Flyers 3, Stars 2 (SO)
Ville Leino scored the decisive goal in the sixth round of the shootout as the Philadelphia Flyers became the first team in the Eastern Conference to clinch a playoff berth with a 3-2 road victory over the Dallas Stars on Saturday.
Jeff Carter and captain Mike Richards tallied in regulation, defensemen Andrej Meszaros and Matt Carle each notched two assists and rookie Sergei Bobrovsky made 28 saves for the Flyers, who improved to 4-0-2 in their last six overall games and 3-0-1 in their last four on the road.
Defensemen Alex Goligoski and Stephane Robidas scored, Jamie Benn extended his point streak to 10 games with an assist and Kari Lehtonen stopped 28 shots for Dallas, which is 2-2-2 on its season-high seven-game homestand.
All-Star Claude Giroux scored in the second round and Mike Ribeiro tallied for the Stars in the third round to extend the shootout. After Brandon Segal failed on Dallas' sixth attempt, Lehtonen - who fell to 0-10-2 lifetime against Philadelphia - missed badly on a poke-check attempt, allowing Leino to slide a backhander into the vacant net for the win.
Philadelphia built a 2-0 lead as Carter scored his team-leading 33rd goal of the season and fifth in six games with 81 seconds remaining in the first period and Richards ended his nine-game drought 1:17 into the second.
Goligoski halved the deficit for Dallas at 12:44 of the second and Robidas beat Bobrovsky with a blast from the top of the slot with 5:36 left in the third, forging a 2-2 tie.