FLYERS-STARS WRAPUP: PHILLY FREE FALL CONTINUES
The Philadelphia Flyers got exactly the type of start they wanted on Tuesday at the Wells Fargo Center, jumping out to a quick 1-0 lead on the Dallas Stars and dominating play for the first half of the opening period. Thereafter, the worm turned and the Stars went on to earn a 2-1 regulation win.
Kari Lehtonen turned back 25 of 26 shots to earn his first career victory against the Flyers in 14 decisions. After Luke Schenn scored a goal on a point shot through a screen at 1:13 of the first period, the big Finn was outstanding. The win was the first for the Stars in Philadelphia since 2007.
Flyers goaltender Steve Mason was arguably even better than Lehtonen; albeit in a losing cause. Mason stopped 37 of 39 shots, including numerous spectacular saves. Somehow he got the game to the third period tied and kept the Flyers in the game until the end.
Mason would have had to make a tremendous save to come up with the first Dallas goal. He had no shot at stopping the game-winner in the third period. The Stars outshot the Flyers by a 30-12 margin over the final 40 minutes after the Flyers had a 14-9 shot edge in the opening period. The disparity was 35-15 from the midpoint of the first period onward.
Dallas knotted the game at 1-1 at 11:23 of the first period. After a Flyers turnover near the Dallas blueline, Jordie Benn triggered his team off on the counterattack. Curtis McKenzie threaded a pass through Luke Schenn and Brett Ritchie scored from the hash marks at the left circle, beating Mason to the glove side.
The Flyers are a team that lives and dies with its power play to produce offense. On this night, they died. Dallas killed off all three Philadelphia man advantages and used the kills to generate some momentum.
At 13:50 of the third period, veteran Stars checking center Vernon Fiddler won the game for his team. Ryan Garbutt poked a loose puck past Carlo Colaiacovo in the Dallas zone and the Stars generated a counterattack. With Colaiacovo in fruitless pursuit, Fiddler made a beeline for the Flyers' net and received a Colton Sceviour pass on the doorstep. From there, Fiddler jammed the puck between the goalie's skates from point blank range as Mason made a desperation lateral slide and nearly made the stop.
Both teams got unlucky a few times during the game. For instance, Antoine Roussel had a chance to put the game away for Dallas in the third period from the lower slot with a lot of net staring at him. The puck bounced on him and the shot ticked off the post.
For Philadelphia, Jakub Voracek (six shots, nine shot attempts) in particular had several outstanding scoring chances. At the end of the game, Voracek broke his stick and flung the remnants. Voracek earned a secondary assist on Luke Schenn's early-game goal, but that was of no consolation.
POSTGAME NOTES
* R.J. Umberger was a healthy scratch for the Flyers. Vincent Lecavalier returned to the lineup. Additionally, defenseman Nicklas Grossmann (four credited hits, one block in 16:23 of ice time) made his return from a four-game absence due to an upper-body injury. With veteran Carlo Colaiacovo remaining in the lineup, rookie Brandon Manning was a healthy scratch.
* Coupled with the Boston Bruins' 3-1 win over Ottawa, the Flyer are now nine points out the final wildcard spot in the Eastern Conference.
* On Sunday, the Flyers played a New Jersey team that ranked 27th in the NHL offensively. Philadelphia yielded five goals. On Tuesday, the Flyers played a Dallas team that ranked tied for 27th defensively and was starting four rookies on the blueline (John Klingberg, Patrik Nemeth, Jyrki Jokipakka and Jamie Oleksiak). Philly managed one goal for the game and 12 measly shots on goal after the first period.
* After the game, Steve Mason told the media that he was unhappy with the team's effort in this game. Said Mason, "I’m embarrassed. I hope everybody else is embarrassed because we have an effort like that at home in situations where we have to come up big, and we come up empty. We have to be a lot better.”
* Jakub Voracek had a different take, focusing instead on the scoring chances the Flyers had and did not translate into goals. "I think we were dominating all game long. We had so many scoring chances especially in the second period. A couple good looks in front. I think we created a lot. We just scored one goal which in this game was not enough," said Voracek.
* Flyers head coach Craig Berube's take on the game: "I thought that [Dallas] turned it up in the second period. I thought that the third period we missed the net too many times, we had some opportunities and missed the net. But in the second period they turned it up. I thought that they skated better than us in the second period.”
* Stars goaltender Kari Lehtonen on his save on a puck that Voracek knocked out of the air: "It was really nifty move. I don’t think it touched the ice. My blocker was in the right spot. I didn’t have time to move or react. It was quick play. There were couple other chances Voracek had. I got lucky in net on couple of them. So have to be happy about that. Good or bad."
* The Flyers will practice at the Skate Zone in Voorhees at 11:30 a.m. on Wednesday. On Thursday, the club has a road game against the St. Louis Blues.
********
READER POLL: WHO DESERVES THE BOBBY CLARKE TROPHY?
Through the first half of the season, right winger Jakub Voracek was the field leader for the Bobby Clarke Trophy (Flyers team MVP) by a country mile. In fact, he was a viable candidate for the Hart Trophy as most valuable player in the entire National Hockey League. Voracek has not found as much success since the calendar flipped to 2015, especially since the All-Star break, but is still a solid candidate for the Clarke trophy.
Despite Steve Mason's losing record on the season -- including a record of 1-10-5 on the road -- and injury-related absences in late Decemeber and much of the month of February, a case could be made that the Flyers' goaltender has been the team's best and most consistent player this season.
Even during the month of October, when he had ugly stats, it was more a matter of a terrible team defense in front of him. In the 2015 calendar year, there has only been one game (March 8 in New Jersey) where he's given up more than two goals in regulation. The game in New Jersey is also the only time since Nov. 14 that Mason has yielded more than three regulation goals.
In the second half of the season, Wayne Simmonds has arguably been the Flyers' most consistent offensive threat. He also got off to red-hot start in early October. Even when Simmonds doesn't score, he is often a positive tone-setter with his forechecking game and overall grit and physical presence. The right winger has also fared very well in shootouts and has served as one of the team's most vocal leaders. On the flip side, Simmonds is very much a streak scorer and he has had some lengthy droughts in between scoring goals in bunches.
Flyers captain Claude Giroux has had an excellent season on the power play and the faceoff circle but has experienced a mystifying drought at even strength. He does not have an even strength goal at home for the entire season. Nevertheless, there have been many games that the Flyers have won in which Giroux has been a catalyst in ways that may or may not show up in the box score.
Philadelphia Flyers Blogger •NHL.com • 
Join the Discussion:
»