GAME 59: FLYERS @ LIGHTNING
Completing a two-game trip to the Sunshine State, Alain Vigneault's Philadelphia Flyers (32-19-7 overall, 13-14-3 away) are in Tampa on Saturday to take on Jon Cooper's Tampa Bay Lightning (38-15-5 overall, 19-7-2 home). Game time at Amalie Arena is 4:00 p.m. ET.
The game will be televised on NBCSP. The radio broadcast will be on 97.5 The Fanatic with an online simulcast on the
Flyers Radio 24/7 component of the Flyers Broadcast Network.
This is the second of three meetings this season between the teams. The Flyers are 0-1-0 to date. The season series concludes on March 12 back in Tampa.
On Jan. 11 at the Wells Fargo Center, the Flyers played a strong defensive game against the deadly Bolts attack but couldn't get much going offensively, and lost 1-0.
The outcome came down to a single bounce of the puck that went Tampa's way. The game was scoreless until 7:27 of the second period. On a goal scored immediately after exiting the penalty box, Pat Maroon scored the game's only goal on a puck that ended up at his feet in prime scoring range. Flyers defenseman Matt Niskanen swatted at the puck and it ended up at the goal-scorer's feet.
Carter Hart stopped 27 of 28 shots for Philly. He was the more severely tested of the two goalies, primarily in the second period. Andrei Vasilevskiy earned a 23-save shutout. Most of his saves were routine, although he came with a huge stop in close on Travis Sanheim in the third period to keep his team ahead by a goal.
FLYERS OUTLOOK
The Flyers bounced back from a heartbreaking 4-3 road loss to the New York Islanders on Tuesday with an impressive 6-2 road victory against the Florida Panthers two nights later.
James van Riemsdyk (17th goal of the season), Tyler Pitlick (6th) and Nicolas Aube-Kubel (4th) built a 3-0 lead for the Flyers in the first period. Scott Laughton (10th) opened a 4-0 lead late in the second period.
The Panthers got quick goals in the third period from Jonathan Huberdeau (20th) and Aleksander Barkov (17th). Sean Couturier (17th) restored some breathing room and then Robert Hägg (3rd) puncuated it with a late power play goal.
JVR finished with a three-point game (1g, 2a). So did Justin Braun. In addition to playing a very strong defensive game, Braun collected three assists. The Flyers had to play a portion of the second period and the entire third period with five defensemen after Travis Sanheim (who remained on the bench) went down with a lower-body injury in the middle stanza.
Hart was outstanding in goal for the Flyers. He earned the win with 26 saves on 28 shots.
The Flyers enter Saturday in upper wildcard position in the ever-shifting Eastern Conference playoff chase. Both the Flyers and Columbus Blue Jackets have 71 points and 23 regulation wins but the Flyers have played one fewer game. Columbus lost in regulation to the New York Rangers on Friday. In the meantime, the Carolina Hurricanes were victorious on Friday. The Canes enter Saturday two points behind the Flyers and Columbus but with one game in hand over the Flyers and two on the Blue Jackets. Carolina has 23 regulation wins; same as Philly and Columbus.
Shayne Gostisbehere (knee soreness) is still not ready to play. Travis Sanheim sustained a lower body injury during the second period of Friday's game and played very sparingingly thereafter. He practiced in full on Friday in Tampa. Also on Friday, the Flyers returned Morgan Frost to the AHL's Lehigh Valley Phantoms after calling him to start two games and then sitting him as a healthy scratch the next two games
LIGHTNING OUTLOOK
After a disappointly inconsistent start to the season, the reigning President's Trophy winning Lightning have been on an absoute tear. They've gone 21-2-1 over their last 24 games and bring a current nine-game winning streak into Saturday's game.
As a result, the Lightning (81 points, 31 RW, 36 ROW) are now within a single point of overtaking the Boston Bruins (82 points, 31 RW, 35 ROW) for the top spot in the Atlantic, the Eastern Conference and the entire NHL. Boston, which lost twice to the NHL cellar dwelling Detroit Red Wings this season, hosts the Wings at 1 p.m. ET on Saturday.
