Heika’s Take: Harley heroics arise again as Stars outdo Flyers in overtime

The Stars were better on Saturday.

And that was enough.

Mired in a slump and asked by coach Pete DeBoer to bring more to their performance, Dallas was able to fight for a 3-2 overtime win against the Philadelphia Flyers at American Airlines Center on the strength of two Thomas Harley goals. While the underlying statistics still showed plenty of room for improvement, DeBoer said he liked the attitude and the defensive execution.

“Better detail to our game, better compete,” DeBoer said after voicing disappointment on Thursday and Friday amid a two-week wobble from his team. “It was a hard game out there. They defend well, block a lot of shots, they don’t give you a lot of room and they play hard. So, we knew we were going to be in for that type of game and that’s what it was. It wasn’t perfect but definitely a step in the right direction from the last game.”

The Flyers are not great, falling to 28-34-9, including 1-8-1 in their past 10 games, but they lead the league in blocked shots, they play hard, and they have received good goaltending in recent weeks. That was key to staying with the Stars. Dallas jumped to a quick 2-0 lead in the first period. They got a goal from Harley, who had an open look after a gritty fourth line shift, as well as Esa Lindell, who converted a nice Mikael Granlund pass for his fifth goal of the season nine minutes into the game.

But then some of the same problems crept up and that frustrated both the Stars and the crowd. Dallas was shorthanded three times in the first period and was able to put just three shots on goal. The power play then struggled in the second period and Philadelphia tied things up as shots on goal were 13-10 after 40 minutes.

“It starts in our end,” center Matt Duchene of the recent offensive woes. “We’ve got to execute better coming out, not as many dirty pucks. We’re too good of a team to just muck it out.”

But, he added, there was improvement in this game.

“I thought we did some better things,” Duchene said. “That team is number one in the league in blocking shots, and they had some big blocks at big times. The game could have been different if not for that.”

The Flyers had 20 blocked shots and won both the shots on goal battle (24-19) and the shot attempt battle (57-51), so there still is work for Dallas to do. Philadelphia got goals from Travis Konecny and Ryan Poehling to tie things up in the middle frame. Dallas looked like it might have taken a 3-1 lead between those two tallies as Duchene had a puck that went off of Flyers goalie Samuel Ersson and fluttered high in the air before it was swatted off the goal line.

Officials had a lengthy review and decided that it could not be confirmed that the entire puck officially crossed the goal line in midair, so it was ruled no goal. Duchene said he would have liked to have seen the league rule it a good goal, but said the team was able to battle through the frustration.

“I’m just grateful it didn’t cost us,” Duchene said. “I was pretty hot that we were even going to OT, because that would have made it 3-1 and we don’t give up leads in the third period.”

The Stars were able to quickly take care of overtime. This was the fourth consecutive extra period game for Dallas, and they had lost two of the previous three. However, Dallas lost the faceoff, but Jason Robertson forced a turnover that went directly to Harley charging the slot. The 23-year-old defenseman made a calm move to slip the puck under Ersson, and Dallas had a 3-2 win nine seconds into overtime.

“[Robertson] briefly told me he was going to jump for it off the draw,” Harley said. “He won a puck battle, picked his eyes up for a second, and I got to the open space.”

Harley has been on a roll since stepping in for injured defenseman Miro Heiskanen and tied his career best in goals with his 15th of the season. He played 25:11 and had six shots on goal Saturday.

“He’s a special player and a big part of this group, obviously,” captain Jamie Benn said. “He played a great game tonight, and he’s put in a lot of minutes and stepped up and it’s been fun to watch.”

That said, the team still has work to do. It will end a four-game homestand on Monday against Minnesota and then head out of a four-game road trip. Dallas has 13 games left in the regular season and continues to hold its second-place spot in the Central Division at 44-21-4 (92 points).

The Stars are third overall in the NHL, so it’s not time to panic, but they haven’t played their best in a little while.

“I liked our defensive detail tonight,” DeBoer said. “I thought our breakouts were cleaner. I thought we made more plays. Still a little too much one-and-done in the offensive zone. We’ve got to get a little more grind in our game there. The fourth line had it I thought all night. We've got to get a little bit more of that from the other lines.”

And they have time to do that.

“When you go through a gully, you’re not going to come straight out, you have to work your way out,” Duchene said. “It was a big win. We’ll keep working.”

This story was not subject to the approval of the National Hockey League or Dallas Stars Hockey Club.

Mike Heika is a Senior Staff Writer for DallasStars.com and has covered the Stars since 1994. Follow him on X @MikeHeika.