PHILADELPHIA, Pa- After a disappointing weekend on the road, the struggling Philadelphia Flyers returned to home ice to face off against the Dallas Stars.
Putting the frustrating weekend behind them after dropping to Boston in overtime on Saturday and New Jersey on Sunday, Flyers Wayne Simmonds stated, “Sunday was awful, can’t really sugarcoat it any other way. It wasn’t ideal. But you’ve got to forget about it, it’s going to be a detriment to the team. Short memories and keep going.”
The Flyers took an off day on Monday.
Following morning skate, Flyers head coach Craig Berube said, “They were motivated today. I liked the morning skate. They looked good out there, rejuvenated, ready to go.””
Returning from injury against the Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday, Stars forward Tyler Seguin admitted Tuesday that he knee is not feeling 100 percent.
Image by Lewis Bleiman
“It’s kind of at the point where it’s going to stay this way and in two or three months it’ll be back to normal,” said Seguin. “Until then it’s definitely not anywhere near 100 percent. But you do what you can. It’s pretty much do or die every night. I think a lot of guys at this point in the year in the League are playing through stuff, mine is just a little bit more publicly known, you can see it,” the forward continued, pointing to his knee brace. “I can be more helpful in the lineup at 60, 70 percent than sitting in the stands not playing at all.”
Seguin notched two goals against Tampa Bay, earning his 30th and 31st of the season and recorded 19:11 ice time.
Making minor changes to the orange and black line up, Vincent Lecavalier returned, sending R.J. Umberger to the press box. Also returning to the ice after suffering an upper body injury in February, Nicklas Grossmann helped the blue line.
“When things aren’t going well, that’s added pressure. You feel that,” Umberger said following morning skate. “I think the biggest thing that’s bothered me is that I feel like I’ve let [Flyers general manager Ron] Hextall down. He believed in me bringing me here and I feel like I just haven’t been the player for him that he needs.”
Last meeting on October 18th in Dallas, Philadelphia took the 6-5 overtime win, with captain Claude Giroux with the game winner.
Taking his stance in between the pipes for the orange and black stood Steve Mason. Facing Mason at the opposite end of the ice, Kari Lehtonen took his position.
Image Lewis Bleiman
Going to work early in the first period, Luke Schenn sent the puck towards the net. With speculations of Schenn’s younger brother Brayden Schenn deflecting the shot, Luke Schenn was given credit for his 3rd of the season.
Guilty of tripping just over a minute later, Zac Rinaldo took a seat in the penalty box, giving Dallas the first power play chance of the game. Unable to control the puck, Stars did not capitalize.
Having a power play opportunity of their own, Flyers had ample chances but could not find success.
Beginning the rush into the Flyers zone, Curtis McKenzie had the puck on his stick, sending the puck across ice to Brett Ritchie. Getting the stars on the score board, Ritchie scored.
As the first period came to a close, Flyers outshot Stars 14-9.
Sent to the sin bin early into the second period, Brayden Schenn took a seat. Completing just 1:06 of man advantage time, Ales Hemsky was guilty of closing his hand on the puck. With 0:54 of 4 on 4 hockey to be played, neither club broke the tie.
Image by Lewis Bleiman
With a quiet second period coming to a close, a delayed penalty came into the Flyers favor as the horn sounded.
The guilty party being Jason Spezza, Flyers would begin the 3rd period with fresh ice and 2 minutes on the man-advantage.
Starting the second period on the power play, Flyers struggled to maintain control of the puck. With boos from the crowd, the game continued on.
Slowly getting up off the ice after taking a hit to the head from Ryan White, Hemsky made his way to the Stars bench. Taking a seat in the penalty box, White looked on.
Image by Lewis Bleiman
Rushing into the Flyers zone, Sceviour sent the puck on Mason. Taking advantage of Sceviour’s rebound, Vernon Fiddler lit the lamp for the Stars, gaining the lead 2-1.
Attempting to make the comeback, the Flyers did not succeed.
The Philadelphia Flyers fell to the Dallas Stars, 2-1.
“I don’t know what to say,” Mason said on the verge of tears. “There was no desperation. It’s tough to come into the room after games like that. We needed a much better effort and it wasn’t there.” He continued, “I’m embarrassed. We have an effort like that at home in situations where we have to come up big and to come up with an effort like that, we got to be a lot better.”
Image by Lewis Bleiman
“Mase played unbelievable,” said Wayne Simmonds. “We had a ton of chances to score. We couldn’t put them in the net…it sucks. Mase held us in the game.” Simmonds continued, “You want guys to show passion. We gotta have more guys doing it.”
After suffering an lower-body injury against the Boston Bruins on Saturday, Flyers announced Micheal Del Zotto will miss 7-10 days. With Del Zotto out of the lineup, Flyers recalled Brandon Manning from the Lehigh Valley Phantoms.
The Flyers are heading to St. Louis to take on the Blues for the final meeting of the season on Thursday evening. Last meeting last Thursday, Philadelphia earned 3-1 win. The orange and black will return to Wells Fargo Ice on Saturday to take on the Detroit Red Wings.
Puck drop between the Philadelphia Flyers and St. Louis Blues is set for 8 p.m.
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