Flyers win, clinch playoff spot

DALLAS - It wasn't nearly as dramatic as last year, but the Flyers clinched an Eastern Conference playoff berth Saturday night.

Getting goals from Jeff Carter and Mike Richards, along with solid goaltending from Sergei Bobrovsky, the Flyers defeated the Dallas Stars in a shootout, 3-2, at the American Airlines Center and moved two points ahead of second-place Washington in the conference.

Ville Leino won it with a backhander on the Flyers' sixth shot in the shootout.

Bobrovsky was brilliant in the shootout.

The win assured the Flyers of a playoff berth, something they didn't nail down until a shootout win over the New York Rangers on the final day of the regular season last year.

This time, they secured a berth with 11 games left, clinching their 35th trip to the playoffs in their 43 seasons, excluding the 2004-05 lockout.

Claude Giroux nearly gave the Flyers a 3-1 lead with 8 minutes, 54 seconds remaining, but his backhander on a rebound caromed off the left post as he shot at a vacant net.

Bobrovsky stopped Toby Petersen from in close with 6:11 left to preserve the lead. Less than a minute later, he wasn't as fortunate.

Defenseman Stephane Robidas made a slick move around Carter near Dallas' offensive blue line and beat Bobrovsky to the short side, firing a shot from the high slot. That tied the game at 2-2 with 5:36 left.

Late in regulation, the Flyers killed a four-on-three power play, which turned into a five-on-four. It turned back to a four-on-three early in the overtime.

Bobrovsky, in his best save of the night, went sprawling to keep Robidas' drive out of the net with 4:10 remaining in overtime. About two minutes later, he robbed Steve Ott from the doorstep.

The Flyers began the night tied with surging Washington for the top spot in the East. Saturday was one of the three games the Flyers had in hand on the Caps, who have an easier schedule down the stretch. Other than the Flyers, the Caps play just two of their remaining games against teams in the top eight: Montreal and Buffalo.

Playing one of their best defensive periods in a while, the Flyers allowed just four shots in the opening period and built a 1-0 lead, with a little help from the Stars.

Andrej Meszaros' point drive deflected off Carter's skate and off Dallas defenseman Trevor Daley in front before going past helpless goalie Kari Lehtonen. The goal, Carter's 33d, was scored with 1:21 left in the first period.

Carter credited line mates Giroux and Andreas Nodl for wining battles and getting the puck back to Meszaros.

"That pulled everybody in," Carter said of the Stars' defense.

Just 1:17 into the second period, Meszaros set up another goal, Richards' 20th of the season. Meszaros' shot went wide of the net, but Richards garnered the rebound off the boards and knocked the puck past Lehtonen from in close.

"I got a lucky bounce and just swatted at it," Richards said.

It was Richards' first goal in 10 games, and it marked the fourth straight year he scored at least 20 goals. The Flyers have five players with at least 20 goals.

The Stars played most of the game with only five defensemen because Nicklas Grossman was injured early in the first period and did not return.

Dallas, which is fighting for a Western Conference playoff spot and was coming off a 5-0 win over Chicago, cut the deficit to 2-1 when Alex Goligoski fired a shot from the point to beat Sergei Bobrovsky.

Bobrovsky was sharp the rest of the period, and the Flyers took a 2-1 lead into the third. Heading into Saturday, they were 34-1-4 when leading after two periods this season.