Flyers crush Stars for fourth straight win

JUST 3 WEEKS ago - before Michael Leighton had a chance to start in net and before Darroll Powe returned to the lineup - the Flyers were colder than Canada.

Whatever could go wrong, did.

Last night, in their 6-3 bludgeoning of the Dallas Stars at the Wachovia Center, the Flyers could do no wrong. They laid a hurting on the Stars, saving Philadelphia from a fourth consecutive loss against a team from Dallas and moving up to seventh best in the Eastern Conference.

Today, the surging Flyers officially can call themselves the hottest team in hockey. Winners of four straight, the Flyers own the best record in the NHL (8-1-1) in their last 10 games.

Who knew that a sewage leak, resulting in a canceled practice in sunny Tampa, Fla., followed by a 5-2 victory over the Lightning 2 days before Christmas could lead to a run this successful?

The Flyers have scored six or more goals four times in their last seven games.

"I think there's definitely some confidence,'' Flyers coach Peter Laviolette said. "I think winning does that. You start to feel good about the way you've practiced, the way you've worked, the way you play a game. Because of that you get results, and I think all of that leads to confidence.''

Confidence, Laviolette said, helped the Flyers jump out to a 1-0 lead on the power play when Scott Hartnell knocked in Matt Carle's shot from the point just 6:08 into the game.

The Flyers used that confidence to score four goals in a 10:28 span in the second period, turning a 1-1 tie into a mortal-lock, 5-1 lead with 7 minutes left in the second period.

"You could stop skating when [Dallas' James Neal] scored that goal to tie it up,'' Powe said. "We kept going and kept fighting and managed to get the lead back.''

Powe and Ian Laperriere - two hard-working role players - scored the second and fifth goals for the Flyers, sandwiching them between goals from Kimmo Timonen and Claude Giroux.

Laperriere's goal received a standing ovation from the fans and chased Marty Turco from the net.

Timonen's shorthanded, top-shelf wrister, off a pass from Laperriere on a two-on-one rush, took the wind out of the Stars' sails.

Later, Giroux's goal, which went in off Dallas defenseman Mark Fistric's skate, was the perfect example of the Flyers' change in fortunes. They wouldn't have gotten that bounce 21 days ago.

Leighton, making his 10th straight start, stopped 27 of 30 shots. Leighton, who is 8-0-1 in those games, admitted it's not hard to win with the goal support he has gotten.

"It always turns out good when you score that many goals,'' Leighton said. "It's not going to happen every game, but we are playing well offensively and defensively right now.''

Holding a 6-1 lead, the Flyers didn't close out the victory too well. They played a sloppy final 8 minutes that allowed the Stars to cut the five-goal lead to two in less than 4 minutes, with Steve Ott popping in two quick goals.

"We need to finish stronger in those situations,'' Laviolette said. "We do. There's been other opportunities. It's a chance to go out and just practice good habits and continue to play a solid game, and we dropped our guard in a couple instances."

Said Leighton: "Sometimes it's almost tougher [to play] when you've got a lead like that. You know they are going to keep coming and we kind of relaxed a bit, but we played great tonight."

Laviolette admitted that he has seen this team grow and mature to play with more consistency and confidence over the last few weeks.

"When I first got here, we just weren't working very well, we weren't working efficiently,'' Laviolette said. "Everything has just improved. It's how you practice, how your specialty teams operate, how you play the game, how you prepare for the game. [We] have an extra spring in our step in a lot of different areas and ultimately that comes from winning."

Defenseman Danny Syvret left the game after his first shift when he was boarded near the Flyers' bench by Steve Ott, who received 2 minutes in the box.

From the replays, it looked like Ott awkwardly crunched Syvret's shoulder in the boards from the side. Syvret did not return to the game, forcing the Flyers to play the remaining 58 minutes with five defensemen.

Flyers general manager Paul Holmgren gave no update other than to say Syvret has an "upper-body" injury. His status for tomorrow's game in Toronto is unknown.

Scott Hartnell also left the bench in the first period. A Flyers spokesman said Hartnell, who returned at the start of the second period, was sick.

The Flyers have picked up 17 of 20 possible points in their last 10 games, and are outscoring opponents, 23-10, in their current four-game win streak . . . The Flyers were outhit by Dallas, 27-20, but blocked more shots (19-9) than the Stars . . . Going 2-for-4, the Flyers are 9-for-17 (52.9 percent) on the power play in the last five games . . . Both Mike Richards and Chris Pronger have points in five straight games.

For more news and analysis, read Frank Seravalli's blog, Frequent Flyers, at http://go.philly.com/frequentflyers.