Game 17 Preview: Flyers @ Lightning
In the front end of a two-game trip to the Sunshine State, Alain Vigneault's Philadelphia Flyers (8-5-3) are in Tampa to play Jon Cooper's Tampa Bay Lightning (10-4-3) on Tuesday evening. Game time at Amalie Arena is 7:00 p.m. ET (NBCSP, 97.5 The Fanatic).
This is the second of three meetings this season between the teams, and the lone game in Tampa. The season series wraps up at the Wells Fargo Center on Dec. 5. Last Thursday in Philadelphia, Tampa prevailed via shootout, 4-3 (2-0).
Claude Giroux (6th goal of the season) and Travis Konecny (5th) gave the Flyers a 2-0 lead in the first period. Goals by Brayden Point (power play, 7th) and Mathieu Joseph (3rd) evened the score at 2-2 in the second period.
Late in the third period, a severe angle goal by Steven Stamkos (9th) was canceled out by Giroux's second goal of the game (7th) in the final nine ticks of regulation. Neither team was able to score in a fast-and-furious overtime.
In the shootout, neither Sean Couturier nor Giroux were able to convert their attempts against Andrei Vasilevskiy. Both Stamkos and Point scored against Carter Hart.
Hart had played excellently until Stamkos' flat angle goal somehow got through the netminder's pads. He finished with 29 saves on 32 shots during the 65-minute hockey game. Vasilevskiy denied 27 of 30 Flyers shots.
Since that game, the Flyers lost a 5-2 home decision to the Boston Bruins to finish a three-goal homestand with a 1-1-1 record. The Lightning, who will be playing for the third time in four nights, sustained a 5-3 home loss to the New Jersey Devils on Saturday night and then beat the Minnesota Wild via shootout, 5-4 (1-0, Stamkos with the lone goal), on Sunday.
For an in-depth preview of this game, including a detailed look at the Flyers' scoring issues and underlying causes, see today's
Five Things on the Flyers official website.
On today's edition of Flyers Daily, Jason Myrtetus and I discuss Scott Hartnell's recent assessment of the Flyers' being a soft team as well our own observations on what's been ailing the team as well as what's been right (starting with, but not exclusive to the goaltending). We also discuss the case for recalling Morgan Frost, the struggles of Cam York and Egor Zamula at the AHL level so far this season, the multi-level impact of being without Ryan Ellis (and Kevin Hayes) for an extended period of time, the issues with entries and getting set up on the power play, and more. On the opening segment, Carter Hart speaks with Jason. To listen,
click here.
Philadelphia Flyers Blogger •NHL.com • 
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