Flyers-Lightning: Game 49 Preview

Kevin Durso

January 25 2018

By Kevin Durso, Sports Talk Philly editor

The Flyers are back on another four-game winning streak, and they can enter the All-Star break on a high note with a fifth straight win on Thursday night. It won't be an easy task though, as they take on the Eastern Conference's best team.

The Tampa Bay Lightning pay a visit to Philadelphia as the Flyers look to keep rolling into All-Star weekend.

Game time is set for 7 p.m.

Team Leaders

Philadelphia Flyers	GP	G	A	P	Tampa Bay Lightning	GP	G	A	P
Claude Giroux	48	14	42	56	Nikita Kucherov	48	27	34	61
Jake Voracek	48	9	46	55	Steven Stamkos	48	18	38	56
Sean Couturier	48	26	23	49	Brayden Point	48	19	24	43
Shayne Gostisbehere	44	9	24	33	Tyler Johnson	47	16	21	37
Wayne Simmonds	48	16	13	29	Vladislav Namestnikov	48	16	21	37

Player to Watch
11 Travis Konecny	86 Nikita Kucherov
Last 5 Games: 3 G, 2 A, 5 P, +3	Last 5 Games: 0 G, 1 A, 1 P, -6

Why not, right? Travis Konecny has scored the Flyers last two overtime winners and had a two-point game against New Jersey last Saturday. He carried a three-game goal streak and four-game points streak into this game.

It's pretty rare you find the NHL's leading scorer in this much of a slump. Nikita Kucherov has been the most dangerous scorer in the league this season, but has not scored a goal in six games and has just five points in January. Despite that, you can't lose track of him defensively, or he'll be able to put an end to that slump quickly.

Goalie Matchup
30 Michal Neuvirth	88 Andrei Vasilevkskiy
5-5-1, 2.23 GAA, .928 SV%	28-9-2, 2.21 GAA, .930 SV%

Michal Neuvirth gets the call on Thursday night for the Flyers. Neuvirth was tremendous in goal last Thursday against the Maple Leafs and picked up another win on Saturday against the Devils in the front end of a back-to-back. Neuvirth's return and solid play couldn't come at a better time for the Flyers, who have effectively rotation goalies in the last few games.

There arguably hasn't been a better goalie in the NHL this season than Andrei Vasilevskiy. The Lightning netminder has a league-leading 28 wins and seven shutouts this season and is easily the first-half Vezina front-runner. He'll be back in net for Tampa Bay on Thursday night.

Flyers Projected Lineup

Scratches: Dale Weise, Taylor Leier, Mark Alt

Left Wing	Center	Right Wing
28 Claude Giroux	14 Sean Couturier	11 Travis Konecny
12 Michael Raffl	51 Valtteri Filppula	93 Jake Voracek
40 Jordan Weal	19 Nolan Patrick	17 Wayne Simmonds
15 Jori Lehtera	21 Scott Laughton	56 Tyrell Goulbourne
Defense
9 Ivan Provorov	53 Shayne Gostisbehere
8 Robert Hagg	47 Andrew MacDonald
23 Brandon Manning	3 Radko Gudas
Goalie
30 Michal Neuvirth

Lineup Notes

Despite leaving Tuesday's game after the second period, Michael Raffl participated in the morning skate and appears to be in the lineup for Thursday. If that is indeed the case, there will be no changes for the Flyers following their fourth straight win in Detroit and the same lineup will take the ice on Thursday.

Lightning Projected Lineup

Injuries: Victor Hedman, Ondrej Palat, Erik Condra, Peter Budaj

Scratches: Cory Conacher, Mikhail Sergachev

Left Wing	Center	Right Wing
86 Nikita Kucherov	21 Brayden Point	9 Tyler Johnson
90 Vladislav Namestnikov	91 Steven Stamkos	14 Chris Kunitz
17 Alex Killorn	63 Matthew Peca	37 Yanni Gourde
15 Michael Bournival	13 Cedric Paquette	24 Ryan Callahan
Defense
59 Jake Dotchin	6 Anton Stralman
55 Braydon Coburn	62 Andrej Sustr
29 Slater Koekkoek	5 Dan Girardi
Goalie
88 Andrei Vasilevskiy

Game Notes

Power Play: Flyers (T-9th, 21st at home), Lightning (4th, T-6th on road)
Penalty Kill: Flyers (29th, 29th at home), Lightning (T-21st, 13th on road)
Recent History vs. Lightning
- Dec. 29, 2017 – Flyers 5, Lightning 3 (at TB)
Flyers Leaders vs. Lightning
- Claude Giroux – 30 GP, 3 G, 26 A, 29 P
- Jake Voracek – 21 GP, 4 G, 12 A, 16 P
- Travis Konecny – 4 GP, 1 G, 2 A, 3 P
- Michal Neuvirth – 8 GP, 4-2-0, 2.71 GAA