Lindback gets fourth straight start for Lightning

Saturday, 01.11.2014 / 11:34 AM

By Adam Kimelman - NHL.com Deputy Managing Editor / 2013-2014 At the Rink Blog

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PHILADELPHIA -- With the early afternoon start at Wells Fargo Center, the Philadelphia Flyers and Tampa Bay Lightning passed on morning skates. However, both teams announced who their starting goaltenders will be.

Lightning coach Jon Cooper announced Friday that Anders Lindback would start for the fourth straight game while Ben Bishop recovers from an injury to his right wrist.

Lindback is 1-2-0 in his three most recent starts, allowing 10 goals on 59 shots. He's 4-9-1 in 15 games this season, with a 3.18 goals-against average and .877 save percentage. However one of his four wins this season came Nov. 27 when he stopped 19 of 21 shots in a 4-2 win against the Flyers in Tampa.

In six NHL games against the Flyers Lindback is 3-3-0 with a 2.18 GAA and .917 save percentage.

Cooper also termed forward J.T. Brown (upper body) and defenseman Radko Gudas (lower body) as "probable" for Saturday. Neither player practiced Friday and Cooper said he would have 21 players take pre-game warmups and decide after that what his lineup would look like.

"They are both available," Cooper said. "We're going to dress 21 in warmups and see where everybody is at. We're in a situation where I think in football terms it would be probable. Both guys; actually Brown is more in the for-sure range where Gudas, we'll make that determination at warmups."

Having Gudas in the lineup is vital for the Lightning to slow the Flyers' big, physical forwards. The 6-foot, 204-pounder is fifth in the NHL with 147 hits.

Gudas sat out the final two periods of the Lightning's game Thursday against the Washington Capitals, but Cooper said the defenseman informed him that he was feeling OK.

"He says he's feeling pretty good," Cooper said. "He's a tough kid."

Steve Mason will start in goal for Philadelphia. Mason is 8-1-1 in his previous 10 starts, including a 19-save effort Wednesday in a 3-1 win against the Montreal Canadiens.

Mason's backup, Ray Emery, took the loss when the teams played in November. This will be Mason's fourth game against the Lightning. He's 1-1-1 in three games, with a 2.31 GAA and .889 save percentage. It's his first game against Tampa Bay since Dec. 17, 2011, when as a member of the Columbus Blue Jackets he allowed three goals on 28 shots in a 3-2 Lightning victory.

Here is how the rest of the teams' lineups could look Saturday:

LIGHTNING

Martin St. Louis - Tyler Johnson - Ondrej Palat

Teddy Purcell - Valtteri Filppula - Alex Killorn

Ryan Malone - Nate Thompson - Nikita Kucherov

J.T. Brown - B.J. Crombeen

Sami Salo - Victor Hedman

Eric Brewer - Radko Gudas

Matthew Carle - Mark Barberio

Jean-Philippe Cote

Anders Lindback

Cedrick Desjardins