Pavelski's OT goal gives Stars 5-4 win after allowing 3 short-handed tallies to Flyers
DALLAS (AP) — The Dallas Stars gave up three-short handed goals for the first time in team history thanks in part to 13 turnovers against one for Philadelphia.
Somehow, it goes down as a win for the Stars.
Joe Pavelski scored 2:12 into overtime, and the Stars beat Philadelphia 5-4 on Saturday night, overcoming their power play meltdowns for a seventh consecutive victory over the Flyers.
Travis Konecny scored two of the three short-handed goals for the Flyers, getting his second on the same penalty kill with Sean Walker, who had the tying short-hander with about seven minutes remaining.
“Give up one, it happens occasionally, a breakaway here or there, a breakdown,” said Pavelski, who was part of the power play on the ice for both of Konecny's goals. “Give up three, it’s unacceptable. We’re not happy at all.”
Wyatt Johnston, the 20-year-old sensation from Dallas' run to the Western Conference Final last season, had a goal and two assists, including on Pavelski's winner. Jamie Benn, Tyler Seguin and Roope Hintz also scored for the Stars.
Scott Wedgewood stopped 36 shots for the win in the first start of the season for goalie Jake Oettinger’s backup.
Joel Farabee had the only even-strength goal for the Flyers, and Noah Cates had two assists. Samuel Ersson, also making his season debut, had 21 saves.
The three short-handed goals were the most in the NHL since Calgary had three in a 6-1 win over Arizona on Nov. 25, 2018, and the most the Stars have allowed since moving to Dallas in 1993. They tied the franchise record, which happened four times in Minnesota.
“Our puck management was horrendous,” Stars coach Pete DeBoer said. “We’ve got to figure that out. We’re a smarter team than that. We’re lucky we didn’t get burned.”
Benn scored to give Dallas a 4-2 lead midway through the third period, and Cam York was called for interference less than a minute later.
Konecny pulled the Flyers within a goal about a minute into the penalty, and Walker scored on a rush after Matt Duchene's stick broke on a slap shot.
The first short-handed goal from Konecny got Philadelphia even at 2-2 late in the first period, and came on the other York penalty, for tripping.
“We had been coming back all night long,” Flyers coach John Tortorella said. “They can get it revved up pretty good here. You’ve just to handle some of the momentum swings and just keep playing. Really like how our team handled itself as far as just staying within themselves and finding a way to claw back into it.”
Not long after Ersson made a glove save on a point-blank shot from Hintz in overtime, Pavelski won a faceoff in front of Ersson, took a pass from Johnston and beat the goalie with a backhand shot.
The Stars came in having outscored the Flyers 27-8 in a six-game winning streak that went back to the 2018-19 season, then scored twice in the first eight minutes on the first goal of the season for both Johnston and Seguin.
Konecny's first short-handed goal for a 2-2 tie late in the first period came when Cates broke up a pass by Miro Heiskanen and poked the puck out of the defensive zone to give Konecny a breakaway chance.
With the game even again to start the second, Hintz entered the offensive zone with speed just behind Robertson, who dropped a pass to Hintz for a wrist shot that beat Ersson easily just 30 seconds into the period.
HITCH AND THE EAGLE
The ceremonial puck drop honored former Stars coach Ken Hitchcock and goalie Ed Belfour, who are set for induction into the club's hall of fame Sunday. They were together when Dallas won the 1999 Stanley Cup.
Hitchcock and Belfour, nicknamed “The Eagle,” were also part of a three-year stretch that included consecutive President's Trophy titles for the league's best regular-season record in 1998-99 and another run to the Stanley Cup Final in 2000, when New Jersey won the title.
UP NEXT
Flyers: At Vegas on Tuesday night.
Stars: At Pittsburgh on Tuesday night.
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