PHILADELPHIA \u2014 This time of year, every point is a big deal for the Flyers. That\u2019s why Sunday night\u2019s game against Dallas had more than the usual amount of drama.<\/p>\n
A goal from Trevor Zegras at 3:27 of OT earned the Flyers a 2-1 win at Xfinity Mobile Arena, the third straight back-to-back that the Flyers have swept after winning in Detroit Saturday night.<\/p>\n
The Flyers are 6-5-1 in the second half of back-to-backs after going 1-10-2 last season.<\/p>\n
Flyers goaltender Sam Ersson continued his hot streak since the Olympic break and picked up the victory with 17 saves.<\/p>\n
The win moved the Flyers a point closer to the top eight teams in the Eastern Conference. Columbus, the nearest team ahead of the Flyers, lost to Boston in a shootout. The Flyers are in a three-way knot of teams two points behind the Blue Jackets.<\/p>\n
Zegras took an ill-advised penalty with just under three minutes to play in regulation that could have been costly. But the Flyers killed it off and saved the day for Zegras to become a hero in the extra session.<\/p>\n
Zegras also missed a semi-empty net in regulation time, only adding to the vindication in overtime.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s tough for a couple seconds and then you have to get back to playing,\u201d Zegras said of the errant shot. \u201cI think the game is bigger than a couple moments like that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ersson brought the crowd to its feet with a spectacular save on Wyatt Johnston during the final Dallas power play. Zegras, watching from the penalty box, could only marvel at the play.<\/p>\n
\u201cIncredible save,\u201d Zegras said. \u201cThe PK did an incredible job against the best power play in the league (actually second). To kill one off in a game where we needed two points, amazing.\u201d<\/p>\n
Officials had to pry Zegras\u2019 stick out of Dallas forward Adam Erne\u2019s skate, so there was no whining about the penalty call.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat was the worst two minutes of my life,\u201d Zegras grinned. \u201cLike it was so slow. I don\u2019t even know what happened. I don\u2019t even know how my stick got in his skate like that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Several Flyers, along with coach Rick Tocchet, praised Ersson, who continues to amaze since the Olympic break. He\u2019s 5-0 and has allowed only eight goals.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s been solid mentally,\u201d Tocchet said. \u201cGood practices, good demeanor. I don\u2019t see a big difference other than he\u2019s got a lot of confidence.\u201d<\/p>\n
Added Travis Konecny: \u201cAwesome guy, awesome teammate. Fun to be around off the ice. Fun to practice with. He\u2019s one of those guys that keeps working, keeps pressing. You want to play hard in front of him. It\u2019s a big moment for him and he\u2019s a big-time player.\u201d<\/p>\n
Konecny scored on the power play at 9:48 of the second period to give the Flyers a 1-0 lead. Konecny was stationed just below the left circle. He picked up a deflected puck, deked to the short side, then looped across in front, fell to his knees and tucked a shot past Casey DeSmith just inside the far post.<\/p>\n
The Flyers\u2019 only big miscue of the period cost them that lead. On the power play, Jamie Drysdale lost his footing in pursuit of a puck in his own end. Arttu Hyry took control, raced in and sent a shot past Ersson for an unassisted goal at 17:53.<\/p>\n
In a scoreless first period, the Flyers were able to keep Dallas\u2019 vaunted power play off the scoreboard in its one opportunity. The Stars have the second-ranked power play in the NHL, clicking at 29.0 percent going into Sunday action.<\/p>\n
Tocchet is encouraged by the way his team has been playing in pressure situations. One of those players on Sunday night was Zegras.<\/p>\n
\u201cI thought he had a great game tonight,\u201d Tocchet said. \u201cI thought his effort in overtime, to win that puck battle \u2026 it was a big game for him. He was dragging guys into the fight.\u201d<\/p>\n
NOTES >> If newly signed Porter Martone, late of Michigan State, does get into some Flyers action shortly, maybe they should try him on the power play. Eight of his 25 goals this season came on the power play. \u2026 Tocchet has been stressing better play in back-to-backs that seems to be paying off. \u201cMental toughness,\u201d he said. \u201cLeadership in the room. We talk about that stuff all the time. Sometimes back-to-backs play in your mind. If you play a smart game, you can win those hockey games.\u201d \u2026 The Flyers get Monday off, then head to Washington for a key game against the Capitals on Tuesday. \u2026 Owen Tippett\u2019s second hat trick of the season Saturday night in Detroit marked the first time a Flyer has had two in a season since James van Riemsdyk in 2018-19. \u2026 One big reason for the Flyers\u2019 recent turnaround has been the way they\u2019ve limited opponents\u2019 shot totals. Entering the Dallas game, the Flyers stood fourth in fewest shots allowed at 25.9 per game since March 11.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PHILADELPHIA \u2014 This time of year, every point is a big deal for the Flyers. That\u2019s why Sunday…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":530431,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5117],"tags":[196,147,5278,5,4,56,43,197,5095],"class_list":{"0":"post-530551","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-dallas-stars","8":"tag-dallas","9":"tag-dallas-stars","10":"tag-dallasstars","11":"tag-hockey","12":"tag-nhl","13":"tag-philadelphia-flyers","14":"tag-sports","15":"tag-stars","16":"tag-top-stories-tmc"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116316301188154174","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/530551","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=530551"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/530551\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/530431"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=530551"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=530551"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=530551"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}