The surging Philadelphia Flyers will look for their fifth consecutive victory when they host the Dallas Stars on Thursday.
In what was expected to be a rebuilding season, the Flyers have continued to play at a higher level than expected.
Following a 3-2 shootout win over the Montreal Canadiens on Jan. 10, the Flyers swept a three-game road trip with victories over the Minnesota Wild, Winnipeg Jets and St. Louis Blues.
Owen Tippett’s go-ahead goal in the third period sparked the Flyers past the Blues 4-2 on Monday.
“We just keep on playing,” Philadelphia coach John Tortorella said. “Have some good minutes, have some bad minutes, but we just keep on playing. Statement games, measure games, I don’t believe in that. I just think the team just comes to work and that’s what’s good about our group.
“They come to work each and every day and they attack that day. That’s how we’ve been going about it and that’s what we’ll continue to do.”
Flyers forward Noah Cates returned from a 22-game absence because of a broken foot to provide a lift with 12 minutes of ice time.
In the final game of a three-game road trip, the Flyers seemed to prove they are a legitimate playoff contender.
“It just shows you’ve got to be consistent in this league,” Flyers forward Ryan Poehling said. “It seems like we keep winning and, you lose two, three games in our division right now and we’re probably sixth or seventh in the league. So, for us to just be consistent and continue to work with one another I think is the biggest thing for us to move forward.”
The Stars will aim for their third win in a row when they battle the Flyers.
Dallas defeated the visiting Los Angeles Kings 5-1 on Tuesday. Roope Hintz, Wyatt Johnston and Evgenii Dadonov each had one goal and one assist for the Stars, who have also won four of five.
“We did what we were supposed to do against a team on the end of a (six)-game road trip coming off a back-to-back, and that was start well and finish well,” Dallas coach Peter DeBoer said.
Johnston said that there has been terrific chemistry in playing on the same line as Hintz.
“He’s a lot of fun to play with and can obviously shoot the puck really well,” Johnston said of Hintz. “I think, for me, it’s just trying to find him. He’s pretty good at finding open spaces and good at finding you when you’re in open space. He’s just a really special player.”
As a team, the Stars have been difficult to beat because of their ability to skate with anyone. Dallas has a league-best 64 goals in the third period.
“It’s not really a secret,” Johnston said, referring to the Stars’ success. “The third period of the second night of a back-to-back is always the toughest, so I think we always like to try to wear teams down, especially in this scenario.”
Stars forward Jason Robertson has at least 30 assists for the third consecutive season.
–Field Level Media
