Flyers at Lightning Preview: One step forward, three steps back

Game #65 – Philadelphia Flyers at Tampa Bay Lightning
Time: 7:00 PM EST
Location: Amalie Arena
Broadcast/Streaming: BSSUN, NBCSP, ESPN+, Hulu

Opponent’s Site: Broad Street Hockey

Preview

With the fun and speculation of the trade deadline now behind us, we know what the Lightning will look like as they head down the stretch trying to make the playoffs in the Eastern Conference. To be honest, they don’t look a lot different than they did before the deadline. Julien BriseBois picked up some ancillary pieces in Matt Dumba and Anthony Duclair, but there won’t be any big names making their Lightning debuts tonight.

So the pressure to bring the playoffs back to Tampa for another year lies on the shoulders of the same players we’ve been watching all season long. The same players that have seemingly taken two steps back for every step forward they’ve had this winter. For whatever reason, they can’t seem to get out of their own way, to a point that even Coach Cooper, who is usually unruffled after losses, was visibly annoyed at the play of his charges in their 6-3 loss to the Flames on Thursday.

About the only positive over the last week is that Detroit has played about as poorly as the Lightning and hasn’t put any distance between the two teams. With a win tonight, the Bolts are back in the top wild card spot. What a world.

What seemed to annoy Coach Cooper the most was the decision making of his players. Yes, their execution was off, but that’s happened before and they’ve been able to play through it. Not making the right reads, or the right plays at the right times isn’t something that this veteran team usually has to worry about. That usually denotes a lack of focus, and for that to happen after four days off is pretty inexcusable.

According to the team Dumba and Duclair should be in the line-up as long as there are no issues in their travels to Tampa. That likely means some swizzling of the lines and a return to the 12/6 rotation. How Coach Cooper implements his new weapons and how much they play will be something to watch tonight.

It’s also the Lightning Hall of Fame game with the team’s newest inductees, Brad Richards and Dave Andreychuk. So, if nothing else, it’ll be a nice night to remember some good times.

Stats Match-up

Lines

Tampa Bay Lightning Projected Lines

Forwards
Brandon Hagel – Brayden Point – Nikita Kucherov
Steven Stamkos – Anthony Cirelli – Mitchell Chaffee
Mikey Eyssimont – Nick Paul – Conor Sheary

Tyler Motte – Luke Glendening – Austin Watson

Defenders
Victor Hedman – Darren Raddysh
Nick Perbix – Erik Cernak
Calvin de Haan – Haydn Fleury

Goalies
Andrei Vasilevskiy

Jonas Johansson

Based on yesterday’s practice. We’ll see if Duclair or Dumba participate in the morning skate.

Philadelphia Flyers Projected Lines

Forwards

Owen Tippett – Scott Laughton – Tyson Foerster

Joel Farabee – Morgan Frost – Travis Konecny

Noah Cates – Ryan Poehling – Garnet Hathaway

Nicolas Deslauriers – Sean Couturier – Cam Atkinson

Defenders
Cam York – Travis Sanheim

Marc Staal – Egor Zamula

Ronnie Attard – Erik Johnson

Goalies

Samuel Ersson

Felix Sandstrom

The Playoff Race