Game 80 Preview: Philadelphia Flyers @ Tampa Bay Lightning

Photo by Amy Irvin/38 Photography

Philadelphia Flyers (41-29-9) @ Tampa Bay Lightning (43-27-9), 7:30pm, CSN-Philly/SUN The Philadelphia Flyers may have guaranteed a playoff appearance with their win on Tuesday over the Florida Panthers, but the work in the regular season isn't complete. Starting with their game tonight against the Tampa Bay Lightning in Florida, the Orange and Black are not only trying to jump over the New York Rangers in the standings, they are also trying to avoid falling into one of the two wild card spots. With three games remaining in the regular season, where will the Flyers finish in the standings.

As of right now, the Flyers are two points behind the Rangers in the standings, but they have also played one less game than New York. While the Orange and Black still have to take on the Lightning and Pittsburgh Penguins on the road before finishing at home against the Carolina Hurricanes, the Rangers host the Buffalo Sabres tonight before finishing the season against the Montreal Canadiens on Saturday. Assuming the Rangers beat the Sabres tonight, Philly has to hope the Blueshirts fall to the Canadiens in regulation on Saturday to finish with 95 points. If New York finishes with 95 points, the Flyers need to go 2-0-1 or 3-0-0 to grab the second spot in the Metropolitan Division. If the Rangers go 1-0-1 to finish with 96 points, the Flyers will need to win out. If New York beats both the Sabres and Canadiens, the Flyers can't do anything to grab the second spot in the division. Now if the Rangers somehow drop their contest against the Sabres tonight and lose in regulation to Montreal on Saturday, the Flyers just need to go 1-1-1 or 0-0-3 to grab home-ice advantage against the Rangers in the opening round of the postseason. On the other hand, the Flyers could find themselves in one of the two wild card spots, as both the Columbus Blue Jackets and Detroit Red Wings have 91 points in 80 games. Due to total wins and regulation/overtime win totals, the Flyers will more likely than not need to finish with more points than the Blue Jackets to stay third in the division, as the tiebreakers will most likely go Columbus' way if the teams finish with the same amount of points. If the Flyers were to drop below the Blue Jackets to fourth in the division, they should still hang on to the top wild card spot, as the Flyers will have the tiebreaker with Detroit if the two clubs finish the regular season with the same points. Although the third spot in the division isn't necessarily desired by all Flyers' fans and the second wild card spot is even less desirable, the top wild card spot and a meeting with the Pittsburgh Penguins, who the Flyers are 3-1-0 against this season, is an intriguing situation. As for the play on the ice, tonight's tilt against the Lightning will prove to be another difficult battle for the Flyers, as Philly has lost three straight to Tampa Bay and six of the teams' last seven meetings. The Orange and Black are 1-5-1 in their last seven games in Tampa Bay with their lone win coming in a seven-round shootout in February of 2011. The last time the Flyers beat the Bolts in regulation in Florida was on March 2nd, 2010 in a 7-2 decision. Needless to say, Philadelphia hasn't had an easy time against the Lightning on the road and tonight needs to produce a different result to help them stay ahead of the Blue Jackets in the standings. Despite their current record against the Lightning overall and specifically in Tampa Bay, the Flyers have two things going for them, as both Martin St. Louis and Ben Bishop will not be in the lineup tonight for the Bolts. St. Louis obviously isn't on the team anymore, but he did play a big part in keeping the Flyers from winning against the Lightning in recent meetings, as St. Louis had one goal and nine assists in the seven most recent meetings between these two teams. As for Bishop, the netminder that is in the talks for winning the Vezina Trophy this season injured his elbow in Tampa Bay's win on Tuesday against the Toronto Maple Leafs and will be out for the remainder of the regular season. Even though St. Louis is no longer with the team and