After a penalty free first stanza from both teams, it was a revolving door to the box. The Flyers went 0 for 2 with the man advantage. Tampa went 2 for 5 on the powerplay. Steven Stamkos scored two goals and added an assist on what was the eventual game winner and the Flyers fell to the Lightning 4-3 in Tampa on Thursday night.
On the night before Halloween, Amalie Arena proved once again to be a house of horrors for the orange and black. The loss makes it seven in a row in Tampa and five overall in the series.
The Flyers got off to yet another slow start. It took them almost ten minutes to record their first and through two periods they were down 22-12 in shots on goal and 2-1 on the scoreboard. If not for some stellar play by goalie Ray emery early the final score could have been worse.
Tampa opened the scoring at 3:29 of the first as Vladislav Namestnikov redirected a shot from the point off the stick of Anton Stralman. A little less than ten minutes later Wayne Simmonds scored his sixth of season to send the teams to locker room tied after twenty minutes.
Tampa opened the second with a very good first shift but the Flyers were able to settle things down and generate some of their first sustained pressure of the night. The Flyers got the games first powerplay at 5:30 of the second but could not capitalize.
The remainder of the period saw the Flyers take five more minor penalties including back to back minors with just under four minutes left. They were able to kill off the first penalty but Stamkos made them pay on the second. The Tampa captain scored his seventh goal of the season on a top corner, near post shot with 46 seconds left to give the the Lightning a 2-1 lead through two periods.
Stamkos would add his second of the game, eigth of the year, in the early stages of the third. He wired a one timer home at 5:30 of the third after he was left all alone at the top of the circle. Vallteri Filppula made a great play controlling the puck all the way around net before finding Stamkos with a great cross ice pass.
The two goal lead would not last long as Jakub Voracek would score 1:08 later. Voracek hammered home a rebound off a Brandon Manning shot from the point. It was his third goal of the season. The assist was Manning's first point of the year.
Ten minutes later the Flyer were forced to kill a too many men on the ice penalty and could not. Jason Garrison wired home his first of the year from just inside the blue line. Stamkos got the primary assist on the goal and Tampa was back up two with under four to play.
The Flyers never gave up though. Craig Berube pulled the goalie with about two minutes left to play and the Flyers were able to inch closer. Michael Raffl picked up his sixth goal of the year with :53 seconds to play to bring the Flyers back to within one. That was as close as they got as there just wasn't enough time on the clock.
The Flyers had multiple other chances throughout the game but couldn't capitalize. Raffl had a shorthanded breakaway with the game still tied at one in the second but could not get a shot off. As the penalty expired, he went in again on a partial breakaway but Ben Bishop was able to make the save. Voracek also had a great chance early in third on a powerplay but once again Bishop stood tall.
Ray Emery made 28 saves in his first regulation loss of the year. Bishop made 24 saves in the win. The loss drops the Flyers record to 4-4-2 on the year. With the win Tampa Bay is now 7-3-1 on the season.
The Flyers will take the ice Saturday in Florida versus the Panthers. Game time is 7:00.
Bill Minchin is a contributing writer for Flyerdelphia. Follow Bill on twitter @wtfd103074
