Flyers-Lightning: Game 60 Preview

Team Leaders

Philadelphia Flyers	GP	G	A	P	Tampa Bay Lightning	GP	G	A	P
Claude Giroux	59	17	44	61	Nikita Kucherov	60	29	70	99
Sean Couturier	57	24	30	54	Brayden Point	59	35	43	78
Jake Voracek	59	15	35	50	Steven Stamkos	60	33	39	72
Travis Konecny	59	17	18	35	Tyler Johnson	58	21	16	37
James van Riemsdyk	43	15	14	29	Victor Hedman	53	7	30	37

 

Player to Watch
28 Claude Giroux	86 Nikita Kucherov
Last 5 Games: 1 G, 2 A, 3 P, -4	Last 5 Games: 7 G, 11 A, 18 P, +7

 

Claude Giroux is the Flyers leader in points, but over the weekend, he was limited to no points and a minus-2 on Saturday. The Flyers captain will need to come through in a big way for the Flyers to have a chance on Tuesday.

 

Nikita Kucherov has been the hottest player in the NHL and cemented his case as the Hart Trophy favorite. Kucherov entered Monday with goals in four straight games and 13 points in the last four games. He only posted a five-point game in Tampa Bay's 5-1 win over Columbus, scoring two goals and adding three assists to move to 99 points on the season. With the roll he is on, it's very likely that point 100 comes on Tuesday.

 

Goalie Matchup
79 Carter Hart	70 Louis Domingue
20 GP, 13-6-1, 2.53 GAA, .924 SV%	22 GP, 18-4-0, 2.90 GAA, .907 SV%

Carter Hart got his first set of starts on back-to-back days over the weekend. After allowing five goals to Detroit on Saturday, he was the star on Sunday, making 37 saves in a 3-1 win. He gets one of his biggest tests yet, facing the NHL's best in the Tampa Bay Lightning.

If there was any silver lining to facing a team that has lost only 15 games all season and is firing on all cylinders, it's that regular starter Andrei Vasilevskiy got the start in Monday's game, meaning all signs point to backup Louis Domingue getting the start on Tuesday. The Flyers lost to Domingue in November, 6-5 in overtime, after rallying for four goals in the final 10 minutes of the third period.

Flyers Projected Lineup

Injuries: Michal Neuvirth

Scratches: Phil Myers, Mike McKenna, Cam Talbot

Left Wing	Center	Right Wing
25 James van Riemsdyk	28 Claude Giroux	11 Travis Konecny
23 Oskar Lindblom	14 Sean Couturier	93 Jake Voracek
21 Scott Laughton	19 Nolan Patrick	17 Wayne Simmonds
12 Michael Raffl	44 Phil Varone	27 Justin Bailey
Defense
9 Ivan Provorov	6 Travis Sanheim
53 Shayne Gostisbehere	47 Andrew MacDonald
8 Robert Hagg	3 Radko Gudas
Goalie
79 Carter Hart

Lineup Notes

The Flyers got back to 12 forwards and six defensemen. Justin Bailey comes back into the lineup, Phil Myers will be a scratch.

Lightning Projected Lineup

Injuries: Victor Hedman

Scratches: Brayden Point, Jan Rutta

Left Wing	Center	Right Wing
18 Ondrej Palat	91 Steven Stamkos	10 J.T. Miller
37 Yanni Gourde	9 Tyler Johnson	86 Nikita Kucherov
17 Alex Killorn	71 Anthony Cirelli	73 Adam Erne
62 Danick Martel	13 Cedric Paquette	24 Ryan Callahan
Defense
98 Mikhail Sergachev	5 Dan Girardi
27 Ryan McDonagh	81 Erik Cernak
55 Braydon Coburn	6 Anton Stralman
Goalie
70 Louis Domingue

Game Notes

• Power Play: Flyers (T-20th, 15th at home), Lightning (1st, 1st on road)
• Penalty Kill: Flyers (27th, 23rd at home), Lightning (2nd, 9th on road) 
• Recent History vs. Lightning
  • Dec. 20, 2017 – Flyers 4, Red Wings 3 (at PHI)
  • Jan. 23, 2018 – Flyers 3, Red Wings 2 (F/OT) (at DET)
  • March 20, 2018 – Red Wings 5, Flyers 4 (F/SO) (at DET)
  • Dec. 18, 2018 – Flyers 3, Red Wings 2 (at PHI)
  • Feb. 16, 2019 – Flyers 6, Red Wings 5 (F/OT) (at PHI)
• Flyers Leaders vs. Lightning
  • Claude Giroux – 34 GP, 5 G, 31 A, 36 P
  • Ivan Provorov – 8 GP, 3 G, 4 A, 7 P
  • James van Riemsdyk – 33 GP, 15 G, 13 A, 28 P
  • Jake Voracek – 25 GP, 5 G, 15 A, 20 P
• Milestone Watch
  • Radko Gudas needs two points to reach 100 for his career.
  • Jake Voracek needs three goals to reach 200 for his career.
  • Sean Couturier needs three points to reach 200 for his career.

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