Flyers trounced by Dallas Stars in the second night of a back-to-back

DALLAS — Playing the second game of a back-to-back is never easy. Playing the second game of a back-to-back against the Dallas Stars is an even taller task.

The Stars are one of the NHL’s top teams, and well rested, unlike the Flyers, who played a barn burner on Friday night. It resulted in a 5-1 loss for the Flyers, with Christian Dvorak breaking the shutout bid in the third period.

Philly has not been shut out this season and splits a two-game road trip. Saturday’s loss snapped the Flyers’ three-game road winning streak and handed them their third loss in the past four games.

Entering Saturday night, the Flyers had played 17 games. They trailed, 1-0, in 11 of them but have posted a 6-3-2 record, with those six wins leading the NHL.

Facing the Stars, who are tied for third in the NHL in point percentage (.694) and just crushed the Montreal Canadiens, 7-0, on Thursday, the Flyers definitely didn’t want to start in a hole.

But, yep, they did.

Lian Bichsel gave the Stars a 1-0 lead 3 minutes, 48 seconds into the first period. The Stars had the Flyers pinned in their end with Alexander Petrovic putting a shot on goal and Bobby Brink blocking another by Justin Hryckowian.

Tyson Foerster made a big-time block on Bichsel — which looked like it stung, and he was spotted talking to assistant athletic trainer Alex Ambrose once he got to the bench — after the Flyers did a good job to prevent a Grade A chance from the Stars.

After the block, though, Dallas maintained possession, and Bichsel sent a shot on goal from high in the middle that deflected off Brink and past goalie Dan Vladař.

“I think it’s been kind of a common theme here lately, our starts haven’t been good,” said captain Sean Couturier. “It just makes it harder on us to climb back in every game. There’s no quit, but we just had a third game in four nights, just makes it tougher on us to get back in it.”

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The Flyers had three shots on goal in the first period. According to Natural Stat Trick, the Stars had 27 shot attempts to the Flyers’ seven; 18 scoring chances to the Flyers’ five; and one more high-danger chance than Philly.

But they only scored once.

In the second period, the Flyers generated more offense. Matvei Michkov was fed a pass by Travis Konecny that gave him an open lane on the left wing. Travis Sanheim put a big slap shot on from the point that Stars goalie Jake Oettinger had to kick out, and Owen Tippett used his speed to put a shot on from the right wing, but Trevor Zegras missed the net on the rebound.

“Early we were, kind of, not supporting each other, and that kind of goes into, you know, the 50-50, battles,” forward Noah Cates said. “If you have close support, it makes it a little bit easier, you’re talking to your teammates, so we’re just kind of leaving guys on islands and not supporting, especially early in games.

“Seems like the past, you know, two, three, four games, our starts have been a little off. So just got to be consistent, play a full 60 support, and be disciplined, be detailed for the whole game.”

Dallas also generated more offense and found the back of the net. They added two more goals in the middle frame, both coming off the stick of Jason Robertson.

The first came off a four-on-two with the goalie Oettinger starting the breakout. Tyler Seguin had a give-and-go with Roope Hintz, with Seguin getting a leading pass before he lost control, and the puck went right to Robertson. His second came when he curled in the right faceoff circle and beat Vladař glove-side.

“Just standing around, containment,” coach Rick Tocchet said when asked about the Stars’ swarming offense. “It’s got nothing to do with system. It’s one-on-one. It’s two-on-two. Win your battles. No systems stuff there.”

Vladař clearly was keeping the game from being a blowout, but when Robertson gets the puck in the bumper and has time to pick his spot, the winger isn’t going to miss.

He capped off the night with a natural hat trick on a power play. The Flyers entered the night with the No. 2 penalty kill in the NHL (88.9%), but the Stars have the No. 2 power play (32.8%), so, of course, they went 1-for-2.

After the goal, Tocchet was seen talking to Travis Sanheim, who was on the ice.

“I think just playing that good of a team, I think there’s the skill that they play with and knowing how to defend it and limit their chances, and so just having that dialogue with him and understanding ways to prevent it,” Sanheim said. “And we were going over the penalty kill goal and how that developed. And, you know, obviously hate giving that one up.”

Dvorak ended the shutout with 9:03 left in the game. After an offensive-zone faceoff, the puck got to Jamie Drysdale at the point. He backhanded the puck deep, and it bounced around the slot before Dvorak swooped in and tucked it around the left pad of Oettinger.

Tocchet also was seen going over something with defenseman Nick Seeler on the whiteboard in the third period. Despite the loss, there were teachable moments.

“Just on the PK and just talking about build your game,” Tocchet said. “Sometimes things are horrible out there, and you’ve just got to stick with your game. I’m glad Dvo’s line, they stuck with it, and they scored a goal. So that’s a positive.”

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Tyler Seguin added a goal when he skated down the left wing to make it 5-1. … Forward Nic Deslauriers and defensemen Adam Ginning and Egor Zamula were healthy scratches.

The Flyers head home for a few days of practice after an off day on Sunday. “We’ve got some practice time here, and we’re going to have to really work on some two-on-two and three-on-three battles. I think it’s going to be the majority of the four days,” Tocchet said. The Flyers next play on Thursday, when they take on the St. Louis Blues (7 p.m., NBCSP), who they defeated, 6-5, in a shootout on Friday night in Missouri.