PREVIEW: FLYERS @ STARS

Dave Hakstol's Philadelphia Flyers (12-11-6) are in Texas on Friday night to take on the team with the best record in the NHL, Lindy Ruff's Dallas Stars (21-5-2). Game time at the American Airlines Center is 8:30 p.m. ET. The game will be televised in the Delaware Valley on TCN Philadelphia and in Texas on Fox Sports Southwest.

This is the second and final meeting of the season between the inter-conference clubs. On Oct. 20 in Philadelphia, goals by Tyler Seguin in the final minute of the first period and by Jamie Benn on the opening shift of the second period proved to be the difference in a 2-1 Dallas victory in regulation. Antti Niemi played a strong game in goal for Dallas, yielding only an unpreventable early third goal that bounced into the net off the body of Flyers' center Sean Couturier.

On paper, at least, the pregame optics of Friday's match skew in Dallas' favor if only because of a potential cumulative fatigue factor for Philadelphia as the game progresses.

The Stars have been home in Dallas all week and have had two idle nights on the schedule. Ruff and his assistant coaching staff have been able to conduct two practice days to prepare the team for this game. Meanwhile, the Flyers will be playing for the third time (in three different cities) over four nights, and playing the second half of back-to-back games.

After this game, the Flyers will have a three-night break before hosting the Carolina Hurricanes on Tuesday at the Wells Fargo Center. The Stars will be right back in action on Saturday, visiting the St. Louis Blues,

Flyers Outlook

The Flyers have taken at least one point in 10 of the last 13 games (7-3-3), and have won four in a row on the road. Thus far, the Flyers have played very good hockey in each of the first two segments of the current three-in-four stretch against high-grade NHL opposition. However, this game will be a severe test of the Flyers' stamina and will. Dallas is the NHL's highest-scoring team and arguably the fastest as well.

On Thursday, the Flyers left St. Louis with a hard-fought 4-2 victory as their reward.

After a scoreless and evenly played first period, the Flyers got off to a slow early start in the second period and fell behind on a goal by Blues forward Robby Fabbri. To their credit, however, the Flyers bounced right back and went on to dominate the rest of the second period with a decided territorial advantage and a three-goal blitz on the scoreboard.

On a sequence that started with team captain Claude Giroux winning a faceoff and Brayden Schenn making a beautiful pass after winning a battle on the walls, Michael Raffl went to the front of the net with his stick on the ice and tipped in the Schenn feed to knot the score shortly after the Fabbri goal.

The rest of the period belonged to the Flyers, and they got rewarded for it in the scoreboard. Matt Read put Philly ahead on a second-effort play right in front of the net on the rebound of a Michael Del Zotto shot after Wayne Simmonds controlled the boards. With 1:54 left in the middle frame, Giroux scored a gorgeous goal off the rush, finishing it off by turning St. Louis goaltender Brian Elliott inside out and then calmly sliding the puck into the net. Schenn got the primary assist.

The third period was hairy. The Flyers spent much of the final 20 minutes playing defense and an early period power play rebound goal by David Backes brought the Blues back within a goal with 12:43 still left on the clock. Philly survived a 14-7 shot disadvantage and went on tack on a long-distance empty net goal by Ryan White to seal a 4-2 win.

Giroux assisted on the empty-netter to complete a stellar all-around game with three points added to his individual stats. He has now scored at least one career goal against every opponent in the NHL.

Michal Neuvirth played brilliantly in goal for the Flyers in St. Louis, turning back 35 of 37 shots with numerous tough saves along the way. With usual number one goalie Steve Mason having had hiccups in each of his last two starts, there is a chance that Neuvirth could get the nod in Dallas simply to try to ride the hotter hand against the league's most potent club. However, regardless of who is in goal, the Flyers must give their goalie a fair chance to make saves.

The Flyers beat St. Louis outright because of superior five-on-five play in the game. That has been one of the most notable areas of improvement during the Flyers' recent upswing, and is an encouraging sign because even strength play is less subject to hot-and-cold streaks in the way that special teams play is. The Flyers' penalty kill, for instance, had been on a roll but they've been giving up some goals of late. The power play looked great in the New York Islanders game, but did not score; a would-be goal was overturned on replay.

