Lightning at Flyers
Two teams desperately needing a victory to change their fortunes meet Saturday afternoon when the Tampa Bay Lightning visit the Philadelphia Flyers. The Lightning allowed six goals in each of the last two games of an ultimately unsatisfying homestand (2-2-1) while Philadelphia posted only one victory in the last eight contests after winning 10 in a row.
The Flyers managed only 12 goals during their 1-5-2 funk and came apart Wednesday in a 5-2 setback to the rival New York Rangers for a fifth straight loss. “When things aren’t going our way they sort of snowball and you try to do whatever you can to try and find ways to get out of it,” Philadelphia goalie Steve Mason told Philly.com. “Sometimes you can almost try too hard, but we have to find a way here.” Tampa Bay recorded at least a point in six of seven games (4-1-2) before suffering a 6-4 loss to Winnipeg on Tuesday and falling 6-1 two days later against Nashville. “You’re not going to see this team fold,” Lightning defenseman Victor Hedman said. “You’re going to see this team rise to the occasion. We’ve seen it so many times before.”
TV: 1 p.m. ET, NHL Network, Sportsnet One, FSN Sun (Tampa Bay), CSN Philadelphia
ABOUT THE LIGHTNING (19-17-4): Goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy, who is 2-0-0 while allowing two goals combined against the Flyers this season, was 4-1-1 after taking over for injured Ben Bishop (lower-body) before surrendering 10 goals on 51 shots in the last two contests. “You’re not going to have your ‘A’ game every single night. …,” Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper said Thursday. “Hall of Fame goaltenders have all gone through this.” Hedman boasts two goals and 15 assists over the last 11 games to push his total to 36 points - two behind team leader Nikita Kucherov.
ABOUT THE FLYERS (20-15-5): Goalie Michal Neuvirth (lower-body) could make his first appearance since Nov. 12 in one of the games this weekend, but most of Philadelphia’s problems lie on the other end of the rink. Leading scorer Jakub Voracek (37 points) snapped a nine-game goal drought with a pair Wednesday while captain Claude Giroux has only three points and a minus-8 rating in his last eight contests. Wayne Simmonds cooled off with three points in the last eight games and fellow forward Brayden Schenn picked it up a bit with four points in four contests.
OVERTIME
1. Tampa Bay C Brian Boyle (lower-body), who owns six goals in his last nine contests, missed the last two games and is questionable for Saturday.
2. Philadelphia D Mark Streit (shoulder), who sat out the last nine games, could return Saturday, or Sunday at Columbus.
3. The Lightning totaled 26 giveaways in the last two games while their opponents collected seven.