Preview: Flyers vs. Lightning
In their last home game until Black Friday, Dave Hakstol's Philadelphia Flyers (8-7-3) play host to Jon Cooper's Tampa Bay Lightning (11-6-1) in a Saturday matinee. Game time at the Wells Fargo Center is 1:00 p.m. ET. The game will be televised on CSN Philadelphia.
This is the first of three meetings between the teams,and the first of two in Philadelphia. The teams will rematch in Tampa Bay on Nov. 23 and in Philadelphia on Jan. 7. Last season, the Flyers went 2-0-1 against a powerhouse Lightning team.
Flyers Outlook
The Flyers are coming off a 5-2 home victory over the Winnipeg Jets on Thursday evening. Sean Couturier (fifth of the season), Michael Raffl (third), Mark Streit (fourth), Wayne Simmonds (ninth) and and Brandon Manning (empty net, third) all scored for Philadelphia. Steve Mason was excellent in goal. He turned back 30 of 32 shots and had little to no chance of stopping either Winnipeg goal.
Shayne Gostisbehere, a surprise healthy scratch against Winnipeg, is likely to return to the Flyers lineup against Tampa Bay.
Entering this game, Jakub Voracek (seven goals, 10 assists) and Claude Giroux (four goals, 13 assists) are tied for the team overall scoring lead. Simmonds leads the team with nine goals and five power play tallies among his 16 points.
The Flyers are ranked second on the power play in the NHL, converting on a robust 27 percent (17-for-63) of their chances thus far. The penalty kill, dragged down to a 24th overall rating due to poor road numbers, is operating at 84 percent (21-for-25) on home ice thus far. At even strength, the Flyrs have gotten outscored 36-43 overall.
Lightning Outlook
The Bolts are coming off a 4-1 road win over the Buffalo Sabres on Thursday. Saturday's game is the fourth match of a five-game road trip. Thus far, the Lightning are undefeated on the trip.
Tampa learned earlier this week that it will be without superstar center Steven Stamkos for fur to six months due to a knee injury. Through 17 games, Stamkos had piled up 20 points (nine goals. 11 assists). Nikita Kucherov leads the club with 17 points (nine goals, eight assists) and a plus-10 rating. Star defenseman Victor Hedman has 13 points (three goals, 10 assists) and a plus-five rating at even strength.
Ex-Flyer Braydon Coburn has averaged 16:16 of ice time in a somewhat smaller role than the one he played for many years in Philadelphia. In the meantime, key Tampa defenseman Anton Strà¥lman is day-to-day with an upper-body injury.
Entering Saturday's game, the Lightning have outscored opponents by a 43-31 margin over the final 40 minutes of games. In first periods, it is a 14-14 ratio. Tampa is ranked third on the power play at 23.7 percent (18-for-70) but the loss of Stamkos' overpowering shot is a blow to the attack. On the penalty kill, Tampa ranks 13th (46-for-56).
Projected Lineups (subject to change, will be updated)
FLYERS (will be updated)
10 Brayden Schenn- 28 Claude Giroux - 17 Wayne Simmonds 11 Travis Konecny - 14 Sean Couturier - 93 Jakub Voracek 12 Michael Raffl - 78 P-E Bellemare - 24 Matt Read 76 Chris VandeVelde - 25 Nick Cousins - 22 Dale Weise
15 Michael Del Zotto - 53 Shayne Gostisbehere 23 Brandon Manning - 3 Radko Gudas 9 Ivan Provorov - 32 Mark Streit
35 Steve Mason [41 Anthony Stolarz]
Scratches: Nick Schultz (healthy), Roman Lyubimov (healthy), Andrew MacDonald (healthy), Boyd Gordon (LTIR, upper body), Michal Neuvirth (IR, lower body).
LIGHTNING
18 Ondrej Palat - 90 Vladislav Namestnikov - 86 Nikita Kucherov 17 Alex Killorn - 9 Tyler Johnson - 21 Brayden Point 24 Ryan Callahan - 51 Valtteri Filppula - 27 Jonathan Drouin 11 Brian Boyle - 13 Cedric Paquette - 23 J.T. Brown
77 Victor Hedman - 62 Andrej Sustr 5 Jason Garrison - 89 Nikita Nesterov 29 Slater Koekkoek - 55 Braydon Coburn
30 Ben Bishop [88 Andrei Vasilevskiy]
Scratches: Brayden Point (healthy), Luke Witkowski (healthy), Steven Stamkos (IR, knee), Anton Strà¥lman (day-to-day, upper body).