Postgame RAV4: Flyers Struck Down by Bolts

The Philadelphia Flyers lost to the Tampa Bay Lightning, 7-2, at Xfinity Mobile Arena on Saturday evening. The Lightning won their ninth straight game. Nikita Kucherov led the way with two goals and two assists.

Extending his point streak to nine games, Kucherov (21st goal of the season) gave Tampa a 1-0 lead early in the first period. Scoring his first goal of the season, Garnet Hathaway got the goal back a few minutes later. However, Kucherov (2nd of the game, 22nd of the season) soon struck again.

Nick Paul (5th) extended Tampa's lead to 3-1 in the latter half of the second period. In the third period, goals by Gage Goncalves (5th) and Hagel (21st) built a 5-1 stranglehold for the Lightning. Owen Tippett (PPG, 14th) got a goal back before Tampa's Yanni Gourde (6th) restored a four-goal edge. Concalves added his second goal of the night for a 7-2 final.

Samuel Ersson was beaten on the first two shots of the game for Tampa. Overall, he made 16 saves on 23 shots. Andrei Vasilevskiy earned the victory with 18 saves.

The Flyers went 1-for-2 on the power play. They were 1-for-2 on the PK.

FIRST PERIOD SYNOPSIS

The deadly Kucherov found himself alone near the right post and gave Tampa a quick 1-0 lead at 1:49. On the sequence Brayden Point took the puck from Denver Barkey on the right half boards, and Cam York was caught out of position.

Setting up in the mid slot, Hathaway re-directed a Noah Juulsen point shot to forge a 1-1 tie at 4:15. The secondary assist went to Rodrigo Abols.

Tampa quickly regained the lead and made it two goals on two shots. At 6:05, Kucherov fired a shot that found its way home as he was defended by Rasmus Ristolainen. The assists went to Point and Charles-Edouard D'Astous.

At the 8:00 mark, Hathaway dropped the gloves near the benches with Declan Carlile. The Flyer got the better of the tussle.

The Flyers soon started to juggle line combinations.

The Flyers got the game's first power play at 13:13 as Brandon Hagel set a pick on Ristolainen down low in the Philadelphia zone. Philadelphia put on extensive pressure for the first minute of the 5-on-4. Not much else developed once Tampa cleared the zone.

At 18:55, York was sent off for cross-checking Yanni Gourde. Fifty-five seconds of carryover power play time remained for Tampa at the buzzer.

Shots: Flyers 7 - Lightning 7
Faceoffs: Flyers 7 - Lightning 9

SECOND PERIOD SYNOPSIS

Matvei Michkov and Nikita Grebenkin made engaged plays down low in the Tampa zone on their first shift of the period.

The line blender continued for the Flyers, on nearly a shift-by-shift basis.

Through the midpoint of the period, the Flyers severely limited the operating room for Tampa and had the overall better of the play. At a whistle at 10:40, countrymen Abols and Girgensons exchanged shoves. Nothing escalated.

At 11:01, Hathaway deflected a puck wide in a bid for his second goal of the game.

Paul scored on a secondary rebound during a three-shot sequence for Tampa at 13:37. The assists went to D'Astous and Cirelli.

Shots: Flyers 8 (16 overall) - Lightning 8 (15 overall)
Faceoffs: Flyers 3 (10 overall)- Lightning 12 (21 overall)

THIRD PERIOD SYNOPSIS

On the first shift of the third period, Tippett made a nice move at the blueline. Dvorak steered the puck just wide.

On their 16th shot of the game, Tampa took a 4-1 lead at 2:03. Goncalves transferred the puck and beat Ersson over the blocker. The assists went to Kucherov and Raddysh.

On shot number 17, Hagel got behind Barkey and beat Ersson upstairs. The assists went to Guentzel and Cirelli at 3:37.

Goncalves went off for high sticking. Dvorak won a right circle faceoff. Tippett's fluttering changeup of a shout found the net at 4:45.

At 9:00, Gourde scored on a breakaway off a lead pass from Girgensons. The lead swelled to 7-2 at 11:00. Goncalves scored off a feed from Kucherov.

Hathaway went off for high-sticking at 12:53.

Shots: Flyers 4 (20 overall) - Lightning 8 (23 overall)

Faceoffs: Flyers 3 (17 overall)- Lightning 7 (29 overall)

FLYERS STARTING LINEUP

Matvei Michkov – Christian Dvorak – Trevor Zegras
Denver Barkey – Sean Couturier – Owen Tippett
Nikita Grebenkin – Noah Cates – Carl Grundstrom
Nicolas Deslauriers – Rodrigo Abols – Garnet Hathaway

Cam York – Travis Sanheim
Nick Seeler – Rasmus Ristolainen
Emil Andrae – Noah Juulsen

Samuel Ersson
[Dan Vladar]

Postgame RAV4 (RAV4 Things Revisited)

1. Home ice advantage

The Flyers opened their home back-to-back set against Tampa with a big crowd on hand at Xfinity Mobile Arena. The crowd was rocking from the outset. Unfortunately, Kucherov soon silenced the fans. The Flyers were forced to chase the game.

2. All hands on deck

The Flyers were missing three regulars from the starting lineup: Travis Konecny (upper body), Bobby Brink (upper body) and Jamie Drysdale (IR, upper body). On Saturday, Rick Tocchet repeatedly juggled line combinations in an effort to find a spark.

3. Structure and discipline

During the first 10 minutes of the game, the Flyers gave up too much time and space to Tampa and soon paid the price. Philly's game picked up later in the frame. The second period was very even -- except in terms of faceoffs -- but Tampa got the only goal.

4. Key game for Tippett

Flyers right winger Owen Tippett had a lot of jump early in the first period. Through two periods, he was minus-two with two shots on goal (three attempts). He bagged a power play marker in the third period. However, he was minus-four by the end of the game.