Wrapping up a two-game road trip to the Sunshine State, John Tororella's Philadelphia Flyers (33-23-8) are in Tampa on Saturday to visit Jon Cooper's Tampa Bay Lightning (33-25-6). Game time at Amalie Arena is 7:00 p.m. ET.
The game will be televised on NBCSP. The radio broadcast is on 97.5 The Fanatic with an online simulcast on Flyers Radio 24/7.
This is the third and final meeting of the season series between the two teams, and the lone game in Tampa. The clubs split two games at Wells Fargo Center, with the Lightning downing the Flyers, 6-3, on January 23 and the Flyers gaining a measure of payback in a 6-2 blowout victory on February 27.
The Flyers, battling for third place and an automatic playoff spot in the Metropolitan Division, are 17-10-5 on the road this season and 4-4-2 over their last 10 games. Philly enters this game coming off a hard-fought 2-1 road win over the Florida Panthers on Thursday. Linemates Ryan Poehling (8th goal of the season) and Garnet Hathaway (7th) scored for the Flyers, while the forechecking work of Noah Cates (10th assist, 13th point) started the game-winning sequence in the final half-minute of regulation. Leading scorer Travis Konecny (27 goals, 27 assists on the season) returned to the lineup from a six-game absence. Samuel Ersson played brilliantly in goal, stopping 29 of 30 shots.
The Lightning, tied in points with the recently struggling Detroit Red Wings but with one fewer game remaining on their schedule, are in fifth place in the Atlantic Division, are currently battling for a wildcard spot in the Eastern Conference playoffs. The Bolts, who are 4-5-1 over the last 10 games, have been a much better team at home (19-9-4) than on the road (14-16-2) this season. The Lightning enter this game with a 1-1-1 record to date over their current five-game homestand. They are coming off a 6-3 loss to the Calgary Flames on Thursday. Conor Sheary (2nd goal of the season) had a goal and an assist in a losing cause. Anthony Cirelli (14th goal) and Michael Eyssimont (9th) also tallied for the Lightning, while Nick Paul had two assists. Victor Hedman (51st assist), Nikita Kucherov (68th assist) and Steven Stamkos (29th assist) chipped in one helper apiece. Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped just 18 of 23 shots.
Here are five things to watch in Saturday's game:
1. Flyers New Arrivals
At Friday's NHL trade deadline, the Flyers made two deals. The club acquired veteran right defenseman Erik Johnson from the Buffalo Sabres in exchange for Philadelphia's 2024 fourth-round pick. Additionally, the Flyers made a trade with the Nashville Predators, swapping 26-year-old power right winger Wade Allison (10 goals, 17 points, 44 PIM in 46 American Hockey League games this season for the Lehigh Valley Phantoms) for 26-year-old right winger Denis Gurianov.
Gurianov's stock has fallen since he was the 12th overall pick of the 2015 NHL Draft and enjoyed both a 20-goal regular season and a strong playoff run (nine goals, 17 points in 27 games) as a rookie for the Western Conference champion Dallas Stars in 2019-20. He's been inconsistent the last several years, and bounced from the Stars to the Montreal Canadiens to the Nashville organization and now to the Flyers. However, there has never been a question about Gurianov's natural ability level. He will get the opportunity in Philadelphia to get back on track. He has split the 2023-24 season between the NHL (14 games, one goal, one assist, 12:35 TOI average) and the AHL (27 games, 12g, 18a, 30 points, +11). He is an unrestricted free agent on July 1, 2024.
Johnson, who will turn 36 on March 21, was a top-pair defenseman in his prime with the St. Louis Blues (who selected him first overall in the 2006 NHL Entry Draft) and Colorado Avalanche. He's no longer that caliber of player but is a veteran blueline depth addition on a Flyers team that is presently depleted, especially on the right side. Right defensemen Jamie Drysdale (IR, upper-body injury) and Rasmus Ristolainen (IR, upper-body injury) are on a week-to-week basis. Right defenseman Sean Walker was traded to Colorado on Wednesday for a 2025 first-round pick. Left defenseman Nick Seeler is on IR and considered week-to-week with a lower-body injury sustained when blocking a shot in Monday's game against the St. Louis Blues.
Due to all of the attrition on the Flyers' blueline, the Flyers elevated rookie Egor Zamula and veteran Marc Staal in Thursday's game in Sunrise. With the departure of Walker and Seeler's injury, the Flyers dressed rookie callups Ronnie Attard (right defense) and Adam Ginning (left D). Both players turned in solid performances against the NHL-leading Panthers. The addition of Johnson at the trade deadline brought a veteran with a Stanley Cup ring into the mix. The Flyers reassigned Ginning to the Phantoms on Friday.
