NHL On Tap: Red Wings visit Lightning looking to end six-game slide

Welcome to the NHL On Tap. Three NHL.com writers will share what they are most looking forward to on the schedule each day. Today, their choices from the two games Wednesday.

Red Wings hope skid ends against Lightning

Winless in their past six games (0-4-2), the Detroit Red Wings open a six-game road trip against the defending Stanley Cup champion Tampa Bay Lightning (5-1-1) at Amalie Arena (5:30 p.m. ET; NBCSN, SN1, SUN, FS-D, NHL.TV). Captain Dylan Larkin is leading by example with nine points (four goals, five assists) in 10 games, but the Red Wings haven't been able to close games out, losing two of their past six in overtime and another by one goal. Detroit has a power-play percentage of 11.8 percent, 26th in the NHL, and their 64.5 percent penalty-kill percentage is the lowest. The Lightning are 13th on the power play (24.0 percent), so the Red Wings will be playing with fire if they give them too many chances with the man-advantage. -- Dave Stubbs, columnist

Flyers look to extend streak

The Philadelphia Flyers take a four-game winning streak into their game against the Boston Bruins at Wells Fargo Center (8 p.m. ET; NBCSN, SN, TVAS). The Flyers don't think they've been near their best at 5-on-5, but coach Alain Vigneault likes the way their situational play has been trending, especially during the winning streak. They're plus-3 in 5-on-5 goal differential (10-8) in their past four games but tied with the Minnesota Wild for 23rd with 21 goals-against at 5-on-5. They're winning, but it will be interesting to see if they can establish a strong 5-on-5 game early against the Bruins, who have allowed 14 goals against at 5-on-5 in nine games. This is the first of two games between the Bruins and Flyers before they play in the Honda NHL Outdoors Sunday at Lake Tahoe on Feb. 21. For now, the Flyers have a bit of a revenge factor because the Bruins swept a two-game set against them at TD Garden last month, winning 5-4 in the shootout on Jan. 21 and 6-1 on Jan. 23. -- Dan Rosen, senior writer

Bruins adapting, succeeding

Despite defensemen Zdeno Chara (Washington Capitals) and Torey Krug (St. Louis Blues) leaving via free agency in the offseason, the Bruins have started the season 6-1-2, with their only regulation loss to the New York Islanders on Jan. 18. They have points in their past six games (5-0-1) including a 5-3 win against the Capitals on Monday, when they rallied from down 3-0, so two teams riding streaks makes this a game of high interest. Defenseman Charlie McAvoy's ice time has increased to 24:35 per game, another bump in responsibility that is going well. -- Tim Campbell, staff writer

Wednesday schedule

Detroit Red Wings at Tampa Bay Lightning, 5:30 p.m. ET (NBCSN, SN1, SUN, FS-D, NHL.TV)
The Lightning will try to build on a two-game sweep of the Nashville Predators, when their power play went 3-for-11. Red Wings forwards Adam Erne and Robby Fabbri will play after each missed eight games while in NHL COVID-19 protocol.

Boston Bruins at Philadelphia Flyers, 8 p.m. ET (NBCSN, SN, TVAS)
The Bruins have a six-game point streak (3-0-3) in the regular season against the Flyers dating to Jan. 31, 2019, including wins in two games this season.