Philly Leader

The Philadelphia Flyers faced a challenging start to the second half of their 2024-25 season, succumbing to a 4-1 defeat against the Dallas Stars at the Ed Snider Legacy Game held at Wells Fargo Center. This result leaves the Flyers still searching for their first win in January.

Dallas took an early lead when Mavrik Bourque scored just 1:45 into the game, capitalizing on a defensive lapse by Philadelphia. The goal was assisted by Matt Dumba and Logan Stankoven. Roope Hintz extended Dallas' advantage to 2-0 at 9:38 with assists from Evgenii Dadonov and Jason Robertson.

Philadelphia's power play opportunities did not yield results, as they struggled to set up effectively during their chances. The first period ended with both teams having nine shots on goal.

Flyers head coach John Tortorella made adjustments in the second period, but it was Dallas who struck again. Wyatt Johnston scored at 8:41 after a turnover by Matvei Michkov led to a two-on-one breakaway for Dallas. Jamie Benn and Nils Lundkvist were credited with assists.

Travis Konecny had one of Philadelphia's few promising attempts when he hit the post in the second period. The Stars maintained an edge in shots through two periods, leading 18-17.

In the third period, Morgan Frost finally got Philadelphia on the scoreboard at 6:47, following successful faceoff wins by his team in Dallas' zone. However, any hopes of a comeback were dashed when Miro Heiskanen sealed Dallas' victory with an empty-net goal at 16:47.

Samuel Ersson returned from injury for Philadelphia and made several key saves but ultimately allowed three goals on 22 shots. Casey DeSmith nearly secured a shutout for Dallas before conceding one goal out of 27 shots faced.

The game highlighted issues for Philadelphia including ineffective power plays and difficulties in generating scoring opportunities against strong transition plays from Dallas.

"All three of Dallas' non-empty net goals were ultimately scored off transition plays that started in their defensive zone," noted observers about key moments influencing the game's outcome.