Flyers-Lightning: Game 20 Preview

Team Leaders

Philadelphia Flyers	GP	G	A	P	Tampa Bay Lightning	GP	G	A	P
Claude Giroux	19	7	15	22	Brayden Point	19	12	10	22
Jake Voracek	19	5	12	17	Nikita Kucherov	19	7	14	21
Sean Couturier	19	7	5	11	Yanni Gourde	19	8	19	13
Wayne Simmonds	19	7	3	10	Steven Stamkos	19	6	10	16
Oskar Lindblom	19	5	5	10	J.T. Miller	19	5	10	15

 

Player to Watch
28 Claude Giroux	21 Brayden Point
Last 5 Games: 3 G, 5 A, 8 P, +5	Last 5 Games: 4 G, 1 A, 5 P, -5

 

Claude Giroux scored three goals and had eight points on the three-game winning streak. Since then, he has been held off the scoresheet in the last two games. The two-game slide has a chance to snowball here, and it's up to the captain to lead his team.

 

For all the offensive talent and All-Star ability that the Lightning have, it is not Steven Stamkos or Nikita Kucherov leading the team in scoring. Brayden Point has 12 goals and 22 points to lead the team. He had gone three straight games without a point before Thursday, when he scored three power-play goals for a natural hat trick within 91 seconds of game play. 

 

Goalie Matchup
33 Cal Pickard	70 Louis Domingue
3-1-1, 4.33 GAA, .865 SV%	4-2-0, 3.36 GAA, .890 SV%

With Michal Neuvirth still on the shelf and Brian Elliott back on the injured list after leaving Thursday's game, Cal Pickard is in the No. 1 slot again. Despite a high GAA and poor save percentage, Pickard does have three wins this season.

The Flyers aren't the only team dealing with an injury in net. Andrei Vasilevskiy is out "for a while" with a fractured foot. That moves backup Louis Domingue into the spotlight. Domingue did win his first start filling in for the injured Vasilevskiy on Thursday, but also has poor numbers despite the record.

Flyers Projected Lineup

Injuries: Michael Raffl, Brian Elliott, Michal Neuvirth

Scratches: Andrew MacDonald, Jori Lehtera

Left Wing	Center	Right Wing
28 Claude Giroux	14 Sean Couturier	11 Travis Konecny
23 Oskar Lindblom	19 Nolan Patrick	93 Jake Voracek
25 James van Riemsdyk	40 Jordan Weal	17 Wayne Simmonds
22 Dale Weise	21 Scott Laughton	62 Nicolas Aube-Kubel
Defense
9 Ivan Provorov	8 Robert Hagg
53 Shayne Gostisbehere	26 Christian Folin
6 Travis Sanheim	3 Radko Gudas
Goalie
33 Cal Pickard

Lineup Notes

Radko Gudas is expected to return to the lineup after missing Thursday's game with an illness. Other than that, the rest of the lines remain the same. 

Lightning Projected Lineup

Injuries: Andrei Vasilevskiy, Ondrej Palat, Anton Stralman

Scratches: Danick Martel, Cameron Gaunce, Slater Koekkoek

Left Wing	Center	Right Wing
10 J.T. Miller	91 Steven Stamkos	86 Nikita Kucherov
37 Yanni Gourde	21 Brayden Point	9 Tyler Johnson
17 Alex Killorn	71 Anthony Cirelli	7 Mathieu Joseph
73 Adam Erne	13 Cedric Paquette	24 Ryan Callahan
Defense
5 Dan Girardi	77 Victor Hedman
81 Erik Cernak	27 Ryan McDonagh
55 Braydon Coburn	98 Mikhail Sergachev
Goalie
70 Louis Domingue

Game Notes

• Power Play: Flyers (T-29th, 31st at home), Lightning (T-5th, 3rd on road)
• Penalty Kill: Flyers (30th, 29th at home), Lightning (3rd, T-13th on road) 
• Recent History vs. Lightning
  • Dec. 29, 2017 – Flyers 5, Lightning 3 (at TB)
  • Jan. 25, 2018 – Lightning 5, Flyers 1 (at PHI)
  • March 3, 2018 – Lightning 7, Flyers 6 (F/SO) (at TB)
• Flyers Leaders vs. Lightning
  • Claude Giroux – 32 GP, 4 G, 28 A, 32 P
  • Ivan Provorov – 6 GP, 2 G, 4 A, 6 P
  • Jake Voracek – 23 GP, 5 G, 14 A, 19 P
  • Cal Pickard – 1 GP, 0-0-1, 2.93 GAA, .925 SV%
• Milestone Watch
  • Claude Giroux needs one point to reach 700 for his career. 
  • Giroux also needs three assists to pass Brian Propp for 2nd all-time in Flyers history.

Where to Watch
TV: NBC Sports Philadelphia
Radio: 97.5 The Fanatic