Philadelphia Flyers at Tampa Bay Lightning: GAME 21
Time: 7:30 pm Eastern Time
Location: Amalie Arena
Broadcast/Streaming: NBCSN, TCN-PH
Opponent SBNation Site: Broad Street Hockey
Preview:
Since we last wrote a Flyers-Bolts preview several days ago, most of this still applies, but a few things have changed.
Things that have changed for Philadelphia:
- They won last night’s game against the Florida Panthers, 3-1, so they’re feeling pretty good.
- In the course of the game, the Flyers lost second-line center Sean Couturier, so maybe they aren’t feeling so good. He was not taken to the hospital, but he’s very definitely out for tonight’s game./
Sean Couturier had a very tough time getting off the ice, here is a look at his injury. pic.twitter.com/28OrErz5kr
— Broad Street Hockey (@BroadStHockey) November 23, 2016
- The lines are therefore different for tonight’s game, with Nick Cousins rising to fill 2C, and Roman Lyubimov likely slotting into the fourth line.
- Michael Del Zotto was benched for last night’s game against the Cats. Will he slot back into the lineup tonight?
- Section 215 (Fansided Flyers site) says that Giroux’s leadership is questionable. I mean, if we’re discussing Giroux, isn’t he just questionable in general? Anyway./
Things that have changed for Tampa:
- After an epic shutout in Philadelphia, the Bolts went to Nashville and were almost shut out themselves. Both games happened during the Bolts’ dad’s trip, so the dads got to see the highs and lows of their sons’ jobs. Caley Chelios tactfully does not discuss Nashville at all in this dad’s trip recap, but you do get to see how amazingly short Mr. Bishop and Mr. Vasilevskiy are, compared to their sons.
- Speaking of Vasy, apparently he’s been using new, super-slim goalie pants. Elliotte Friedman spoke of them in his weekly 30 Thoughts column: “The Tampa Bay Lightning’s Andrei Vasilevskiy is the first to wear the new, slim-fitting goalie pants. With them, he shut out the New York Islanders and Philadelphia Flyers, probably earning him two quiet ovations in NHL offices. The league continues to receive complaints that the new fit will expose the hips in certain positions. We’ll see if Vasilevskiy’s success changes anyone’s mind. It never hurts when the first guy in the pool loves the water.”
- And speaking of Vasy a third time, will he be in net tonight? Does the organization stay with the guy who shut out the Flyers last, or do they go with Bishop at home?
- JT Brown was caught on video smashing a person’s phone. The team will reprimand him, but will they also sit him for a game? If so, we’ll update the lineup as the day continues.
- Steven Stamkos was placed on LTIR, and Eric Condra was sent back down to Syracuse.
- Brian Boyle might or might not be in the lineup. Anton Stralman might or might not be in the lineup. Jon Cooper might or might not run 11F/7D. Schroedinger’s Lineup.
- At least we have Brayden Point!/
Tampa Bay Lightning
Forward Lines
Ondrej Palat – Vladislav Namestnikov – Nikita Kucherov
Alex Killorn – Tyler Johnson – Brayden Point
Jonathan Drouin – Valtteri Filppula – Ryan Callahan
Cedric Paquette – Brian Boyle – J.T. Brown
Defensive Pairings
Victor Hedman – Andrej Sustr
Jason Garrison – Nikita Nesterov
Slater Koekkoek – Braydon Coburn
Goaltenders
Ben Bishop
Andrei Vasilevskiy
Philadelphia lineup
Forward Lines
Brayden Schenn – Claude Giroux – Jakub Voracek
Travis Konecny – Nick Cousins – Wayne Simmonds
Michael Raffl – Pierre-Edouard Bellemare – Meat Read
Chris VandeVelde – Roman Lyubimov – Dale Weise
Defensive Pairings
Michael Del Zotto – Andrew MacDonald
Ivan Provorov – Mark Streit
Brandon Manning – Radko Gudas
Goaltenders
Steve Mason
Anthony Stolarz
Line information will be updated in the Game Day Thread.
