Tyler Seguin scored a natural hat trick in the second period, and the Dallas Stars defeated the Philadelphia Flyers 5-1 Saturday at American Airlines Center. Dallas got a goal and three assists from Valeri Nichushkin, who became the first Stars rookie with four points in a game since Jere Lehtinen did it in 1996. The line of Seguin, Nichushkin and captain Jamie Benn combined for nine points.
"They came back. Look at all their
opportunities in the last game that should have been goals,"
Stars coach Lindy Ruff said, referencing a 3-2 overtime loss to the
Toronto Maple Leafs on Tuesday. They came out in the second period
and scored right away. We double-shifted them early, and they got it
going."
Defenseman Alex
Goligoski had two assists, and backup goaltender Dan
Ellis stopped 27 of 28 shots in his third win of the season.
"He played an excellent game,"
Ruff said of Ellis. "He gave us some real good saves. He's
won the last couple. That gives me confidence to keep him in there
more often."
Seguin hadn't scored in six games before Saturday
and was playing his second after missing two with concussion-like
symptoms. His most recent goals came in a 7-3 win at the Calgary
Flames on Nov. 14, when he had four. His first goal Saturday came 39
seconds into the second period when he finished a rush with a snap
shot inside the right side of the net to make it 1-1. After being
denied by Flyers goaltender Steve
Mason on a breakaway at 9:21 of the second, Seguin connected from
the slot at 17:03 after a pass from Goligoski. With Dallas missing
two of its most experienced defensemen, Stephane
Robidas (leg fracture) and Trevor
Daley (lower body), each injured in the past week, Goligoski led
the Stars with 27:31 of ice time, an increased workload he handled
well.
"He really has been our best defenseman
back there," Ruff said. "With the absence of Robidas
and now Daley, we've really loaded up the minutes on him. I admire
his bounce-back from sitting out (earlier in the season). You have to
give him a lot of credit. He knew he wasn't good enough at the time
and came back and wanted to make a difference. He deserves all the
credit in the world for that. He's really just taken the ball and run
with it."
Seguin's third goal (15th of the season) came 40
seconds after his second when it appeared his wrister was knocked in
by Philadelphia's Luke
Schenn at 17:43. Dallas scored a third goal in a span of 1:02 at
18:05 when Nichushkin beat Mason with a wrister from the left circle
to make it 4-1. Seguin said his timing was not quite right in the
loss to Toronto, but there were no lingering effects against
Philadelphia.
"The first practice in Toronto I felt off,
and really in the first and second [periods] against the Leafs, I had
trouble tracking the puck," he said. "That's because
I was coming off a concussion and I hadn't skated really. The third
and overtime it felt better last night, and tonight I didn't feel
it."
Flyers coach Craig Berube said allowing three
unanswered goals in the second period doomed his team.
"Well, I thought that we had trouble with
their speed, that one line especially. We didn't do a good enough job
with our high forward, and our D had bad gaps, and that's a
combination. We let them come at us too much in the second period and
it was a problem."
Dallas' Cody
Eakin scored a shorthanded goal with 4:33 remaining in the third
period. Philadelphia led 1-0 when defenseman Andrej
Meszaros scored his first of the season 1:09 before the first
intermission. Wayne
Simmonds started the rush for Philadelphia, sending the puck in
from the right side. Ellis made a play with his left pad, but with
the puck sitting in front of the goal, Meszaros skated and tapped it
in. Mason, who left after two periods for backup Ray
Emery, stopped 22 of 26 shots. Emery stopped seven of eight.
"Obviously, there was a minute-and-a-half
span where three goals go in," Mason said. "Started
off 30 seconds into the period giving up a goal, kind of put us back
on our heels, and [we] just were never able to recover after that."
Philadelphia's Zac
Rinaldo gave the Stars a seven-minute power play 1:15 into the
game. Rinaldo confronted Dallas' Antoine
Roussel and earned 27 minutes of penalties, including a game
misconduct. He received a 5 minute fighting major plus 2 for
instigating. He also received a 10+ Game misconduct for punching
Roussel while he was down on the ice. Rinaldo should face a lengthy
ban, and once again it is the Philadelphia Flyers who are living up
to their reputation as skilless, classless goons.
Dallas was unable to score, generating five shots.
"Those guys (penalty kill) killed off seven minutes; great
job and we never picked up off it," Berube said.
Dallas was 0-for-5 on the power play, making the
Stars an NHL-worst 1-for-42 at home. "It looked pretty good,
but we didn't score again," Ruff said.
Stars center Vernon
Fiddler suffered an upper-body injury late in the first period
and did not return.
"We'll re-evaluate him on Monday,"
Ruff said. "Nothing too serious, but he'll miss a little bit
of time."
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