Dallas Stars @ Philadelphia Flyers 2-1 - 03/10

Dallas Stars goaltender Kari Lehtonen wouldn't admit to feeling cursed against the Philadelphia Flyers, but his record against them was pretty bad entering Tuesday. In 13 career games against the Flyers, he was 0-10-3 with a 3.70 goals-against average and .886 save percentage. That streak ended Tuesday when he made 25 saves to help the Stars to a 2-1 victory at Wells Fargo Center. Vernon Fiddler scored the game-winning goal with 6:10 left in the third period. Rookie Brett Ritchie also scored for Dallas (30-27-10). The Stars are eight points behind the Winnipeg Jets for the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Western Conference. Luke Schenn scored for the Flyers (28-27-13), and goaltender Steve Mason made 37 saves. It was Philadelphia's third straight loss (0-2-1). The Flyers are nine points behind the Boston Bruins for the second wild card in the Eastern Conference; the Bruins defeated the Ottawa Senators 3-1. Lehtonen and the Stars were better Tuesday. But the Stars also thought they were the better team when they played the Flyers in Dallas on Oct. 18. The Stars had a 4-2 lead after two periods and a 5-4 lead with less than four minutes remaining, but the Flyers rallied for a 6-5 overtime win. Lehtonen said he didn't mention anything about his struggles against the Flyers, and although a few teammates knew about his career record against Philadelphia, they weren't putting much thought into it. Lehtonen got help from the Stars' penalty-killers, who shut down the Flyers on three chances. That included one at the start of the third period when Philadelphia was pushing to break the tie but couldn't get a shot on goal. Philadelphia had the NHL's third-best home power play entering the game. In a desperate time there was the expectation the Flyers would, if not score a goal, at least gain momentum from the man-advantage. Instead the Flyers came away empty, and then Fiddler's goal put the game away for the Stars. Ryan Garbutt chipped a puck past Flyers defenseman Carlo Colaiacovo to forward Colton Sceviour. He carried the puck along the right-wing boards and centered the puck to Fiddler, who beat Colaiacovo down the ice and tipped the puck between Mason's pads. The goal was Fiddler's third in two games and fourth in four. It was his 11th of the season, tying his career-high. The Flyers got the game's first goal on Schenn's shot from the point at 1:13 of the first period, but the Stars answered later in the first when Ritchie beat Mason with a wrist shot from the left hash marks. Mason was the Flyers' best player. Early in the second period, he scrambled to make two saves on Ales Hemsky in front. Late in the period he stopped a Jason Spezza blast from the right side, then pushed across to stop Hemsky on a rebound. Then with 1:30 left he stopped Ritchie in the slot and Curtis McKenzie from the side of the net poking at the rebound. He also was good in the third, before and after Fiddler's goal. But it's the sixth time in the past eight games the Flyers have scored two goals or fewer. As the Flyers' playoff hopes dwindle, the Stars are continuing to push and hope. They have three games in four nights coming up, starting Thursday at the Carolina Hurricanes, and know every point from now forward is vital.

Stars Quotes

Kari Lehtonen: "That's goaltending. Some nights you get them and some nights you don't. It seemed to be always the Philly nights when pucks were bouncing in and not hitting me. Tonight was different. That was good. That was one of those that I thought that's it, I can't ... whatever I do it doesn't work against these guys. But it's good that things worked out today."
Vernon Fiddler: "You don't look at those things. It's a mental thing, a head game if you put that on the board or something. I think they try to stay away from that. Kari played a really good game. It was just a good chip by Sceviour. I just tried to get to the net, create some traffic, get my stick on the ice and lucky enough it went in the net."
Lindy Ruff: "I think that could have created energy for them if they had a good one. We had some good up-ice pressure and didn't really allow them any zone time."
Jamie Benn: "Everybody is trying to contribute, and I think [Fiddler] has been doing a great job of late. He's a leader on this team and he's been stepping up his play. Good to see him get that second one there. We're still trying to pick up as many points as we can, keep it at least close going into April. Big two points for our team. We're happy to get this one."