The only clouds on the Tampa horizon at present are some injuries. Steven Stamkos, Nikita Kucherov and Anthony Cirelli are all nursing lower body injuries. However, they all practiced on Friday. Conversely, Tyler Johnson did not practice on Friday. All four players are officially game-time decisions for Saturday's game.
Kucherov was missing from the lineup on Thursday. Nevertheless, the Lightning were still able to dispatch the Edmonton Oilers, 3-1. Vasilevskiy, who is 18-0-2 across his last 20 starts, stopped 29 of 30 shots to earn the win. After a scoreless first period, Maroon (7th) and Yanni Gourde (8th) sandwiched goals around a tally by the Oilers' Caleb Jones. The score held steady unti Cedric Paquette (5th) added an empty netter in the final minute of play.
PROJECTED STARTING LINEUPS (subject to change, will be updated)
FLYERS
28 Claude Giroux - 14 Sean Couturier - 93 Jakub Voracek
49 Joel Farabee - 13 Kevin Hayes - 11 Travis Konecny
25 James van Riemsdyk - 21 Scott Laughton - 18 Tyler Pitlick
12 Michael Raffl - 82 Connor Bunnaman - 62 Nicolas Aube-Kubel
9 Ivan Provorov - 15 Matt Niskanen
6 Travis Sanheim -5 Phil Myers
8 Robert Hägg - 61 Justin Braun
79 Carter Hart
[37 Brian Elliott]
Power Play 1: Giroux, Couturier, Konecny, Voracek, Provorov.
Power Play 2: JVR, Hayes, Farabee, Sanheim, Niskanen.
Scratches: 53 Shayne Gostisbehere (knee).
LTIR: 55 Sam Morin (torn ACL, out for season), 23 Oskar Lindblom (Ewing sarcoma, out for season), 19 Nolan Patrick (migraines).
LIGHTNING
91 Steven Stamkos - 21 Brayden Point - 86 Nikita Kucherov
18 Ondrej Palat - 71 Anthony Cirelli - 17 Alex Killorn
7 Mathieu Joseph - 13 Cedric Paquette - 14 Pat Maroon
23 Carter Verhaeghe - 67 Mitchell Stephens - 37 Yanni Gourde
77 Victor Hedman - 81 Erik Cernak
98 Mikhail Sergachev - 22 Kevin Shattenkirk
55 Braydon Coburn - 2 Luke Schenn
88 Andrei Vasilevskiy
[35 Curtis McElhinney]
Power Play 1: Stamkos, Point, Kucherov, Killorn, Hedman
Power Play 2: Palat, Gourde, Maroon, Sergachev, Shattenkirk
Scratches: 9 Tyler Johnson (undisclosed, game-day decision), 7 Mathieu Joseph (healthy), 33 Cameron Gaunce (healthy).
IR: 27 Ryan McDonagh (lower body), 44 Jan Rutta (lower body).
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PHANTOMS UPDATE
The Lehigh Valley Phantoms have won seven of their last eight home games. On Friday night, Scott Gordon's team skated to a 3-2 overtime win over the Bridgeport Sound Tigers.
Mikhail Vorobyev (10th) netted the game-winner in OT. Andy Welinski (6th) scored the only goal of a strong first period for the Phantoms. After goals by Travis St. Denis and Simon Holmström put Bridgeport ahead, 2-1, midway though the third period, Phantoms defenseman Tyler Wotherspoon (4th) answered back 1:50 after the Holmström goal to force OT. Wotherspoon's brother, Parker, assisted on the first Sound Tigers goal.
Kyle Criscuolo assisted on all three Lehigh Valley goals, and had four shots on goal. The Phantoms peppered Christopher Gibson with 43 shots. Alex Lyon (24 saves on 26 shots) earned the win in goal for Lehigh Valley.
On Saturday, the Phantoms (22-23-6) host the Hartford Wolf Pack (28-13-10). The Phantoms expect to have Morgan Frost back in the lineup after the Flyers returned their top forward prospect to the farm team on Friday afternoon.
Philadelphia Flyers Blogger •NHL.com • 
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