Coming off an emotional night and win against the Calgary Flames on Tuesday, the Philadelphia Flyers (8-4-2) will now play host to the defending Stanley Cup champion Tampa Bay Lightning (8-3-3). The game tonight will be the second of a three game home-stand that ends on Saturday against the Boston Bruins and it is also the first of two matchups against the Lightning this month.
On Monday night the Flyers hosted an alumni game for their two team Hall of Fame inductees, Paul Holmgren and Rick Tocchet. Tuesday night was an emotional affair as both Holmgren and Tocchet were inducted prior to puck drop. The Flyers handled their business against the Flames but it was mostly due to the performance from Carter Hart.
He stole the show yet again, stopping 33 of 34 shots as he was able to shut the door on his end to keep the game alive. The Flyers trailed early in the game after an Oliver Kylington goal as it deflected off of Sean Couturier, changed directions, and fooled Hart. The rest of the way he was unstoppable as the Flyers were able to tie it midway through the second period on a goal by Kevin Hayes.
It was his first goal of the season since his return, and since the untimely passing of his late brother Jimmy. The celebration said it all as he pointed straight to the sky in his memory. The Flyers were seemingly jolted with energy after that as they took control of the game in terms of shots and chances but Jacob Markstrom stood his ground. On the 43rd shot of the game for Philadelphia, Cam Atkinson buried the game winning goal in overtime as he snapped his 8 game pointless streak.
The Flyers offensive struggles continue as they have scored 22 goals in their last 11 games, 15 goals in their last 9, and their power play is 3 for their last 36.
Claude Giroux is pointless in his last 4, Sean Couturier, who assisted on the game winning goal snapped a 4-game pointless streak. Cam Atkinson just broke out of an 8-game pointless streak, Joel Farabee has 1 goal in his last 11, James van Riemsdyk has 1 goal in his last 8, and Travis Konecny is without a point in 5.
At some point they’re going to break out, but it sounds like a broken record after 11 games. No longer is it a 4 or 5 game slump, we’re now reaching a month of inept and anemic performances that are being backed up by really elite goaltending. They’re going to need every bit of offense tonight to defeat the Tampa Bay Lightning.
The Lightning, who started off their season a little slow with 4 losses in their first 6 games, have picked up where they left off the last 2 seasons. The 2-time defending Stanley Cup champions are 6-1-3 in their last 10 games, and that is without the services of arguably their best offensive threat in Nikita Kucherov.
Kucherov has missed the last 11 games with a lower body injury, he was placed on LTIR after requiring surgery and won’t be back in the lineup until at least January. In his stead, Steven Stamkos leads the charge with 8 goals and 16 points in 14 games, Alex Killorn has 7 goals and 14 points, Victor Hedman has 11 assists and 13 points, and Brayden Point has 6 goals and 12 points. It’s an offense by committee after several off-season moves to become cap compliant and the gaping hole left by Kucherov. However the Lightning have enough talent to get by and make another deep run.
The Lightning come into the game unbeaten in regulation in their last 8, going 5-0-3, while also winning their last 2. They are fresh off a win against the New York Islanders on Monday night, where they comprehensibly took them down on home ice, 4-1. Matthew Barzal opened the scoring 3 minutes into the first period and that was all she wrote for the visitors, as the Lightning tacked on 4 unanswered, including 2 goals in 2 minutes midway through the third period.
Andrei Vasilevskiy is back to his old Vezina Trophy ways as he is 7-3-2 on the season with a 2.20 G.A.A and a .924 save percentage. After a slow start to the season by his standards, he hasn’t allowed more than 2 goals in 7 games and in that span has only given up 11 goals, while posting a 5-0-2 record. He has beaten teams like the New York Islanders, Florida Panthers, and Washington Capitals, so it’s safe to say he’s back to fine form.
Both teams possess middling to mediocre power plays, as the Lightning sit in 16th place, while the Flyers sit in 27th. Both teams do have great penalty killing units as the Lighting are in 8th place at 85.1%, while the Flyers have improved greatly this year to 11th place at 83.3%. The Flyers sit in 3rd place in goals allowed at 2.43 per game, while the Lightning are 13th at 2.79. It’s going to be a tight game if the goaltending and defense stays true to form.
The Philadelphia Flyers have lost the services of Ryan Ellis for the foreseeable future as he was placed on LTIR, which means he has to miss a minimum of 24 days and 10 games. During their game against the Flames, forward Patrick Brown injured his thumb and he is now out on a week-to-week basis. Oskar Lindblom, who was given the night off on Tuesday, should slot back into the lineup in heed of Patrick Brown.
For the Lightning they will once again be without Nikita Kucherov as well as minute-munching defenseman Erik Cernak. Cernak is dealing with an upper-body injury that has him slated week-to-week as well. Carter Hart has been confirmed as the starter for tonight’s game and Vasilevskiy is slated to start opposite him.
Philadelphia Flyers Projected Lines:
Claude Giroux – Sean Couturier – James van Riemsdyk
Joel Farabee – Kevin Hayes – Cam Atkinson
Derick Brassard – Scott Laughton – Travis Konecny
Oskar Lindblom – Nate Thompson – Zach MacEwen
Ivan Provorov – Justin Braun
Travis Sanheim – Rasmus Ristolainen
Keith Yandle – Nick Seeler
Carter Hart
Tampa Bay Lightning Projected Lines:
Ondrej Palat – Brayden Point – Anthony Cirelli
Alex Killorn – Steven Stamkos – Mathieu Joseph
Patrick Maroon – Pierre-Edouard Bellemare – Corey Perry
Boris Katchouk – Ross Colton – Taylor Raddysh
Victor Hedman – Jan Rutta
Ryan McDonagh – Zach Bogosian
Mikhail Sergachev – Cal Foote
Andrei Vasilevskiy
