The Game: 7:00 p.m. EST on NBCSports Philadelphia, ESPN+/Hulu, and 93.3 WMMR
The Flyers lost back-to-back games over the weekend to the New York Rangers and the Pittsburgh Penguins: the Rangers game was hard-fought, with the Flyers looking like the better team for long stretches, and the Penguins game was a rollercoaster derailed by atrocious goaltending. If we’re looking for positives, the Flyers never quit in either game, and veterans and young players alike stepped up. However, Jamie Drysdale’s injury (and unknown timeline) make the “good losses” a bitter pill to swallow.
Tonight, the Flyers host the Tampa Bay Lightning, who’re 5-5-0 in their last 10 and holding down the second wildcard spot in the Eastern Conference. It’s shaping up to be an odd year for the East’s playoff-bound teams, as both wildcards are on track to be from the Atlantic Division–which makes this game quite important for the Flyers. While Philadelphia has five points on the New Jersey Devils (67 to 62), Tampa sits at 69 (nice); if the Flyers were to fall out of third in the Metropolitan Division, they wouldn’t have a wildcard spot. A win tonight would put some more cushion behind the chasing Devils, Penguins and Washington Capitals, and go towards a tight wildcard race should one of the aforementioned teams surge into the top three of the Metro.
The Lightning have had an uncharacteristically up and down season. Maybe it’s age, maybe it’s the result of shedding key pieces because of cap constraints, maybe it’s fatigue from playing so much hockey the past several years–who’s to say? Andrei Vasilevskiy hasn’t been his usual self, either, missing several weeks at the start of the season and posting a shocking .897 save percentage and 2.95 GAA. Nikita Kucherov, meanwhile, has been unreal, with 102 points so far this season and willing this Lightning team to contend; he had a hat trick when the Lightning were last in town, so the Flyers will have to work to shut him down as best they can.
Who’s going to be in the Flyers lineup is going to be a gametime decision for several players. Is Travis Konecny good to go? Was that Tyson Foerster injury just a stinger, or something more dire? Will Drysdale miss the remainder of the season, or just a few weeks? Where’s Bobby Brink? Rasmus Ristolainen, hello???? It’ll be interesting to see who gets the greenlight, and how some minutes are distributed; Olle Lycksell, for example, had a good game in Pittsburgh and played over 12 minutes, netting two assists in the process–does he flash again, or end up on the bench?
We’re entering an interesting stretch for the Flyers, where the games leading up to the trade deadline become “must win” because, let’s face it, the roster that got them this far this season might not be together by next Saturday–at least not in the state we’ve become accustomed to it. If the only subtractions are the pending UFAs, that’s still two everyday defensemen and one of the depth guys; that will have a major impact on this team post-deadline. The Flyers have got to bank as many points as they can while their roster’s still “whole,” and a win against the Lightning would be a great start to what’s likely to be a tough stretch.
Players to Watch
Owen Tippett
Tipper the Ripper has had an astounding 26 shots on goal in his last four games–and only one of those came against Pittsburgh. Some of these are going to go in, and it’d be nice to see him score against a team that was once his bitter rivals when he was a Florida Panther.
Cam York
The way York calls for the puck here, then rips it? Be still, my heart.
Bobby Brink
He’s back, folks! With an injuries to TK and most of the blue line, plus a possible healthy scratch of Cam Atkinson, there’s a very good chance Brink’s in the lineup again tonight. He’s been killing it since being sent down, too, with 11 points in 11 games, so hopefully that confidence and jam shows itself tonight and maybe makes the anemic power play a tad more threatening.
Nikita Kucherov
The current Art Ross leader and a frontrunner for the Hart, Kucherov is having a remarkable season. We saw it when he got a hat trick against the Flyers, and he’s been on a tear all year. Flyers fans should pay attention to Kucherov, because a number of player comparisons describe Matvei Michkov as a Kucherov-like player. Maybe in a few years, we’ll have a Hart contender on our first line and popping power play goals like Tic Tacs. Speaking of the Tampa power play: maybe don’t let them have one, Flyers!!
Projected Lineups
Philadelphia Flyers
Joel Farabee – Morgan Frost – Bobby Brink
Owen Tippett – Scott Laughton – Cam Atkinson*
Noah Cates – Ryan Poehling -Garnet Hathaway
Tyson Foerster* – Sean Couturier – Olle Lycksell
Cam York – Travis Sanheim
Nick Seeler – Sean Walker
Marc Staal – Egor Zamula
Sam Ersson
(Cal Petersen)
Tampa Bay Lightning
Brandon Hagel – Brayden Point – Nikita Kucherov
Steven Stamkos – Nick Paul – Conor Sheary
Michael Eyssimont – Anthony Cirelli – Mitchell Chaffee
Maxwell Crozier – Luke Glendening – Tyler Motte
Victor Hedman – Darren Raddysh
Calvin de Haan – Erik Cernak
Emil Martinsen-Lilleberg – Nick Perbix
Andrei Vasilevskiy
(Jonas Johansson)
*Gametime decision
Gameday Tunes
There will be no K-pop slander here! This one’s a certified banger from over a decade ago.
Stats via Hockey Reference
