Win gives Flyers a berth in playoffs

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, and played one of his best overall games of the season.

"Awesome" is the word Richards used to describe Bobrovsky's 28-save performance, not including his shootout acrobatics.

"He made some big saves at critical times and that's what we need from him," Richard said. "It's a hard task, but he's a confident guy and he can handle it,"

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.

"It's good, but it's just one step only," said Bobrovsky through a Russian translator. "It's not over yet."

Braydon Coburn, who played a strong defensive game, agreed.

"We've got a long ways to go," said Coburn, whose team killed all four Dallas power plays, "and every man in the dressing room knows that. We expected ourselves to be in the playoffs, and we want to get our game to the point that we're playing to the top of our level at playoff time."

Unlike last year's dramatics in the regular-season finale, the Flyers secured a playoff 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 8:54 remaining, but his backhander on 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(CQ) 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 to tie the game at 2-2 with 5:36 left.

Bobrovsky, in arguably 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.

Though they needed a win to secure a playoff spot, that wasn't on the mind of coach Peter Laviolette or any of his players.

"Never once this year have we talked about clinching a playoff spot," Laviolette said before the game. "Our goal has been _ and remains _ to win the conference so we can get the home ice throughout the playoffs."

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 Meszaro's point drive deflected off Carter's skate and off Dallas defenseman Trevor Daley in front before going past helpless goalie Kari Lehtonen, who is 0-10-2 in his career against the Flyers. The goal, Carter's 33d, was scored with 1:21 left in the first period.

Carter credited linemates 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 had scored at least 20 goals. The Flyers have five players with at least 20 goals.

Because of injuries, the Stars played with only four defensemen for the last 25 minutes.

Contact staff writer Sam Carchidi at scarchidi@phillynews.com. Follow on Twitter at www.twitter.com/BroadStBull.