UPDATE 1:00 PM EST
Per the beat writers in Tampa Bay, it looks like Ray Emery and Michael Raffl will be in the Flyers' lineup tonight. Also, Tampa goalie Ben Bishop apparently got injured in the morning skate.
FLYERS-LIGHTNING GAME PREVIEW (12:30 AM EST)
Aiming to salvage a split of their two-game Florida road trip and return to the .500 point-getting mark on the 2013-14 season, the Philadelphia Flyers (10-11-2) will take on the host Tampa Bay Lightning (15-9-2). Game time is 7:30 p.m. EST. The match will be televised locally on CSN Philly and nationally on NHL Network.
The reason why this game is of national interest, of course, has everything to do with one player. Tonight's game marks the first time Lightning icon, Vincent Lecavalier, will play against his longtime team since being bought out by the Bolts during the offseason.
This is the first of three meetings between the Flyers and Lightning this season, and the first of two in Tampa. The teams will play again on the afternoon of Jan. 11 in Philadelphia. The season series will conclude in Tampa Bay on April 10.
After tonight's game, the Flyers return home to play their annual Black Friday matinee, with an 11:30 a.m. start against the Winnipeg Jets. Thereafter, the Flyers will play the vast majority of their upcoming schedule on the road, as is typical of December. After the Black Friday game, Philly has just four home games until Jan. 8.
FLYERS OUTLOOK
On Tuesday, the Flyers suffered their first regulation loss in eight games. The club's 6-0-1 run came to an end in a frustrating 3-1 road loss to the Florida Panthers.
The Flyers fell behind, 2-0, on a pair of Sean Bergenheim goals in the second period. A blown lengthy 5-on-3 power play, followed shortly thereafter by the first Florida goal, was the turning point of the game. Wayne Simmonds trimmed the deficit to one goal with a third period power play goal but Panthers defenseman Erik Gudbranson put a point shot through a heavy screen and off goaltender Steve Mason (28 saves) for an insurance goal.
The loss in Sunrise marked the first time in eight games that the Flyers had been outscored at even strength. On the positive side, Simmonds' power play goal marked the seventh straight game that the Flyers scored at least once on man advantage. However, Bergenheim's deflection power play goal marked the sixth game in the last eight in which the Flyers' penalty kill yielded at least once to the opposing power play.
Tampa Bay is a team that has often given the Flyers trouble, especially in recent years. The Flyers hold an all-time record of 42-29-8-3 against the Bolts but are just 3-7-1 in their most recent 11 meetings. The Flyers are winless (0-3-1) in their last four games in Tampa.
Both teams have made coaching changes since they last faced one another. Tonight, Craig Berube will see if he fares better against Jon Cooper than Peter Laviolette's teams generally did against Guy Boucher's squads.
All eyes will be on Lecavalier tonight, at least when he first takes to the ice against the team for whom he played 1,037 regular season games. The Flyers second line center has put up three points (one goal, two assists) in his last five games and three goals and three assists in his last eight games.
Team captain Claude Giroux has finally taken over the Flyers' team scoring lead (16 points) after an extremely slow start. He has three goals and nine points in his last eight games, representing his entire goal-scoring output for the season and six of his 13 assists.
LIGHTNING OUTLOOK
The Bolts were one of the hottest teams in the NHL for much of the first quarter of the season but suffered a devastating loss when superstar center Steven Stamkos was lost indefinitely after suffered a broken right tibia on the ice and required immediate surgery. He is already off his crutches but it will still be an arduous road until he's able to return to play.
The Lightning recently endured a four-game losing streak on the road. However, the club emphatically put an end to the skid with a 5-0 shellacking of the New York Rangers in Tampa Bay on Monday. The Bolts enter tonight's game as one of the top home teams in the NHL, boasting a 9-2-0 record on home ice to date this season.
In the absence of Stamkos (14 goals, 23 points in just 17 games) and following the offseason departure of Lecavalier, Martin St. Louis has stepped up his game of late. The other iconic player in franchise history is coming off a two-goal, three-point outburst against the Rangers. The 38-year-old St. Louis, who five points in his last five games, has taken over the team scoring lead with 24 points (10 goals, 14 assists) in 24 games this season.
The Bolts enter tonight's game ranked 19th in the NHL on the power play (17.2 percent) and 3rd on the penalty kill (86.2 percent). Overall, the club has a plus-11 goal differential (72 GF - 61 GA) on the season. Only six teams in the league have surpassed Tampa's goal output on the season.
PROJECTED LINE COMBINATIONS (Subject to change)
FLYERS
19 Scott Hartnell - 28 Claude Giroux - 93 Jakub Voracek
10 Brayden Schenn - 40 Vincent Lecavalier - 17 Wayne Simmonds
24 Matt Read - 14 Sean Couturier - 9 Steve Downie
37 Jay Rosehill - 18 Adam Hall - 36 Zac Rinaldo
44 Kimmo Timonen - 5 Braydon Coburn
8 Nicklas Grossmann - 32 Mark Streit
26 Erik Gustafsson - 22 Luke Schenn
35 Steve Mason
[29 Ray Emery]
Potential Scratches: Michael Raffl (healthy), Andrej Meszaros (healthy), Hal Gill (healthy), Chris Pronger (LTIR, post-concussion syndrome).
LIGHTNING
23 J.T. Brown - 51 Valtteri Filppula - 26 Martin St. Louis
16 Teddy Purcell - 17 Alex Killorn - 56 Nikita Kucherov
18 Ondrej Palat - 9 Tyler Johnson - 71 Richard Panik
76 Pierre-Cedric Labrie - 44 Nate Thompson - 19 B.J. Crombeen
77 Victor Hedman - 6 Sami Salo
25 Matt Carle - 62 Andrej Sustr
2 Eric Brewer - 8 Mark Barberio
30 Ben Bishop
[39 Anders Lindbäck]
Potential scratches: Ryan Malone (questionable, foot), Radko Gudas (questionable, upper body), Keith Aulie (IR, upper body), Tom Pyatt (close to returning, IR, broken clavicle), Steven Stamkos (IR, surgery to repair broken tibia), Brian Lee (LTIR, knee surgery).
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