After posting much-needed victories on Saturday, the Dallas Stars and Flyers will be back on the ice Sunday night in Philadelphia.

Dallas (44-18-11, 99 points) is playoff-bound but was mired in a four-game losing streak heading into Saturday’s game with the Pittsburgh Penguins. Fortunately, the Stars received a big lift from the return of Mikko Rantanen, who had a goal and an assist in a 6-3 victory.

Rantanen had not played since Feb. 20, when he sustained a lower-body injury during the Olympics while playing for Team Finland. His most NHL game had been on Feb. 4.

“A little rusty, obviously,” Rantanen said. “It’s a lot different than practicing, you know? You can do a lot of things in practice, but games are a little different. Sometimes you think it’s faster than it is. … But overall, the body felt good.”

Jason Robertson chipped in with a goal and an assist for Dallas, giving him 40 goals for the third time in his career. Mavrik Bourque contributed two empty-net goals and an assist for the Stars.

“Not forcing it was a big thing,” Robertson said. “And, I mean, having a lot of talent out there helps.”

Philadelphia (36-24-12, 84 points) scored the first four goals Saturday against the Detroit Red Wings before holding on for a 5-3 victory. Owen Tippett recorded a hat trick and added an assist on Sean Couturier’s game-clinching, empty-net goal.

“He’s dragging a lot of us in the fight,” Philadelphia coach Rick Tocchet said of Tippett. “When he gets that puck, he’s as good as it gets right now in the league.”

The Flyers improved to 11-3-1 in their last 15 games but will continue to need victories as they trail three teams in the race for the final wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference.

“It’s a big win for us,” Tocchet said. “I think a couple of teams (Columbus Blue Jackets and Ottawa Senators) lost today. We’ve got a huge game (Sunday).”

The Flyers certainly will need to play better down the stretch Sunday than they did on Saturday. The team led Detroit with under 6 1/2 minutes remaining in the third period before surrendering three quick goals.

“I loved our game for 55 minutes,” Tocchet said.

Of course, it helps to have Dan Vladar in net when it matters most. The Flyers’ goaltender has allowed more than three goals in just one of his last 16 starts, although he likely will watch Sunday while Samuel Ersson gets the nod at goalie.

The Stars, meanwhile, probably will turn to Casey DeSmith after Jake Oettinger started on Saturday.

This will be the second meeting between the teams this season. The Stars cruised to a 5-1 win in Dallas on Nov. 15 as Robertson recorded his sixth career hat trick, one of which has come in the playoffs.

The Stars have won five of the last six matchups vs. Philadelphia, although the Flyers enter Sunday’s game playing about as well as it has all season.

“Dallas is a good hockey team,” Tocchet said. “We’ll be ready.”

–Field Level Media

Duke point guard Caleb Foster is expected to play again in Sunday’s Elite Eight game of the NCAA Tournament against UConn after he returned from a foot fracture on Friday.

Foster came off the bench and recorded 11 points and two assists in an 80-75 Round of 16 game against St. John’s. That contest was three weeks after his foot injury that occurred in the regular-season finale against North Carolina on March 7.

Foster underwent a surgical procedure on the injury to expedite recovery.

After missing the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament, Foster also missed the first two NCAA Tournament games of the East Regional for the No. 1-seed Blue Devils (35-2).

Foster, who started 30 of his 32 games, is averaging 8.5 points, 3.6 rebounds and 2.8 assists. He is shooting 39 of 98 (39.8%) from 3-point range.

–Field Level Media

Mercedes driver Kimi Antonelli overcame a slow start to record his second straight win on Sunday at the Japanese Grand Prix in Suzuka, Japan.

Antonelli dropped to sixth place before steadily working his way into contention and benefiting from a safety car that was deployed due to a crash for Haas’ Ollie Bearman. That safety car allowed the 19-year-old Italian to pit and re-emerge in first place.

Antonelli, who recorded his maiden win two weeks ago in China, became the youngest-ever person to lead the drivers’ standings after finishing the race in 1 hour, 28 minutes and 3.403 seconds.

“It’s been a big step,” said Antonelli, whose 72 points in the driver’s standings are nine more than teammate George Russell.

“Experience does a lot — obviously last year I’ve gone through a lot and it taught me massively more than what I anticipated, and for sure it’s helping so far this year. Of course there’s still a lot of work to do, but I definitely feel much more in control of the situation.”

Antonelli finished 13.722 seconds ahead of second place Oscar Piastri of McLaren and 15.270 seconds in front of Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc.

Russell finished in fourth place, 15.754 seconds behind Antonelli.

Russell trailed then-leader Piastri before the safety car issue, giving the latter the chance to make a pit stop and pushing Mercedes’ hand to make the former use the pit as well. This move effectively handed Antontelli the victory on Lap 22.

“I think obviously we were very lucky with (the) safety car, but on the medium (tire), we were really strong once I got some free air, and then on the hard (tire) the pace was just incredible,” Antonelli said. “I don’t know what would have happened, how the outcome would have been, without the safety car, but yeah, it definitely made my life a lot easier.”

–Field Level Media