Giroux leads the Flyers with 11 goals, 16 assists and 27 points in 29 games. He is followed by Wayne Simmonds (seven goals, nine assists, 16 points), Jakub Voracek (one goal, 14 assists, 15 points) and Brayden Schenn (six goals, eight assists, 14 points). In 13 games since his recall from the AHL, offensive-minded rookie defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere has contributed four goals (three on the power play, two in overtime), four assists and eight points.

Luke Schenn sustained a left foot or ankle injury in the Dec. 5 game. He is officially out for approximately two weeks from that date. Sam Gagner (concussion, laceration) has been out since the Nov. 23 game against Carolina. He was retroactively placed on the injured reserve list on Monday. Gagner hopes to be available to play next week. Defenseman Mark Streit is on long-term injured reserve for surgery to repair a displaced pubic plate. Streit is expected to miss approximately six weeks from Nov. 17. He has resumed skating on his own.

Stars Outlook

Dallas has racked up at least one point from nine of their last 10 games (7-1-2) to strengthen their grip over the Western Conference and overtake the Montreal Canadies for the NHL's best overall record.

The Stars have mowed down their opposition pretty much all season, save for a bad second game of the season and couple of poor games against the Toronto Maple Leafs in November among their five regulation losses. Dallas possesses the deadliest first line in the NHL, plenty of offensive depth behind it, fast-rising young standout defenseman John Klingberg, and just enough of an upgrade in team defense and goaltending from last year to win most every night.

Not all is carefree for the Stars, however. Of late, the team has sometimes reverted to playing in a way that proved unsustainable last season: playing very loose team defense and relying on outscoring their gaffes. Getting back to a more consistent 200-foot game has been the message the team has been preaching during the two days leading up to the Flyers' arrival.

On Tuesday, the Stars built leads of 4-0 and 5-1 against the visiting Carolina Hurricanes. Patrick Eaves, Jamie Benn, Johnny Oduya, Seguin and third-year pro Valeri Nichushkin (who is now back on the top line) gave Dallas a four-goal cushion heading into the final stanza. The Stars then promptly squandered the huge lead in a nearly disastrous final 20 minutes.

Starting goalie Kari Lehtonen (25 saves on 30 shots) was pulled after yielding a short-side goal as Carolina tied the game at 5-5 with 6:43 remaining. Niemi came in and somehow managed to become the winning goaltender despite not seeing a single shot on goal. That happened because, with a shade less than 19 seconds left in regulation and the Stars on a power play, Patrick Sharp scored his 10th goal of the season and rescued a regulation win.

The Stars' third-period near collapse against Carolina was not an isolated incident this month. December started with the Stars blowing a three-goal lead in the third period against Calgary and settling for one point in a 4-3 loss via shootout. Back in late November, the Stars were on the wrong end of a 7-4 score at home against the Ottawa Senators. That game was the Stars' lone regulation loss in their last 10 matches.

Over the bulk of the season, however, the Stars have played much better two-way hockey than they did a year ago. The Stars often dominate territorially and they've backchecked more diligently than last season. Being a middle-of-the-pack defensive team is fine when the offense is so stacked. Last year, the Stars were brutal defensively and the goaltending was inconsistent. That was why the team missed the playoffs.

Having two viable goaltending options has been a boon after years of struggling to win whenever Lehtonen's various backups played. Also, the additions of former Chicago Blackhawks Sharp and Johnny Oduya have been important to creating a winning atmosphere. The Stars no longer just hope to win; they expect it, night after night.

Lastly, the addition of Jeff Reese as goaltending coach and the handling of the goaltending roation has helped both Lehtonen and Niemi bounce back quickly after the periodic bad outing. When one goalie plays well, he's rewarded with a run of starts but neither goalie ever goes too long without playing. The delicate balance has been managed almost perfectly, and it helps immensely that countrymen Lehtonen and Niemi have quickly bonded as friends and teammates while pushing each other to play. The Flyers have a similar thing going with Mason and Neuvirth, but Dallas has the superior record. Given their respective career records against the Flyers and the way Tuesday's game went, Niemi is the more likely starter on Friday.

