Stars at Flyers
The Philadelphia Flyers saw their playoff chances take a 1-2 punch to the gut over the weekend and must regroup in a hurry entering Tuesday's game against the visiting Dallas Stars. A crushing overtime loss at Boston on Saturday followed by a lackluster performance in a 5-2 setback at New Jersey 24 hours later dropped Philadelphia into 11th place and seven points out of the final wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference. "We don't come to play every night," forward Wayne Simmonds said.
After the Flyers were seconds away from a victory at Boston that would have pulled them within two points of the Bruins, they had the look of a morale-sapped squad against the Devils. "I've got to refocus them and get them dialed back in for the game Tuesday," coach Craig Berube said. The Stars are facing even more dire straits than Philadelphia, buried in last place in the Central Division and sitting 10 points behind Winnipeg for the second wild card in the crowded Western Conference.
TV: 7 p.m. ET, FSN Southwest (Dallas), CSN Philadelphia
ABOUT THE STARS (29-27-10): With leading scorer Tyler Seguin making a surprise return to the lineup following back-to-back wins over the New York Islanders and Florida, Dallas had renewed hope to make a late charge but surrendered three third-period goals in a 5-4 loss at Tampa Bay. Seguin, expected to miss four-to-six weeks after suffering a sprained knee ligament on Feb. 13, scored twice after sitting out 10 games. “He looked like he didn't skip a beat,” captain Jamie Benn said. “It’s pretty impressive. I can’t say I’m surprised, because I saw how hard he was working.”
ABOUT THE FLYERS (28-26-13): Philadelphia's loss at New Jersey continued a troubling trend that has put its playoff hopes on life support - namely its inability to beat the league's also-rans. In their last five games against opponents well out of playoff contention, the Flyers have dropped all five contests and managed to scrape only one point since Feb. 17. "I think we are thinking too much and everybody is pretty frustrated and we compete but maybe we don't compete the right way," captain Claude Giroux said. "We have to stop thinking too much and play the game."
OVERTIME
1. Philadelphia has won eight of the past nine meetings
2. Seguin has tormented the Flyers with three goals and seven assists in the last three matchups.
3. Giroux has three goals and six assists in eight games versus Dallas.