Tampa Bay 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.
Andrei Vasilevskiy posted a shutout for the second straight game and the Lightning showed a real commitment to defensive play and taking away virtually everything the Flyers could have brought to the table. There was simply no room to operate, no room to execute and when the Flyers were able to pump the puck deep, they could not win the races because the Lightning were perfectly placed.
Through 44 games, the Flyers had not been shut out all season, but Andrei Vasilevskiy handed the Flyers their first as the Lightning claimed their 10th straight win, 1-0, on Saturday night at Wells Fargo Center.
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.
The Tampa Bay Lightning, a team that tied an NHL record with 62 wins in the regular season, were swept by the Columbus Blue Jackets in four games. The Pittsburgh Penguins, the Stanley Cup champions in 2016 and 2017, were also swept by the New York Islanders in four games.
An updated look at the playoff race, Nikita Kucherov’s impressive MVP season, the new St. Louis Blues under Craig Berube and Jordan Binnington and Columbus’ struggles since the trade deadline.
Three goals in the first 10:23 chased Carter Hart and the Flyers suffered a 5-2 defeat to the Lightning on Tuesday night.
The Flyers kept things rolling with back-to-back wins over the Detroit Red Wings over the weekend to improve to 12-2-1 in their last 15 games. They get a tough task on Tuesday at home, facing the NHL-leading Tampa Bay Lightning.
In almost a carbon copy of the first meeting between the two teams in November, the Flyers somehow managed a frantic rally to get the game tied after trailing by three goals and earn a point. But, yet again, they coughed up the chance at the second point almost immediately, as Alex Killorn scored 18 seconds into overtime to give the Lightning a 6-5 win on Thursday night.
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.
