Alex Killorn
Since their last meeting, the Lightning not only claimed the 2020 Stanley Cup, but followed it up with another title in 2021. The two-time defending Stanley Cup champions are in town and the circumstances remain the same. The Flyers are in for another early season test.
The Tampa Bay Lightning built the foundation of their championship team through the draft and had to experience a lot of failure before reaching the top. The Flyers may be in the early stages of following the same blueprint.
Both teams received power plays in overtime, but it was a call made at the end of regulation and another on Stars captain Jamie Benn in overtime that caused the most talk, leading to the game-winning goal from Kevin Shattenkirk that gave the Lightning a 5-4 win and a 3-1 series lead on Friday night.
The Dallas Stars clinched a spot in the Stanley Cup Final on Monday and could be joined by one of the two teams left in the East on Tuesday. Also a look at a new coaching hire in the Metropolitan Division as a familiar face goes to Washington.
Consider this win over the Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday everything. The Flyers have the top seed in the Eastern Conference. Who would have imagined that a season ago? Here are 5 takeaways from Flyers-Lightning.
Nicolas Aube-Kubel scored two goals, Joel Farabee added another and Carter Hart made 23 saves to secure a 4-1 win over the Tampa Bay Lightning and claim the top seed on Saturday night.
The Flyers play the Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday night in a battle for the top seed in the Eastern Conference. The winner plays their first-round series against the 12-seed Montreal Canadiens. The loser gets the second seed and plays the winner of the series between Toronto and Columbus. Game time is 8 p.m.
In Saturday’s game against the red-hot Tampa Bay Lightning, the Flyers fell behind early and fell into a 3-0 hole again. Instead of erasing the deficit, the Flyers were down by two in the third and challenging to cut into the deficit further before they made the one mistake that did them in. The Flyers got two goals in short order after falling behind 4-1 with under eight minutes to play in the third, but were not able to complete the comeback in a 5-3 loss to the Lightning.
The Flyers final game of a three-game road trip comes against the Tampa Bay Lightning. Much like the first meeting against the Lightning, Tampa enters as the hottest team in the league, currently on a nine-game winning streak, just as they were when they paid a visit to Philadelphia on Jan. 11.
The Flyers next opponent was one of the bigger disappointments in the NHL a month ago, but since then, the Tampa Bay Lightning have risen to second place in the Atlantic Division and sixth in the league in points, due in large part to a current nine-game winning streak that they will bring to Philadelphia on Saturday night.
