As much as the Flyers have had a difficult time winning games and sometimes, even looking competitive, here in Tampa Bay, they have a couple of things going for them tonight against the Lightning.
1- They're coming an emotional 2-1 shootout win over the Devils.
2- They are 7-3-1 against the Southeast Division this season.
3- The Bolts are slumping worse than them - 3-7 in their last 10 as opposed to the Flyers 5-5.
4- Finally, the Flyers want to make Kimmo Timonen's 1,000th career NHL game something worth remembering. He will become the 282nd NHLer to hit the mark this evening.
It's also his 38th birthday!
“It's been a long journey,” he said recently. “I'm a couple games away, but if you go back to '98, I got sent down to the minors [AHL Milwaukee Admirals] and I didn't know at that time in 2013 I was going to play my 1,000th game.
“So it's been a long journey. There's all kinds of ups and down in the middle, but that's part of the game. I'm going to be the sixth Finnish guy to do it, so it's a great honor.”
The Flyers occupy the 11th seed in the Eastern Conference with 27 points while Tampa is just 2 points behind with 25. The 8th seed changes almost daily. Carolina occupies it now with 31 points.
“ … I'm more worried about the team and how we're going to get wins, how we're getting into the playoffs,” Timonen said. “It doesn't matter if you score 100 points and you don't make the playoffs.
“Who cares? It's not the reason why we're here. We're here for winning the Stanley Cup, and I've got a lot of things to worry about what's going on with this team. How are we getting into the playoffs ... how we start winning these tight games.”
He will become the 6th Finn tonight to hit 1,000 games. Teppo Numminen is 1st with 1,372.
“We’ve got to start winning games,” Timonen said. “If you look at the standings, the way we’ve been going, we win one game and maybe lose one or two after that.
"That’s not going to work out. We’ve got to start putting some wins together, and that means three or four games together and go from there. But the bottom line is, we need wins.”
In the tradition of the famed Big Block Chevys - 427 _ tonight is Timonen's 427th game as a Flyer.
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