laughton in neutral ice and shot it past Ersson from the top of the left circle.

Tyler Seguin extended it to 2-0 at 7:52 after a point shot from Stars defenseman Ryan Suter landed at his feet and he shot it five-hole from the top of the crease.

Joel Farabee cut it to 2-1 at 10:12, deflecting a rebound on the back doorstep of the crease past a scrambling Wedgewood.

“The bench was good all night,” Flyers coach John Tortorella said. “We’d been coming back all night long, never really had the lead. They just kept on playing. It’s one of the things we talked about before the game is, especially in this building, they can get it revved up pretty good here.

“You’ve just got to handle some of the momentum swings and just keep playing. I really liked how our team handled itself as far as just staying with themselves and finding a way to crawl back in.”

Konecny tied it 2-2 at 16:36 on a short-handed breakaway that began after Cates broke up a Stars offensive zone entry at the blue line.

“I think the stats had the turnovers 13-1, I think that’s being generous for us,” Dallas coach Pete DeBoer said. “I think our puck management was horrendous. That’s the great equalizer. You can do everything else right, but if you’re going to mismanage the puck, your [defense] can’t keep gaps because they don’t trust the forwards are going to get it in.

“That’s what it looks like. We’ve got to figure that out. We’re a smarter team than that. We’re lucky we didn’t get burnt; [Wedgewood] gave us a game. I guess the silver lining is we’ve got this overtime thing figured out.”

Roope Hintz gave the Stars a 3-2 lead 30 seconds into the second period when Jason Robertson dropped a pass back to him. His shot went far side over Ersson’s blocker.

Benn made it 4-2 at 10:36 of the third period with a shot to the far-side top corner on a 2-on-1 breakaway.

“I think right from the start of camp, nobody has really credited us with anything,” Konecny said. “We’re just working hard, coming to the rink every day trying to get better, and work together as a group. Things are going well so far and we’re going to continue to stick with it and try to prove people wrong.”

NOTES: Pavelski passed Patrick Kane for sixth on the NHL’s all-time goals list among U.S.-born skaters (452 in 1,254 games played). … The Flyers scored three short-handed goals in a game three times prior: April 2, 1996 (at the New York Islanders), Jan. 13, 1985 (against the Calgary Flames) and Dec. 15, 1983 (against the Washington Capitals). They also became the first team to do so since the Flames on Nov. 25, 2018 (at ARI). … Konecny became the seventh player in Philadelphia history to score multiple short-handed goals in the same game, and the first since Simon Gagne (2 on Nov. 13, 2008 at the Pittsburgh Penguins). ... Flyers goalie Carter Hart was not in uniform. ... Tortorella said defenseman Marc Staal is expected to be out "weeks' after sustaining an upper-body injury in a 4-1 win against the Edmonton Oilers on Thursday.