Flyers at Lightning
Vincent Lecavalier returns to the place where he played his first 14 seasons and won a Stanley Cup when the Philadelphia Flyers visit the Tampa Bay Lightning on Wednesday. Lecavalier, the former Lightning captain, had his contract bought out in the offseason and signed a five-year deal with Philadelphia, where he has scored eight goals in 19 games. “I don’t know how I’m going to feel, but it’s going to be a special night,” Lecavalier said Tuesday. “I’m really excited about it.”
Lecavalier and the Flyers dropped a 3-1 decision at Florida on Monday to end a seven-game point streak and have allowed 13 goals over the last eight contests. Tampa Bay looks to build off a 5-0 victory over the New York Rangers on Monday that snapped a four-game winless streak. Lightning captain Martin St. Louis, a long-time teammate and friend of Lecavalier, broke out of a scoring slump with a pair of goals to give him 350 for his career.
TV: 7:30 p.m. ET, NHLN, CSN (Philadelphia), Sun Sports (Tampa Bay)
ABOUT THE FLYERS (10-11-2): Claude Giroux has played a part in Philadelphia’s revival with 10 points in the last 10 games, recording at least one in each of the last five contests. While several forwards are producing more, it has been the improved defense and solid play in net that has helped the Flyers recover from a 1-7-0 start. “We’re keeping things simple,” goaltender Steve Mason told the Philadelphia Inquirer. “In the beginning of the season, it seemed like we were making too many passes to get out of the zone, and that created problems and some turnovers.”
ABOUT THE LIGHTNING (15-8-1): Ben Bishop rebounded from a pair of off-nights to stop 78 of the 79 shots he faced over the last two games (1-0-1) and move into second place in the NHL with 14 victories. Teddy Purcell also snapped out of a slump with three points against the Rangers while playing on a new line with Nikita Kucherov and Alex Killorn. Valtteri Filppula has played with St. Louis and recent call-up J.T. Brown the last two games while the Ondrej Palat-Tyler Johnson-Richard Panik line, which had lots of success in the minors, has remained intact.
OVERTIME
1. Lecavalier, the first overall pick by the Lightning in the 1998 draft, collected 383 goals and 874 points in 1,037 games with Tampa Bay.
2. Filppula has recorded 15 points in 11 games at home while totaling only three in 13 road contests.
3. The Flyers have at least one power-play goal in seven straight games, going 8-for-26 in that span.