Additionally, with the acquisition of Gurianov, the Flyers loaned winger Olle Lycksell to Lehigh Valley. The Flyers have an 11:30 a.m. ET morning skate in Tampa on Saturday. As long as there is a full complement of skaters on the ice, it will become clearer as to which forwards are likely to dress for the game and what the defense pairs will look like to start the game. Rookie winger Bobby Brink was a healthy scratch in Florida on Thursday after skating 10:47 over 13 shifts against the Blues on Monday.
2. Couturier Rounding Back to Form?
Flyers captain Sean Couturier struggled from mid-January through the month of February. With Scott Laughton surging, the Flyers placed Couturier on the fourth line in recent weeks and elevated Laughton to centering the top line at 5-on-5. With Laughton battling illness -- he missed Wednesday's practice at the FTC and was questionable to play on Thursday nearly up until game time -- Laughton saw fewer minutes on Thursday. Couturier played more minutes (17:16 TOI over 22 shifts) against the Panthers than he had in any game since Feb 10 against Seattle. He not only absorbed ice time that had recently been going to Laughton but also took several shifts in lieu of Morgan Frost (14:22 TOI over19 shots).
Couturier did not record a point in the Panthers game, but he looked much closer to the form that he showed earlier the season up to mid-January. Against the Panthers, Couturier won eight of 12 faceoffs. He was credited with five hits. He came up with a key blocked shot. The Flyers had a 9-3 scoring chance advantage at 5-on-5 (per Natural Stat Trick) with Couturier on the ice, including a pair of high-danger chances for Couturier himself.
Any way you slice it, Thursday was a step-up performance for Couturier, although Poehling and linemates Hathaway and Cates -- justifiably -- received most of the postgame attention. The Flyers need their captain to build off last game and get back to being a key difference-maker for the club.
3. Playing with Discipline
Although the Flyers have the NHL's top-ranked penalty kill (86.6 percent success, league-leading 14 shorthanded goals scored), there is a small handful of teams against whom Philly is best served to stay out of the penalty box. The Lightning are at the top of the list of teams to avoid taking penalties against as much as possible.
When the Flyers lost to Tampa back in January, the Lightning struck for a pair of power play goals. Tampa has a lethal group on the power play, not the least of whom are Kucherov, Brayden Point, Stamkos and Hedman. Tampa leads the NHL in power play percentage at 28.3 percent success. Even factoring in the four shorthanded goals they've allowed this season, the Lightning's power play nets positive outcomes on better than one out of every four (26.2 percent) of their man advantage opportunities.
In the Flyers' recent 6-2 win over Tampa, they limited Tampa to two power plays, one of which was abbreviated by a subsequent Brandon Hagel minor. Two nights in Sunrise, the Flyers only had to kill one penalty against Florida's No. 5-ranked power play.
Some penalties are unavoidable or marginal. But the Flyers would do themselves a huge favor by avoiding stick penalties and restraining fouls where no immediate scoring chance is involved, as well as housekeeping (too many men on the ice) and delay of game minors.
4. Flyers power play vs. Tampa PK
Since the All-Star Break, the Flyers have connected on five of 44 power plays (11.4 percent). The team had shown much-needed signs of power play improvement for roughly a seven-week period but Philly is just 4-for-35 over the last 11 games.
Head-to-head with the Lightning, the Flyers are 1-for-5 on the power play this season. On January 23 in Philly, Drysdale took a take-to-tape pass from Frost and wired home a shot from the deep slot.
Overall this season, the Lightning rank 11th on the PK (80.5 percent) with three shorthanded goals scored. Since the All-Star break, the Bolts are at 78.7 percent (ranked 15th).
5. Behind Enemy Lines: Tampa Bay Lightning
The Lightning made two trades prior to Friday's trade deadline. The team acquired speedy 28-year-old journeyman veteran winger Anthony Duclair from the San Jose Sharks (56 games, 16 goals, five power play goals, 11 assists, 27 points) for defenseman Jack Thompson and Tampa Bay’s third-round selection in the 2024 NHL Draft. Additionally, the Lightning acquired veteran defenseman Matt Dumba (four goals, 10 assists, 20:04 TOI) from the Arizona Coyotes in exchange for Tampa Bay’s fifth-round selection in the 2027 NHL Draft.
Both Duclair and Dumba are unrestricted free agents this summer.
After this game, the Lightning have another four-night break -- as they did at the start of the current week -- before wrapping up their homestand with a game against the Metro Division leading New York Rangers.
Down the stretch, one of Tampa's top priorities is to get Vasilevskiy back on the top of his game. He dealt with injuries at the start of the 2023-24 season and has been quite inconsistent as the campaign has progressed. Over his career, Vasilevskiy has generally been stellar against the Flyers, but he had a rough night in Philly the last time the two teams played. He also was at far from peak form against the Flames on Thursday.
Normally a top candidate for the Vezina Trophy, Vasillevskiy enters Saturday's game with a 21-16-1 record, 3.03 GAA, .894 save percentage and one shutout. Backup goalie Jonas Johanson is 11-7-5 with a 3.43 GAA, .888 SV% and two shutouts.
