Scores twice, including winner at 9 seconds; Philadelphia drops 4th in row
Flyers at Stars | Recap
By Taylor Baird
NHL.com Independent Correspondent
DALLAS -- Thomas Harley scored his second goal of the game nine seconds into overtime to give the Dallas Stars a 3-2 win against the Philadelphia Flyers at American Airlines Center on Saturday.
The defenseman won it after Flyers goalie Samuel Ersson's backhand was deflected and the puck went to Jason Robertson, who fed Harley in front. It was the fastest overtime goal in Stars/Minnesota North Stars history.
"He's been great. I can't imagine where we'd be without him with Miro [Heiskanen] out of the lineup," Dallas coach Pete DeBoer said of Harley. "He's really grabbed it and taken a step in his own game. He's taken the responsibility offensively back there with Miro out. He's done it every night with big, hard minutes every night. He's been exceptional."
PHI@DAL: Harley capitalizes on miscue and wins it in overtime with his second goal of the game
Esa Lindell scored for Dallas (44-21-4), which is second in the Central Division, eight points behind the Winnipeg Jets and three ahead of the Colorado Avalanche. Jake Oettinger made 22 saves.
"[Philadelphia] worked hard. They played a hard game," Dallas forward Jamie Benn said. "It was just one of those games where there's really not that much out there and we found a way to get it done. Made some good plays when they were there and remember what we can learn from. Two points is what we came here for."
Travis Konecny and Ryan Poehling scored for Philadelphia (28-34-9), which has lost four straight (0-3-1), and is 10 points behind the Montreal Canadiens for the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Eastern Conference. Ivan Fedotov allowed two goals on three shots in the first period before Ersson (16 saves) entered in relief at the start of the second period.
"I thought we clogged them up well and took away what they wanted to do and how they received and created a lot of offense there, we could have had a lot more," Poehling said. "I thought we had a lot more great looks so, yeah, they have two grade As in the first so they took advantage of their opportunities, we had four or five and kept with it. A solid game through and through."
Harley gave Dallas a 1-0 lead at 6:27 of the first period on a shot from the high slot through traffic.
"We're not generating enough offense, but I thought defensively we were pretty good. We didn't shoot ourselves in the foot like we did last game (3-2 shootout loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning on Thursday)," Dallas forward Matt Duchene said. "I thought there were some steps in the right direction. When you go through a little bit of a gulley, you're not going to come straight out of it. You've got to work your way out of it. Big win."
PHI@DAL: Lindell scores goal against Ivan Fedotov
Lindell made it 2-0 at 8:59 when he finished off a pass in the high slot from Mikael Granlund.
"We came out good. We cleaned up our defensive zone and zone exits. That second goal especially was out of a defensive zone [play]," Harley said. "We got away from it as the game went on, but we got to keep working on it."
Konecny cut the lead to 2-1 at 13:03 of the second period on a wrist shot from the right face-off circle. He ended a 13-game goal drought.
"You could see it coming the last game. You could see [Konecny] was around the puck more," Philadelphia coach John Tortorella said. "Hits the crossbar, almost gets another one there, but he just looks quicker, he looks more reactive. When I see him more reactive, less thinking is going on. Hopefully he'll feel good about that and keeps going."
PHI@DAL: Couturier, Konecny link up to trim Flyers' deficit in the 2nd
Poehling tied it 2-2 at 18:48 on a breakaway when he elevated the puck from the top of the crease.
"We know where we're at. We're growing as a team still," Konecny said. "Regardless of the result, you'd rather see the flashes of what we've been doing right. We've been seeing that a lot, as of late. It's a matter of that and keep it rolling into the next games."
NOTES: Tom McCarthy held the previous record for fastest overtime goal in Stars/North Stars history (10 seconds in a 7-6 Minnesota victory against the Montreal Canadiens on March 12, 1984). … Harley became the third defenseman in franchise history to have consecutive 15-goal seasons, joining Phillippe Boucher (2005-07) and Lou Nanne (1971-73). … Flyers forward Matvei Michkov had an assist for his 48th point of the season and tied Simon Gagne (48 points in 1999-2000) for the most points in a season by a Flyers rookie in the past 25 years.
