Flyers Lose To Stars 2-1
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Tyler Seguin and Jamie Benn each had a goal and an assist to lead the Dallas Stars to their fourth straight victory, 2-1 over the Philadelphia Flyers on Tuesday night.
Sean Couturier scored for the Flyers, who were playing for the first time since beating Chicago last Wednesday.
Antti Niemi made 34 saves to improve to 3-1 in four career starts against Philadelphia. Niemi was in because starting goalie Kari Lehtonen is 1-10-2 in 13 games against Philadelphia.
Steve Mason made 30 saves for the Flyers in his return for the Flyers after sitting out the last two games due to personal reasons. He last played on Oct. 10 when he gave up four goals in 6 minutes, 47 seconds of the first period in a 7-1 loss at Florida. Michal Neuvirth had two shutouts during Mason's absence.
Seguin opened the scoring with 51.8 seconds left in the first period when he batted a rolling puck over the right shoulder of Mason for his fourth goal of the season.
The Stars went up 2-0 just 11 seconds into the second period when Benn finished a 2-on-1 break, beating Mason to the glove side for his sixth of the season. Seguin assisted the goal, which was set up when the Flyers turned the puck over at the blue line.
Philadelphia had several good chances in the second period, but Niemi denied them all. The Dallas goalie made a pad save on Jakub Voracek's wrist shot from the slot on a power play with 14 minutes left in the period and then used his blocker to deflect Michael Del Zotto's attempt from the point.
Couturier pulled Philadelphia to 2-1 with his first goal of the season at 8:57 of the third. Wayne Simmonds took the initial shot from the slot. Niemi's save came out in front of the crease, first deflecting off of Couturier and then Seguin's skate.
Niemi prevented Philadelphia from tying the game with two point-blank saves on a Flyers power play with 5 minutes remaining. He first stopped Simmonds and then slid to deny Michael Raffl's rebound attempt.
Voracek, fourth in the NHL with 81 points last season, went without a point for fourth time in five games. He has just one assist this year.
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