Flyers-Lightning: Game 36 Preview

Kevin Durso

December 27 2018

(Photo: Kate Frese)

By Kevin Durso, Sports Talk Philly editor

After a three-day break, the Flyers return to the ice to face a challenge in the East's best team.

The Flyers gave the Tampa Bay Lightning a run for their money in November, erasing a 5-1 lead in under seven minutes to force overtime, before ultimately suffering the defeat. Tampa has some help back in netminder Andrei Vasilevskiy and is also fresh off the break.

Game time is at 7:30 p.m.

Team Leaders

Philadelphia Flyers	GP	G	A	P	Tampa Bay Lightning	GP	G	A	P
Claude Giroux	35	12	30	42	Nikita Kucherov	37	16	41	57
Jake Voracek	35	9	19	28	Brayden Point	37	21	26	47
Sean Couturier	33	14	13	27	Steven Stamkos	37	20	19	39
Travis Konecny	35	9	12	21	Tyler Johnson	36	16	11	27
Wayne Simmonds	35	11	5	16	J.T. Miller	37	7	19	26

Player to Watch
28 Claude Giroux	91 Steven Stamkos
Last 5 Games: 1 G, 2 A, 3 P, +1	Last 5 Games: 5 G, 1 A, 6 P, -2

The Flyers captain has been the only player to really consistently put up points. After a three-day break, the Flyers need Claude Giroux to lead the way against a tough Lightning team.

Steven Stamkos has really been Tampa's best goal scorer of late with five goals in the last four games. Always a threat, especially on the power play, look for him to make an impact early.

Goalie Matchup
30 Michal Neuvirth	88 Andrei Vasilevskiy
3 GP, 1-2-0, 4.34 GAA, .833 SV%	17 GP, 12-3-2, 2.39 GAA, .928 SV%

Michal Neuvirth earned a second straight start with a stellar game in New York on Sunday. With the Flyers traveling to Tampa on Thursday morning as part of the league's mandated three-day holiday break, it's probably best that they don't throw Carter Hart into a strange situation and allow him the practice days before his next start.

Andrei Vasilevskiy was injured the last time the Lightning faced the Flyers, but the Tampa netminder is back and ready to go. Tampa is 3-0-1 since his return from injury and Vasilevskiy has a .930 save percentage in that time.

Flyers Projected Lineup

Injuries: Brian Elliott, Anthony Stolarz, Corban Knight

Scratches: Jori Lehtera, Jordan Weal, Christian Folin

Left Wing	Center	Right Wing
25 James van Riemsdyk	28 Claude Giroux	11 Travis Konecny
17 Wayne Simmonds	14 Sean Couturier	93 Jake Voracek
21 Scott Laughton	19 Nolan Patrick	12 Michael Raffl
23 Oskar Lindblom	44 Phil Varone	22 Dale Weise
Defense
9 Ivan Provorov	6 Travis Sanheim
53 Shayne Gostisbehere	8 Robert Hagg
47 Andrew MacDonald	3 Radko Gudas
Goalie
30 Michal Neuvirth

Lineup Notes

No changes are expected to the lineup.

Lightning Projected Lineup

Injuries: Mathieu Joseph

Scratches: Ryan Callahan, Slater Koekkoek, Mikhail Sergachev

Left Wing	Center	Right Wing
10 J.T. Miller	91 Steven Stamkos	9 Tyler Johnson
18 Ondrej Palat	21 Brayden Point	86 Nikita Kucherov
17 Alex Killorn	71 Anthony Cirelli	37 Yanni Gourde
73 Adam Erne	13 Cedric Paquette	62 Danick Martel
Defense
77 Victor Hedman	6 Anton Stralman
27 Ryan McDonagh	81 Erik Cernak
55 Braydon Coburn	5 Dan Girardi
Goalie
88 Andrei Vasilevskiy

Game Notes

Power Play: Flyers (29th, 28th on road), Lightning (1st, 9th at home)
Penalty Kill: Flyers (T-27th, 26th on road), Lightning (8th, 2nd at home)
Recent History vs. Lightning
- Dec. 29, 2017 – Flyers 5, Lightning 3 (at TB)
- Jan. 25, 2018 – Lightning 5, Flyers 1 (at PHI)
- March 3, 2018 – Lightning 7, Flyers 6 (F/SO) (at TB)
- Nov. 17, 2018 – Lightning 6, Flyers 5 (F/OT) (at PHI)
Flyers Leaders vs. Lightning
- Claude Giroux – 33 GP, 4 G, 30 A, 34 P
- Travis Konecny – 7 GP, 4 G, 2 A, 6 P
- James van Riemsdyk – 32 GP, 15 G, 11 A, 16 P
- Michal Neuvirth – 9 GP, 4-3-0, 3.02 GAA, .906 SV%
Milestone Watch
- Wayne Simmonds needs two goals to reach 200 as a Flyer.
- James van Riemsdyk needs two assists to reach 200 in his career.
- Ivan Provorov will play in his 200th NHL game tonight.