Stars push win streak to six with 4-1 win over Flyers

PHILADELPHIA – Four different strikers hit for the Dallas Stars on Thursday night, in a 4-1 win over the Flyers.

Samuel Ersson #33 of the Philadelphia Flyers stops a shot by Evgenii Dadonov #63 of the Dallas Stars

Mavrik Bourque, Roope Hintz, Wyatt Johnston and Miro Heiskanen were the goal scorers for Dallas.

“Our big guys are starting to score, Roope Hintz and Robertson and Johnston,” Stars coach Pete DeBoer said. “The power play didn’t get one tonight, but has been starting to heat up lately. And then the other thing is, we’ve been in a lot of games late into the third period where it’s been tied or close, and we’ve just stuck with it. We’ve shown good maturity to our game and found a way to win a lot of games in those situations.”

Casey DeSmith made 27 saves in the win.

“I have a good amount of confidence going right now, and the team is making it easy on me,” DeSmith said. “We played great tonight I thought in every end of the ice. We really dictated play. We played our game and played offensively without selling the farm for offense, and we’re just doing a great job of finding that balance, night in, night out.”

Dallas had a 2-0 lead early in the match when they scored on two of their first three shots in the game.

“We don’t play many bad games, even though our record is what it is,” Flyers coach John Tortorella said. “We have not played many bad games. We played bad tonight.”

Bourque and Hintz scored before the midway point of the fist period for the 2-0 lead.

“I’ve played some good games this year, but I knew I had to show I can play a good game back-to-back,” Bourque said. “I felt good and I’m just trying to turn things around here and going to build on the last two games.”

Johnson hit in the middle frame to push the advantage to 3-0.

“One of the things that’s been strong within our concept here the last little while is our third man,” Tortorella said. “And we gave up more odd-man rushes tonight than we have in probably seven or eight games.”

Morgan Frost was the lone goal scorer for the Flyers. His goal came early in the third period to cut the deficit to 3-1.

“I thought for the last stretch of games, even thought we haven’t been winning or getting points, I felt we’ve been playing pretty good,” Frost said. “Good enough to get a point out of a game or win the game. Tonight wasn’t the same. Just lacked energy throughout the game and couldn’t string plays together. Just got to refresh the mind and come back next game and hopefully we can go on a streak here.”

Heiskanen added an empty-net marker for the 4-1 final.

Samuel Ersson made 19 saves in the loss.

Dallas Star #21 Jason Robertson pats teammate Miro Heiskanen #4 on the head congratulating him for his empty net goal sealing the win against the Philadelphia Flyers.

In pursuit of the puck Owen Tippett #74 of the Philadelphia Flyers dives over Dallas goalie Casey DeSmith #1

Dallas player #11 Logan Stankoven #11 knocks Bobby Brink #10 of the Philadelphia Flyers into Dallas goalie Casey DeSmith #1 as he prepares to catch the puck in his glove hand.

Morgan Frost #48 of the Philadelphia Flyers

Morgan Frost #48 of the Philadelphia Flyers is congratulated by his teammates for his goal in the third period against the Dallas Stars.

Morgan Frost #48 of the Philadelphia Flyers shot lands in the back of the net against the Dallas Stars in the third period.

Cam York #8 of the Philadelphia Flyers clears the loose puck from in front of his goalie Samuel Ersson #33

Logan Stankoven #11 of the Dallas Stars in pursuit of Travis Konecny #11 of the Philadelphia Flyers

A tripped up Morgan Frost #48 of the Philadelphia Flyers swipes at the loose puck in front of Thomas Harley #55 of the Dallas Stars

Casey DeSmith #1 of the Dallas Stars makes a pad save against Garnet Hathaway #19 of the Philadelphia Flyers

Dallas Stars players congratulate Wyatt Johnston #53 of the Dallas Stars for his goal in the second period.

Rasmus Ristolainen #55 of the Philadelphia Flyers attempts to block a shot by Wyatt Johnston #53 of the Dallas Stars on Philadelphia Flyers goalie Samuel Ersson #33