GAME 49 PREVIEW: FLYERS VS. LIGHTNING
Dave Hakstol's Philadelphia Flyers (24-16-8) are back in again on Thursday night, hosting Jon Cooper's NHL-leading Tampa Bay Lightning (33-12-3) at the Wells Fargo Center. Game time is 7:00 p.m. ET. The game will be televised on NBCSNP.
This is the second of three meetings this season between the teams, and the lone game in Philadelphia. The season series will conclude on March 3 at the Amalie Arena in Tampa.
On Dec. 29, the visiting Flyers upset Tampa, 5-3, which had been 16-2-1 at home to start the season. Sean Couturier led the way with a three-point night (one goal, two assists) while Claude Giroux had three assists and both Jakub Voracek and Travis Konecny had a pair of assists. Apart from Couturier, the Flyers got goals from Wayne Simmonds (power play goal), Shayne Gostisbehere (power play), Brandon Manning and ex-Bolt Valtteri Filppula (empty net).
Brian Elliott, who started every game the Flyers played in December, earned the win with 24 saves on 27 shots in his 13th straight start. One of his most timely saves was an early third period glove save on the deadly Nikita Kucherov from the bottom of the right circle and the Flyers leading 3-2. Shortly thereafter, the Flyers scored to take a two-goal lead.
With Tampa playing the second half of back-to-back games after the Christmas break, backup goalie Peter Budaj got the start rather than star netminder Andrei Vasilevskiy. Budaj stopped 29 of 33 shots in 50:26 to absorb the loss. Vasilevskiy played 8:09 and stopped all four shots he faced.
Steven Stamkos (power play), Brayden Point and Tyler Johnson (shorthanded) scored for Tampa. Kucherov had two assists and Victor Hedman and Ondrej Palat had one apiece.
The Flyers went 2-for-6 on the penalty kill but also yielded the Johnson shorthander. Philly went 2-for-3 on the penalty kill against the Lightning's deadly power play. Philly blocked 21 shots (led by a half dozen by Ivan Provorov) to 12 by Tampa and won the faceoffs battle by a 35-27 margin. Manning led the Flyers with four credited hits.
FLYERS OUTLOOK
The Flyers are 5-1-0 since their bye week, and 16-5-1 since their 0-5-5 swoon of November to early December. Philly has been a very busy team of late, as Thursday's game will be their fifth in eight nights. The Flyers are coming off a 3-2 overtime road win against the Detroit Red Wings on Tuesday night.
In Detroit, the Flyers struggled in the first and especially the third periods but dominated in the second period. Combined with Detroit players missing wide open nets from point blank range on three different occasions and Elliott making several dynamic saves, second period goals by Andrew MacDonald and Voracek (power play) were just enough to get the game to overtime.
For the second straight game, and the third straight overtime, Travis Konecny had a direct hand in the winning goal. At home last Thursday against Toronto, Konecny set up Couturier on a 2-on-1 rush to end the game. On Sunday in Washington and Tuesday in Detroit, Konecny scored the winning goal. All three Flyers tallies came on the first shift of OT.
Elliott battled hard in making 19 saves on 21 shots against the Red Wings. He improved his record on the season to 19-11-7 with a 2.77 GAA and .908 save percentage. Elliott, who took a day off when the Flyers held an optional practice in Voorhees on Wednesday, appears to be the likely starter against Tampa Bay. However, Michal Neuvirth (5-5-1, 2.23 GAA, .928 SV%, 1 SO) has been very effective in recent starts.
The Flyers lost Michael Raffl to a lower-body injury in the second period of Tuesday's game. Raffl has played well all season and started scoring, too, once he was moved up in the lineup from a previous role solely assigned to checking duties. He has nine goals and 16 points; all since Nov. 22. There should be an update on Raffl's status on Thursday from Flyers' general manager Ron Hextall.
With the Flyers having an optional practice on Wednesday attended by 10 players, the revised line combinations for Thursday's game are not yet clear. One of either Dale Weise or Taylor Leier, both frequent healthy scratches of late, will re-enter the lineup. Given Hakstol's past preferences this season, it is possible that Jori Lehterठcould move up from the fourth line to Raffl's spot on the Filppula line with Voracek.
For the season, the Flyers have scored 2.92 goals per game (14th in the NHL) and have a team 2.77 GAA (tied for 12th). At five-on-five, the Flyers have scored 85 goals (tied for 19th) and yielded 72 (2nd fewest in the league).
On the power play, the Flyers rank tied for 9th at 20.6 percent (34-for-165) with seven shorthanded goals yielded (tied for fourth most). On the penalty kill, the Flyers rank tied for 28th (110-for-147, 74.8 percent). The Flyers have scored two shorthanded goals; one apiece for Scott Laughton and Simmonds.
