Owen Tippett, Flyers steamroll Stars for fifth straight win

The snow and cold may be set to engulf the greater Philadelphia area, but the Flyers are heating up.

Winners of four straight entering a showdown with the Dallas Stars on Thursday night, the Flyers dominated in a 5-1 victory that was a wire-to-wire effort.

Just how good was the effort? They held the Stars to just one shot on goal in the first period, and eight in the second. According to Natural Stat Trick, they held the percentage of shot attempts at 67.5% in the opening frame at all strengths and 60% in the second period.

The Stars did try to turn it up a smidge in the final frame, but the Flyers squashed that with an insurance goal by Cam Atkinson on the power play, followed by a penalty shot marker by Scott Laughton.

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And while a win is a win and no matter how it happens, it still goes down as two points, this one had some razzle-dazzle.

First up, Morgan Frost. The forward set up Sean Walker’s tally to give the Flyers a 1-0 lead with 60 seconds to go in the first period. The defenseman started the sequence deep in the Flyers’ end and streaked up the ice away from the eyes of the Stars, but the pass by Frost was the star of the play. Frost, who now has notched an assist in three straight games, sent a no-look, back-turned, backhand touch pass between his legs to Walker as he cut down the ice.

Earlier in the day, Flyers coach John Tortorella talked about Owen Tippett having “the opportunity to be a really good player” in the NHL. Carpe diem.

Tippett may be one of the top guys in the NHL when it comes to missed shots, but he didn’t do that on Thursday night — he only missed one all night, actually. And of the five he put on net, he notched two. The first came off a faceoff win by Sean Couturier back to him at the top of the left faceoff circle that beat Jake Oettinger under the bar in the second period.

His second goal will surely lead all the highlight packages. Tippett picked up the puck in his own end, skated down the left side and, with Joel Hanley in front of him, spun around, and rifled a backhander top shelf. Tippett’s backhanders are becoming something of legend.

Couturier’s assist on Tippett’s goal was the 300th of his NHL career. ... Tyler Seguin scored the lone goal for the Stars. .... Nicolas Deslauriers, Bobby Brink, and Marc Staal were all healthy scratches.

The Flyers have a jam-packed weekend. They host the Colorado Avalanche on Saturday at 1 p.m. (NBCSP) to kickstart back-to-back games.