PREVIEW 10:30 AM EST

The Flyers (36-14-5) have not lost back-to-back games since the home game immediately before and the road game immediately following their Christmas hiatus. To keep that trend up, Philly will need to bounce back from Sunday's 1-0 shutout loss at the hands of the Los Angeles Kings to defeat a Tampa Bay Lightning (34-17-5) club that it has not beaten all season in three tries, and which blanked Philly, 4-0, in the firs game after the All-Star break. Overall, the Bolts are 19-6-2 on home ice this season.

Tampa Bay in coming off a hairy 4-3 overtime win against Carolina. Marc-Andre Bergeron scored 1:32 in OT to rescue the two points after the Bolts surrendered a 3-1 lead with under a minute left in regulation. In that game, Vincent Lecavalier, Martin St. Louis and Steven Stamkos extended personal point streaks to 3 games.

Right now, the Flyers' biggest issue is getting the power play going. The club has dropped to 17.5 percent efficiency on the season (17th overall in the NHL) and is a dismal 14.8 percent on the road. The Flyers have excelled at even strength this season, but goals get harder to come by down the stretch and into the playoffs.

Despite Tampa's strong record and the six combined shutouts posted by Dwayne Roloson (4, including one against the Flyers) and Dan Ellis, the Lightning have given up more goals (170) than they have scored (167) this season. Their weakest period has been the third: Tampa has been outscored by opponents by a whopping 20-goal margin (62-42) in third periods. By comparison, the Flyers have outscored their opponents by a 66-54 mark.

Philly's big problem against Tampa this season has been keeping the Bolts -- especially Steven Stamkos (5 goals in 3 games) and Martin St. Louis (9 assists) -- off the scoreboard. The Flyers have had trouble coping with Tampa's speed. Philly's top scoring player against the Lightning has been Nikolay Zherdev, who appears likely to be a healthy scratch again tonight, especially with the addition of Kris Versteeg. Zherdev scored three goals and added an assist in the first two meetings of the season.

For the Flyers to win tonight, they will need a better effort from Mike Richards than he has had in the three games against Tampa this season (0 G, 2 A, 8 PIM, -3) or in Sunday's game against Los Angeles. Jeff Carter (1 G, 0 A). Claude Giroux (0 G, 1 A), Ville Leino (0 G, 2 A, -2), Scott Hartnell (0 G, 1 A), Chris Pronger (0 G, 1 A, -2) and Kimmo Timonen (0 PTS, -2) all need to do more. Most of the damage the Flyers did in the first two games was done by Zherdev, Danny Briere (2 G). The defense combined for 2 goals -- Meszaros and Coburn -- and 8 points, including three assists for Matt Carle and a pair by Sean O'Donnell.

As of this writing the Flyers have not yet named their starting goalie for tonight. I would guess that Brian Boucher will start, because Sergei Bobrovsky has twice been pulled after one period against Tampa this season.

Barring a callup, Tampa may go with seven defensemen tonight. Forwards Ryan Malone (abdominal injury) and Nate Thompson (concussion) are unavailable.


PROJECTED LINEUPS (subject to change)

FLYERS

JVR - Richards - Versteeg
Hartnell - Briere - Leino
Nodl - Giroux - Carter
Shelley - Betts - Powe

Pronger - Carle
Coburn - Timonen
Meszaros - O'Donnell

Boucher/Bobrovsky


LIGHTNING

St. Louis - Stamkos - Downie
Gagne - LeCavalier - Purcell
Hall - Moore - Tyrell
Harju - Bergenheim/[Stamkos/LeCavalier] - Bergenheim/[double-shifting wing]

Hedman - Ohlund
Clark - Bergeron
Jones - Kubina
Smaby - [double-shifting D]

Roloson
[Ellis]


*******

My take on the Kris Versteeg trade: In the short term, I think it makes the Flyers a better club. He's an offensive upgrade over Andreas Nodl on Mike Richards' line. He's versatile in his ability to play in a variety of manpower situations, add a little sandpaper to the lineup (he can be a yapper and a pest) and contribute to the forecheck. He's the type of player you hate when he's on the other side, and appreciate when he's on yours. Versteeg is also still young, is a proven 20-goal scorer and is signed for one more season beyond this one at about a $3 million cap hit. It's a plus not to have to subtract anyone from the roster to get a quality player.

In the long run, though, I have to question giving up a first-round and third-round pick to land Versteeg. If that first-round pick turns out to be the 30th pick of the draft (i.e., the Flyers win the Stanley Cup) no one will have a right to complain.

But was Versteeg's addition really that vital to the team? He does have a Cup ring (at the Flyers' expense) from last season, but acquiring him could complicate the efforts to re-sign impending UFA Ville Leino. Think back to last year's Cup final. Who meant more to his team in that series, Leino or Versteeg? Likewise, on a team where the biggest positional need was a big power winger to play in front of the net, did they so vitally need the undersized Versteeg that they used up all their trade deadline cap space?

You have to figure that one or both among Nikolay Zherdev and/or Dan Carcillo will be moved out by the deadline. Don't expect much of a return. It would be a salary dump.

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