Flyers Game Day: March 29 vs. Stars

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Rick Tocchet’s Philadelphia Flyers (36-24-12) are back home on Sunday to take on Glen Gulutzan’s Dallas Stars (44-18-11). Both teams are playing their third game in four nights.

Sunday’s game is the second and final meeting of the season series between the two teams. Back on Nov. 15 in Dallas, the Stars handed the Flyers a 5-1 setback. Jason Robertson scored three goals for Dallas.

On Saturday night, the Flyers earned a 5-3 road win over the Red Wings. Owen Tippett (25th, 26th and 27th goals of the season) led the way with a hat trick and an assist. Philly also got one goal apiece from Noah Cates (17th) and Sean Couturier (ENG, 10th).

Earlier in the day, Dallas powered past the host Penguins by a 6-3 count. Jason Robertson( (40th)  notched a goal and an assist, while Mavrik Bourque tallied a pair of empty net goals after assisting on a Lian Bichsel marker. In the same game, Mikko Rantanen hit the 21-goal and 50-assist marks for the season. 

Where to watch

Time and broadcast: 8:00 p.m. EDT on ABC
Listen online: FlyersRadio 24/7
RAV4 keys to the game for Philadelphia: click here
In-game watch party (Maher Media): click here

Leading scorers: Flyers (through 72 games)

Travis Konecny — 62 points (25g, 37a)
Trevor Zegras — 58 points (22g, 36a)
Owen Tippett — 48 points (27g, 21a)
Christian Dvorak — 44 points (15g, 29a)
Noah Cates — 41 points (17g, 24a)
Matvei Michkov — 39 points (16g, 23a)
Sean Couturier — 32 points (10g, 22a)
Travis Sanheim — 31 points (8g, 23a)
Jamie Drysdale — 30 points (8g, 22a)
Cam York — 25 points (4g, 21a) in 65 games
Nikita Grebenkin — 14 points (4g, 10a) in 55 games

Goaltender stats

Dan Vladar — 45 GP, 24-12-7, 2.44 GAA, .907 SV%
Samuel Ersson — 29 GP, 12-10-5, 3.20 GAA, .867 SV%
Aleksei Kolosov — 4 GP, 0-2-0, 4.00 GAA, .830 SV%

Flyers Lineup

The Flyers will not hold a morning skate on Sunday. The Stars also will not skate. Rick Tocchet will speak to the media at 4:30 p.m. EDT. The lineup below reflects the combos from the last two games. Look for Samuel Ersson to start in goal against Casey DeSmith.

Alex Bump – Christian Dvorak – Travis Konecny
Denver Barkey– Trevor Zegras – Owen Tippett
Carl Grundstrom – Noah Cates – Matvei Michkov
Sean Couturier – Luke Glendening – Garnet Hathaway

Travis Sanheim – Rasmus Ristolainen
Cam York – Jamie Drysdale
Nick Seeler – Emil Andrae

Samuel Ersson
[Dan Vladar]

Scratches: Noah Juulsen (Day to day), Nikita Grebenkin (upper body), Garrett Wilson (healthy).

Flyers Playoff Outlook

With 10 games remaining in the 2025-26 schedule, the Flyers are four points — three strandings points plus a 27-23 tiebreaker disadvantage in regulation wins — behind the Columbus Blue Jackets for the final wildcard playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. 

Factoring a 29-23 regulation wins disadvantage, Philly is five points behind the Pittsburgh Penguins for third place in the Metropolitan Division. The second place New York Islanders have a six-point edge (89 to 84 points plus a 28-23 regulation wins disparity) on the Flyers.

Philly’s one advantage; The Flyers have played one or two fewer games to date than all of these teams. Philadelphia holds one game on hand on Pittsburgh and Columbus and two on the Islanders.

If the Flyers cannot take at least third place in the Metro, they can only get into the playoffs via wildcard berth. To obtain that spot, Philly will have to catch and surpass the Detroit Red Wings and Ottawa Senators in addition to Columbus. Detroit (86 points, 28 regulation wins) and Ottawa (86 points, 32 regulation wins) also hold tiebreaker advantages if the Flyers are unable to beat them on total points.

Katchouk Lifts Phantoms back into a playoff spot

Boris Katchouk notched a hat trick and an assist for Lehigh Valley in a 4-2 win over Hershey on Saturday. The Phantoms at least temporarily moved back into a playoff spot (6th place) in the Atlantic Division.

Lehigh Valley is right back in action on Sunday afternoon. The Phantoms (28-30-16) finish their 3-in-3 gauntlet on the road against Wilkes-Barre/Scranton (40-16-8). The Phantoms are 4-7-1 head to head against the Baby Pens this season.