Defending Art Ross Trophy winner Jamie Benn is five points behind Chicago's Patrick Kane for the overall NHL scoring lead but is on a better pace than last year, leads the Rocket Richard Trophy race (most goals) and leads the Stars with 19 goals, 20 assists and 39 points in 28 games. He is followed by linemate Seguin (15 goals, 24 assists, 39 points), the still-improving Klingberg (five goals, 25 assists, 30 points, plus-11 at even strength), Sharp (10 goals, 12 assists, 22 points), veteran second line center Jason Spezza (11 goals, 19 points) and underrated two-way center Cody Eakin (seven goals, 13 points).

Ruff is notorious for juggling lines both in-game and between games. Benn and Seguin have played with a host of different linemates. Sometimes Seguin shifts from center to right wing when Ruff wants to put Spezza with the top duo.

Of late, however, Nichhuskin has been placed on the top line right wing at even strength. Two years ago, the Russian seemed poised to become a fixture on the top line. Last year, he had a lost season due largely to injury. For much of his NHL career to date, Nichushkin has been handled with a tough love approach by Ruff which has periodically included being a healthy scratch or demotions to the fourth line. In recent weeks, Nichushkin seems finally to be getting back to where he was as his rookie year progressed and he's been rewarded for it. The 20-year-old's season stats (four goals, 12 points in 26 games) may not jump out but he's been on a tear recently, with points in four of the last five games and seven points (two goals, five assists) in that span.

In general, the Dallas supporting cast of forwards is very solid. Eakin, who is usually the third line center, can be moved around the lineup as needed and play either more of an offensive-minded game or more of a shutdown role as needed. Young winger Mattias Janmark (five goals, nine points) plays a strong 200-foot game and has shown hints of scoring potential at the NHL level. Teams around the NHL detest agitating winger Antoine Roussel (four goals, five assists, 38 penalty minutes) and there may be a carryover from the previous meeting this season when Roussel ran Brayden Schenn when the puck was nowhere in the vicinity.

The Stars had their share of early season injuries but are now a relatively healthy team. Veteran defenseman Jason Demers missed the last three games with an upper-body injury but is fully rehabbed and has practiced each of the last two days. He is probable for this game.

Key team stat comparisons (NHL overall ranking)

Non-shootout goals per game: Flyers 2.007 (29th), Stars 3.50 (1st)
Non-shootout goals against per game: Flyers 2.69 (18th), Stars 2.64 (17th)
5-on-5 Goals For/Against Ratio: Flyers 37/45, Stars 61/53
Power play efficiency: Flyers 16.5% (25th), Stars 25.6% (2nd)
Penalty killing efficiency: Flyers 79.0% (22nd), Stars 80.7 (16th)
Shots per game: Flyers 30.8 (6th), Stars 32.0 (2nd)
Shots against per game: Flyers 32.0 (29th), Stars 28.9 (12th)
Faceoff percentage: Flyers 49.5% (T-20th), Stars 50.8% (9th)


Projected lineups (subject to change, will be updated)

Flyers

12 Michael Raffl - 28 Claude Giroux - 10 Brayden Schenn
24 Matt Read - 14 Sean Couturier - 17 Wayne Simmonds
76 Chris VandeVelde - 78 Pierre-Edouard Bellemare - 93 Jakub Voracek
20 R.J. Umberger - 21 Scott Laughton - 25 Ryan White

15 Michael Del Zotto - 3 Radko Gudas
55 Nick Schultz - 82 Evgeny Medvedev
23 Brandon Manning - 53 Shayne Gostisbehere

30 Michal Neuvirth / 35 Steve Mason


Scratches: Andrew MacDonald (healthy), Vincent Lecavalier (healthy), Mark Streit (LTIR, displaced pubic plate), Sam Gagner (IR, concussion/laceration), Luke Schenn (left foot/ankle).

Stars

14 Jamie Benn – 91 Tyler Seguin – 43 Valeri Nichushkin
13 Mattias Janmark – 90 Jason Spezza – 18 Patrick Eaves
21 Antoine Roussel – 20 Cody Eakin – 10 Patrick Sharp
22 Colton Sceviour – 38 Vernon Fiddler – 83 Ales Hemsky

33 Alex Goligoski – 3 John Klingberg
47 Johnny Oduya – 4 Jason Demers
2 Jyrki Jokipakka – 24 Jordie Benn

31 Antti Niemi / 32 Kari Lehtonen

Scratches: Travis Moen (healthy), Patrik Nemeth (healthy), Jamie Oleksiak (healthy).

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