Philadelphia Flyers at Tampa Bay Lightning: GAME 59
Time: 4:00 pm Eastern Time
Location: Amalie Arena
Broadcast/Streaming: NHLN, SNE, SNO, SNP, SUN, NBCSP
Opponent SBNation Site: Broad Street Hockey
Preview:
They may have been hit with the injury bug lately, but the Tampa Bay Lightning continue to rack up points late in the season. They’ve won nine straight games and earned at least a point in their last eleven matches. They host the Philadelphia Flyers in their last game of a quick two-game homestand before heading back out on west next week.
Meanwhile, Philadelphia is coming off a huge 6-2 win over the Florida Panthers, and they’ve had an up-and-down stretch since coming back from their bye-week. In the games that they’ve won, they’ve outscored their opponents significantly. But their offense can also go silent at times.
The injury-riddled Bolts got a boost at Friday’s practice when all three of Steven Stamkos, Nikita Kucherov, and Anthony Cirelli were active participants. Although head coach Jon Cooper didn’t say for sure whether any of the three would play tonight, it’s an encouraging sign that all three were on the ice yesterday. Tyler Johnson, who missed that practice with a maintenance day, will also be a game-time decision for the team tonight.
We likely won’t know which of the forwards will be available until game time this afternoon. If two of the four are unable to play, defender Cameron Gaunce could get another game. He took shifts at forward during Thursday’s win against the Edmonton Oilers.
As for the Flyers, their forward group is finally healthy, and they’re just waiting for their blueline to catch up. Despite leaving their last game early with an injury, Travis Sanheim will play against the Lightning tonight. He’s been one of their best defensemen lately, so that is huge for them. Shayne Gostisbehere will likely be heading for an AHL conditioning stint before returning to the Flyers lineup.
Carter Hart will start for Philly, and he has been hot in his last five starts. He has a 4-1 record and a .925 save percentage in that span. Meanwhile, Andrei Vasilevskiy has won his last seven starts and boasts a sparkling .941 save percentage during the win streak. The Lightning have outscored their opponents 29-13 during the streak, and they’ll look to make it ten straight wins tonight.
Philadelphia Flyers
Forwards
Claude Giroux – Sean Couturier – Jakub Voracek
Joel Farabee – Kevin Hayes – Travis Konecny
James van Riemsdyk – Scott Laughton – Tyler Pitlick
Michael Raffl – Connor Bunnaman – Nicholas Aube-Kubel
Defense Pairs
Ivan Provorov – Matt Niskanen
Travis Sanheim – Philippe Myers
Robert Hagg – Justin Braun
Injured: Shayne Gostisbehere
Goalies
Carter Hart
Brian Elliott
Tampa Bay Lightning
Forwards
Steven Stamkos (?) – Brayden Point – Nikita Kucherov (?)
Ondrej Palat – Anthony Cirelli (?) – Alex Killorn
Mathieu Joseph – Cedric Paquette – Patrick Maroon
Carter Verhaeghe – Mitchell Stephens – Yanni Gourde
Game-time decision: Tyler Johnson
Defense Pairs
Victor Hedman – Erik Cernak
Mikhail Sergachev – Kevin Shattenkirk
Braydon Coburn – Luke Schenn
Cameron Gaunce (?)
Injured: Ryan McDonagh, Jan Rutta
Goalies
Andrei Vasilevskiy
Curtis McElhinney