Bishop is out with an injury, and that the Bolts already know they will be facing the Montreal Canadiens in the opening round of the postseason, the Lightning will still play with a purpose tonight. Although their opponent has already been decided for the first round of the postseason, the Lightning can still grab home-ice advantage against the Canadiens similar to how the Flyers can grab home-ice advantage against the Rangers. Unfortunately for Tampa Bay, their hill is a little tougher to climb, as they are three points behind Montreal with three games remaining. In net, the Flyers will turn to Ray Emery. Despite the claim of one Flyers' beat reporter, Steve Mason's confidence shouldn't take a hit. It is an important game for the Flyers, but the most important issue, which is making the playoffs, has already been handled by the Flyers. Emery's start is to give Mason some rest and give Philly's backup goaltender another start down the stretch. Emery is 6-4-2 against Tampa Bay in his career with a .911 save percentage and a 2.41 GAA. As for Anders Lindback, he may have not allowed a goal against in his last appearance against the Leafs on Thursday, but he has played poorly as of late. In his last nine starts, Lindback has posted below a .900 save percentage in eight of those games and has allowed three or more goals in eight of those games as well. Lindback is 4-3-0 against the Flyers in his career with a .918 save percentage and a 2.30 GAA. After tonight, the Flyers only have a road game against the Pittsburgh Penguins on Saturday before the season ends on Sunday with a home game against the Carolina Hurricanes. RECORDS Philadelphia Flyers Overall: 41-29-9 Away: 17-15-7 Against the Eastern Conference: 26-19-6 Against the Atlantic Division: 12-8-3 Tampa Bay Lightning Overall: 43-27-9 Home: 23-10-6 Against the Eastern Conference: 29-16-6 Against the Metropolitan Division: 10-8-3 PROJECTED LINEUPS Philadelphia Flyers Scott Hartnell – Claude Giroux – Jakub Voracek Brayden Schenn – Vincent Lecavalier – Wayne Simmonds Matt Read – Sean Couturier – Steve Downie Tye McGinn – Adam Hall – Michael Raffl Braydon Coburn – Kimmo Timonen Mark Streit – Nicklas Grossmann Andrew MacDonald – Luke Schenn Ray Emery Steve Mason Tampa Bay Lightning Ondrej Palat – Steven Stamkos – Tyler Johnson Alex Killorn – Valtteri Filppula – Ryan Callahan Richard Panik – Tom Pyatt – Teddy Purcell Ryan Malone – Nate Thompson – B.J. Crombeen Matt Carle – Radko Gudas Victor Hedman – Sami Salo Eric Brewer – Andrej Sustr Anders Lindback Kristers Gudlevskis TEAM LEADERS Philadelphia Flyers Goals: Claude Giroux, 27 Assists: Claude Giroux, 54 Points: Claude Giroux, 81 Power-Play Points: Claude Giroux, 34 Plus/Minus: Scott Hartnell, plus-11 PIMs: Zac Rinaldo, 153 Average TOI: Braydon Coburn, 22:23 GAA: Steve Mason, 2.51 Save Percentage: Steve Mason, .917 Tampa Bay Lightning Goals: Martin St. Louis, 29 Assists: Victor Hedman, 40 Points: Martin St. Louis, 61 Power-Play Points: Valtteri Filppula, 19 Plus/Minus: Ondrej Palat, plus-30 PIMs: Radko Gudas, 152 Average TOI: Victor Hedman, 22:38 GAA: Ben Bishop, 2.23 Save Percentage: Ben Bishop, .924 INJURIES Philadelphia Flyers Zac Rinaldo – Suspension (second game in four-game ban) Tampa Bay Lightning Ben Bishop – Elbow (out for remainder of regular season) Mike Kostka – Concussion (out) Sami Salo – Upper-body injury (questionable) Mattias Ohlund – Left knee surgery (out) FORMER PLAYERS Former Lightning personnel in Philadelphia's organization With Philadelphia: Vincent Lecavalier, Steve Downie, Adam Hall, Jay Rosehill (seventh-round draft pick of Lightning in 2003 NHL Entry Draft), John Chapman (pro scout), Kjell Samuelsson (development coach), Jeff Reese (goaltending coach), Antero Niittymaki (European scout) With the Adirondack Phantoms (AHL): Bruno Gervais, Rob Bordson (Syracuse Crunch), Riley Cote (assistant coach) With the Greenville Road Warriors (ECHL): NONE Former Flyers in Tampa Bay's organization With Tampa Bay: Matt Carle, Mikael Andersson (Eu
ropean scout) With the Syracuse Crunch (AHL): Joey Mormina (Adirondack Phantoms), Rob Zettler (head coach) With the Florida Everblades (ECHL): Rob Kwiet (Greenville Road Warriors) With the Brampton Beast (CHL): NONE