(Photo: Kate Frese)
By Kevin Durso, Sports Talk Philly editor 
After a three-day break, the Flyers return to the ice to face a challenge in the East's best team.
The Flyers gave the Tampa Bay Lightning a run for their money in November, erasing a 5-1 lead in under seven minutes to force overtime, before ultimately suffering the defeat. Tampa has some help back in netminder Andrei Vasilevskiy and is also fresh off the break.
Game time is at 7:30 p.m.
Team Leaders
| Philadelphia Flyers | GP | G | A | P | Tampa Bay Lightning | GP | G | A | P |
| Claude Giroux | 35 | 12 | 30 | 42 | Nikita Kucherov | 37 | 16 | 41 | 57 |
| Jake Voracek | 35 | 9 | 19 | 28 | Brayden Point | 37 | 21 | 26 | 47 |
| Sean Couturier | 33 | 14 | 13 | 27 | Steven Stamkos | 37 | 20 | 19 | 39 |
| Travis Konecny | 35 | 9 | 12 | 21 | Tyler Johnson | 36 | 16 | 11 | 27 |
| Wayne Simmonds | 35 | 11 | 5 | 16 | J.T. Miller | 37 | 7 | 19 | 26 |
| Player to Watch | |
| 28 Claude Giroux | 91 Steven Stamkos |
| Last 5 Games: 1 G, 2 A, 3 P, +1 | Last 5 Games: 5 G, 1 A, 6 P, -2 |
| Goalie Matchup | |
| 30 Michal Neuvirth | 88 Andrei Vasilevskiy |
| 3 GP, 1-2-0, 4.34 GAA, .833 SV% | 17 GP, 12-3-2, 2.39 GAA, .928 SV% |
Michal Neuvirth earned a second straight start with a stellar game in New York on Sunday. With the Flyers traveling to Tampa on Thursday morning as part of the league's mandated three-day holiday break, it's probably best that they don't throw Carter Hart into a strange situation and allow him the practice days before his next start.
Andrei Vasilevskiy was injured the last time the Lightning faced the Flyers, but the Tampa netminder is back and ready to go. Tampa is 3-0-1 since his return from injury and Vasilevskiy has a .930 save percentage in that time.
Flyers Projected Lineup
Injuries: Brian Elliott, Anthony Stolarz, Corban Knight
Scratches: Jori Lehtera, Jordan Weal, Christian Folin
| Left Wing | Center | Right Wing |
| 25 James van Riemsdyk | 28 Claude Giroux | 11 Travis Konecny |
| 17 Wayne Simmonds | 14 Sean Couturier | 93 Jake Voracek |
| 21 Scott Laughton | 19 Nolan Patrick | 12 Michael Raffl |
| 23 Oskar Lindblom | 44 Phil Varone | 22 Dale Weise |
| Defense | ||
| 9 Ivan Provorov | 6 Travis Sanheim | |
| 53 Shayne Gostisbehere | 8 Robert Hagg | |
| 47 Andrew MacDonald | 3 Radko Gudas | |
| Goalie | ||
| 30 Michal Neuvirth |
Lineup Notes
No changes are expected to the lineup.
Lightning Projected Lineup
Injuries: Mathieu Joseph
Scratches: Ryan Callahan, Slater Koekkoek, Mikhail Sergachev
| Left Wing | Center | Right Wing |
| 10 J.T. Miller | 91 Steven Stamkos | 9 Tyler Johnson |
| 18 Ondrej Palat | 21 Brayden Point | 86 Nikita Kucherov |
| 17 Alex Killorn | 71 Anthony Cirelli | 37 Yanni Gourde |
| 73 Adam Erne | 13 Cedric Paquette | 62 Danick Martel |
| Defense | ||
| 77 Victor Hedman | 6 Anton Stralman | |
| 27 Ryan McDonagh | 81 Erik Cernak | |
| 55 Braydon Coburn | 5 Dan Girardi | |
| Goalie | ||
| 88 Andrei Vasilevskiy |
Game Notes
- Power Play: Flyers (29th, 28th on road), Lightning (1st, 9th at home)
- Penalty Kill: Flyers (T-27th, 26th on road), Lightning (8th, 2nd at home)
- 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)
- Nov. 17, 2018 – Lightning 6, Flyers 5 (F/OT) (at PHI)
- Flyers Leaders vs. Lightning
- Claude Giroux – 33 GP, 4 G, 30 A, 34 P
- Travis Konecny – 7 GP, 4 G, 2 A, 6 P
- James van Riemsdyk – 32 GP, 15 G, 11 A, 16 P
- Michal Neuvirth – 9 GP, 4-3-0, 3.02 GAA, .906 SV%
- Milestone Watch
- Wayne Simmonds needs two goals to reach 200 as a Flyer.
- James van Riemsdyk needs two assists to reach 200 in his career.
- Ivan Provorov will play in his 200th NHL game tonight.
Where to Watch
TV: NBCSN
Radio: 97.5 The Fanatic
