Rick Tocchet's Philadelphia Flyers (36-24-10) are back home on Sunday to take on Glen Gulutzan's Dallas Stars (44-18-11). Both teams are playing their third game in four nights.
Game time at Xfinity Mobile Aren is 7:00 p.m. EDT. The game will be broadcast on NBCSP.
Sunday's game is the second and final meeting of the season series between the two teams. Back on Nov. 15 in Dallas, the Stars handed the Flyers a 5-1 setback. Jason Robertson scored three goals for Dallas.
With 10 games remaining in the 2025-26 schedule, the Flyers are four points -- three strandings points plus a 27-23 tiebreaker disadvantage in regulation wins -- behind the Columbus Blue Jackets for the final wildcard playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.
Factoring a 29-23 regulation wins disadvantage, Philly is five points behind the Pittsburgh Penguins for third place in the Metropolitan Division. The second place New York Islanders have a six-point edge (89 to 84 points plus a 28-23 regulation wins disparity) on the Flyers.
Philly's one advantage; The Flyers have played one or two fewer games to date than all of these teams. Philadelphia holds one game on hand on Pittsburgh and Columbus and two on the Islanders.
If the Flyers cannot take at least third place in the Metro, they can only get into the playoffs via wildcard berth. To obtain that spot, Philly will have to catch and surpass the Detroit Red Wings and Ottawa Senators in addition to Columbus. Detroit (86 points, 28 regulation wins) and Ottawa (86 points, 32 regulation wins) also hold tiebreaker advantages if the Flyers are unable to beat them on total points.
On Saturday night, the Flyers earned a 5-1 road win over the Red Wings. Owen Tippett (25th, 26th and 27th goals of the season) led the way with a hat trick and an assist. Philly also got one goal apiece from Noah Cates (17th) and Sean Couturier (ENG, 10th).
Earlier in the day, Dallas powered past the host Penguins by a 6-3 count. Jason Robertson( (40th) notched a goal and an assist, while Mavrik Bourque tallied a pair of empty net goals after assisting on a Lian Bichsel marker. In the same game, Mikko Rantanen hit the 21-goal and 50-assist marks for the season.
Here are the RAV4 Things to watch on Sunday.
1. Konecny and Zegras
The Flyers' two leading scorers this season -- Travis Konecny and Trevor Zegras -- have contributed assists recently but goals have been hard to come by of late.
Konecny has two goals for the month of March. Zegras has one goal this month. Fortunately, they've been setting up goals for teammates. Meanwhile, Tippett and Cates have shouldered the goal-scoring load. Couturier has scored a goal in three straight games.
At some point soon, however, the Flyers will need Konecny (25 goals) and/or Zegras (22 goals) to get back into the goal scoring column with more regularity. That's particularly true against a powerhouse opponent like Dallas.
2. Shot suppression
Sunday's game pits two of the NHL's top teams in shot suppression. The Flyers allow an average of 25.7 shots per game (4th best in the NHL) while Dallas allows 26.3 on average (7th). Meanwhile, The Stars held the Penguins to a mere 12 shots on goal in Saturday afternoon's match.
One of the prime differences between the teams: Dallas has more finish than Philly. Dallas 25.7 shots per game (27th) while the Flyers average 25.4 (30th). However, the Stars score an average 3.37 goals per game (8th) while the Flyers score 2.82 (25th).
The Flyers have been making a concerted effort to pass up few shot opportunities. They've been attacking the middle of the ice better of late and getting bodies to the net. Doing so against Dallas can be a tall task.
With the likes of Robertson, Wyatt Johston (40 goals), Rantanen and even old-guard veterans such as Matt Duchene and Jamie Benn, the Stars don't necessarily need a lot of shots to score their goals. Philly has to keep Dallas to the perimeter as much as possible and clear pucks from the defensive zone consistently. Failed clears that allow prolonged forechecking for Dallas are usually a recipe for a tough night.
3. Between the Pipes: Ersson vs. DeSmith
With the Flyers in the latter game of a back-to-back set, look for Samuel Ersson (12-10-5, 3.20 GAA, .867 SV%) to get the start in goal. Ersson has played very well in each of his last four starts (all wins) as well as his last relief outing back on March 9.
Dallas No. 1 goalie Jake Oetinger has been a workhorse for his team. He started both on Wednesday and Saturday. However, with Dallas having already clinched a playoff spot but well behind the Colorado Avalanche for the top seed in the Western Conference, the Stars are close to being locked into second place in the Central Division.
It will be a surprise if backup goalie Casey DeSmith does not get the starting nod on Sunday. The Stars have hardly skipped a beat whenever DeSmith (14-7-5, 2.40 GAA, .908 SV%) has been in net.
4. Special teams
The Flyers had a rare perfect night on special teams in Detroit on Saturday: 2-for-2 on the power play. 2-for-2 on the penalty kill.
Philly would be wise to stay out of the penalty box against Dallas. Only the Edmonton Oilers have converted power plays at a higher clip than the Stars. Meanwhile, the Flyers still rank last in the NHL on the power play.
A break even night on special teams would be a success against Dallas.Winning the special teams battle somehow would go a very long way toward coming away with two points.