LIGHTNING OUTLOOK
Even with the Boston Bruins on a tear over the last month and Tampa just 5-4-1 over its last 10 games, the Lightning still hold a five-point lead atop the Northeast Division. The Bolts have won back-to-back games entering this one and bring to town a season 16-7-2 road record.
The Lightning, on the fourth game of an eight-game road trip that moves west after the All-Star break, have been extremely busy of late in their own right. Thursday's game is the team's third road game in four nights and fourth in six. Counting the Bolts' last home game (a 4-1 loss to the shockingly good Vegas Golden Knights), the team will be playing for the fifth time in the last eight nights.
On Tuesday, Yanni Gourde's 16th goal of the season was the overtime game winner in a 4-3 road win over the defending Western Conference champion Nashville Predators. The Lightning also got goals from Chris Kunitz (7th), Vladislav Namestnikov (16th) and veteran superstar Steven Stamkos (18th). The Stamkos goal, scored with 2:12 left in regulation, sent the game to overtime. Namestnikov (21st assist) set up Gourde's game-winner. Louis Domingue got the start in goal, stopping 30 of 33 shots.
Nikita Kucherov leads the Art Ross Trophy race. He has 61 points (27 goals, 34 assists) through 48 games.
Andrei Vasilevskiy, the NHL's winningest goaltender this season, has often given the Flyers fits in his still-young career. To date this season, the 23-year-old goalie clocks in with a 28-9-0 record, 2.21 GAA, .930 save percentage and seven shutouts.
Mikhail Sergachev, the very promising young defenseman that Tampa acquired from Montreal in the Jonathan Drouin trade, was a healthy scratch on Tuesday as a disciplinary measure from Cooper. He could return to the lineup on Thursday. If so, Slater Koekkoek is the most likely Bolt to sit out in his favor.
On the injury front, the Bolts remain without one of their most crucial players: Norris Trophy candidate defenseman Victor Hedman (left knee) is on injured reserve and will miss the All-Star Game in Tampa Bay. The Lightning are also without the dangerous Palat (right ankle injury on Jan. 22) and backup goalie Budaj.
Entering Thursday's game, the Lightning are the highest-scoring team in the NHL, averaging a robust 3.50 goals per game. Tampa enjoys a stellar goal differential on the season, also clocking in with a 2.54 goals against average (4th in the NHL). At five-on-five, the Bolts have scored 106 goals (4th) and given up 74 (4th).
The Bolts' power play clocks in at 23.8 percent efficiency (40-for-168) to rank 4th in the NHL. Opponents have scored two shorthanded goals. Tampa's penalty kill comes in ranked 22nd at 79.2 percent (126-for-159). Tampa is tied for 2nd in the NHL with seven shorthanded goals scored to date this season: two apiece for Brayden Point (named to the NHL All-Star game on Wednesday) and Johnson, and one each for Yanni Gourde, Palat and Chris Kunitz.
PROJECTED LINEUPS
FLYERS
28 Claude Giroux - 14 Sean Couturier - 11 Travis Konecny 12 Michael Raffl - 51 Valtteri Filppula - 93 Jakub Voracek 40 Jordan Weal - 19 Nolan Patrick - 17 Wayne Simmonds 56 Tyrell Goulbourne - 21 Scott Laughton - 15 Jori Lehterà¤
9 Ivan Provorov - 53 Shayne Gostisbehere 47 Andrew MacDonald -3 Robert Hà¤gg 23 Brandon Manning - 3 Radko Gudas
30 Michal Neuvirth [49 Alex Lyon]
Scratches: 20 Taylor Leier (healthy), 22 Dale Weise (healthy), 39 Mark Alt (healthy), 37 Brian Elliott (lower body, day-to-day).
LIGHTNING
86 Nikita Kucherov - 21 Brayden Point - 9 Tyler Johnson 90 Vladislav Namestnikov - 91 Steven Stamkos - 14 Chris Kunitz 17 Alex Killorn - 63 Matthew Peca - 37 Yanni Gourde 15 Michael Bournival - 13 Cedric Paquette - 24 Ryan Callahan …‹
59 Jake Dotchin - 6 Anton Strà¥lman 29 Slater Koekkoek- 5 Dan Girardi 55 Braydon Coburn - 62 Andrej Sustr …‹
88 Andrei Vasilevskiy [70 Louis Domingue]
Scratches: 89 Cory Conacher (healthy), 98 Mikhail Sergachev (healthy), 18 Ondrej Palat (IR, ankle), 77 Victor Hedman (IR, left knee), 31 Peter Budaj (IR, lower body). …‹