In the sixth match of a seven-game homestand, John Tortorella's Philadelphia Flyers (27-31-8) will host Jon Cooper's Tampa Bay Lightning (37-23-4) on Thursday evening at Wells Fargo Center. Game time is 7:00 p.m. EDT.
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.
Thursday's game marks the second of three meetings this season between Philly and the Bolts. The season series will conclude on March 17 in Tampa. Back on November 7 in Tampa, the Flyers beat the Lightning 2-1 (2-0) via shootout. Owen Tippett broke up a shutout bid by Andrei Vasilevskiy at 15:44 of the third period and then sealed the shootout victory in the third round. Ivan Fedotov (22 saves on 23 shots, 2-for-2 in the shootout) earned the victory in net.
The Flyers will try on Thursday to get into the win column for the first time during the homestand. The team is 0-5-0 to date after going 4-0-1 during its previous five games. The team played better against the New Jersey Devils on Sunday than over its first three games over the homestand -- and then better on Tuesday against the Ottawa Senators -- but still lost both games in regulation.
Tampa Bay, which has lost back-to-back games coming into Thursday, is 7-3-0 over its last 10 matches. Cooper's club holds a six-point lead (five standings points plus a 32-25 regulation wins tiebreaker edge) over Ottawa in the push for third place in the Atlantic Division. If the season ended today, Tampa would play the Toronto Maple Leafs in the Eastern Conference Quarterfinal with Toronto holding a home ice advantage. Tampa lost on Saturday at home against the Boston Bruins, 4-0, and then 4-1 on the road against the Carolina Hurricanes on Tuesday.
Here are the RAV4 Things to watch on Thursday night plus an x-factor heading into the game.
1. Defensemen joining the attack
Over the first five games of the homestand, the Flyers have been outscored by a combined 22-8 total. Neither the power play nor 5-on-5 execution has been good enough overall. One thing that has been a positive, though: Flyers defensemen have been jumping into the attack and seeing some payoff.
That is particularly true of Jamie Drysdale. He's been using his feet much more effectively and is starting to get rewarded. Drysdale, who will turn 23 on April 8, scored a goal in each of the team's last two games and has tallied three goals over the last six matches. Dating back to the club's return from the 4 Nations Face-Off tournament, Drysdale has chipped in four points (3g, 1a) and a plus-two rating in the last nine games.
2. Avoid chasing the game
For Tampa, Tuesday's tilt in Raleigh was basically a tale of two games within one. The Lightning played quite well for the first 30 minutes of the game, especially over the course of the first period. The Bolts, however, paid the price for yielding a shorthanded goal to Seth Jarvis and, later, the tide of momentum swung heavily in the Hurricanes' favor over the latter 30 minutes of play.
When scoring the first goal of a game, the Flyers are 18-9-8 (a winning percentage the club needs to improve). When Tampa scores first, the team is 25-8-3 (21-5-2 when leading at the first intermission and 29-1-1 when taking a lead into the third period). The Flyers have been resilient when trailing first but the club is still just 9-22-0 in that scenario and 6-25-1 when trailing after two periods. The Lightning are 12-15-1 when trailing first.
3. Flyers special teams
During the current homestand, the Flyers are 0-for-13 on the power play. The penalty kill has yielded four opposing power play goals on 10 opportunities. Having been outscored 15-8 when skating at 5-on-5, the Flyers could ill afford to have both ends of special teams in a funk at the same time, too.
If Tortorella's team is to end the current losing streak, it's vital to at least break even on the special teams battle against Tampa Bay. For the season, the Flyers have dropped to 30th in the NHL on the power play (15.0 percent) and 18th on the penalty kill (78.1 percent). The Lightning are 6th in power play efficiency (26.0 percent) and 8th on the penalty kill (81.6 percent).
4. Goals any way you can get 'em
We touched earlier on the recent bright spot the Flyers had in terms of getting some offensive production from the blueline the last few games. In the overall picture, the Flyers need offense from whatever source they can get. The last few games, Tortorella has reverted to the in-game lines-in-a-blender approach in an effort to squeeze out a couple more goals when the starting lines aren't scoring or if there are multiple costly breakdowns.
Travis Konecny has an assist apiece in back-to-back games (both on Drysdale goals) but is still scuffling for goals with two tallies since Jan. 16 in Elmont. Tippett and Noah Cates each have one point apiece (1g, 0a for both) during the homestand. Tyson Foerster knocked on the door several times in the Ottawa game but couldn't pot a goal and has two points (0g, 2a) on the homestand and just one goal since the 4 Nations break ended. Sean Couturier has two points (1g, 1a) during the homestand. Bobby Brink has one assist to show for the last five games.
Matvei Michkov has been in the middle of numerous scoring chances during the homestand and has three points (1g, 2a) since the club returned home.
Bottom line: It's not just about one player or one line battling through a rough spell. The Flyers desperately need more production across their lineup and not just a bit of boost provided by the defense or the fourth line (Abols against Ottawa, with Jakob Pelletier earning an assist) to get something on the scoreboard.
X-Factor: Contain Tampa's Top Line
The Flyers know all too well that Tampa has massive firepower atop their lineup. The trio of Jake Guentzel, Brayden Point and Nikita Kucherov will be a handful for the Flyers to contain. Ideally, the Flyers will force that line to have to play defense and expend a lot of energy traversing their own end zone. Much of this responsibility will fall to the Cates line and the defense pairing of Travis Sanheim and York.
