Flyers-Lightning: Game 45 Preview

By Kevin Durso, Sports Talk Philly editor

There's no place like home for the Flyers. After going 1-4-1 on a six-game road trip, the Flyers returned home and took down the NHL's top team.

As great as the Flyers have been on home ice, it was the beginning of a tough schedule there for them. Five of the final six games before the All-Star break are at home, but they come against some of the best in the NHL.

The Flyers next opponent was one of the bigger disappointments in the NHL a month ago, but since then, the Tampa Bay Lightning have risen to second place in the Atlantic Division and sixth in the league in points, due in large part to a current nine-game winning streak that they will bring to Philadelphia on Saturday night.

Game time is 7 p.m.

Team Leaders

Philadelphia Flyers	GP	G	A	P	Tampa Bay Lightning	GP	G	A	P
Travis Konecny	41	14	24	38	Nikita Kucherov	42	17	32	49
Sean Couturier	44	12	24	36	Steven Stamkos	40	17	27	44
Jake Voracek	44	8	26	34	Brayden Point	40	18	22	40
Claude Giroux	44	13	18	31	Victor Hedman	41	9	31	40
Ivan Provorov	44	9	15	24	Alex Killorn	41	18	19	37

Player to Watch
14 Sean Couturier	86 Nikita Kucherov
Last 5 Games: 2 G, 4 A, 6 P, +2	Last 5 Games: 4 G, 4 A, 8 P, +8

Sean Couturier has points in four straight games, including three straight with an assist. While he has gone three games without a goal, he did have five shots against the Capitals.

Nikita Kucherov had just 10 goals in the first 30 games of his season. In the last 12 games, he has seven goals and eight assists. As the Lightning have heated up, Kucherov has led the charge, producing at the same rate as last season.

Projected Goalie Matchup
79 Carter Hart	88 Andrei Vasilevskiy
30 GP, 14-10-3, 2.58 GAA, .906 SV%	32 GP, 21-9-2, 2.66 GAA, .913 SV%

Back at home, Carter Hart turned in another strong performance, making 26 saves on 28 shots against Washington after allowing two first-period goals. Hart has 12 of his 14 wins on home ice this season.

Another member of the Lightning back to his 2018-19 form is Andrei Vasilevskiy. Since Dec. 7, Vasilevskiy has a 11-1-1 record in 13 starts. He allowed three goals or more in five of the first nine games of that stretch, but in his last four games has allowed two goals or less in each. His last start was his only shutout in that time, stopping all 25 shots faced against Arizona on Thursday.

Flyers Projected Lineup

Injuries: Shayne Gostisbehere (knee, day-to-day), Justin Braun (groin, out until All-Star break), Nolan Patrick (migrane disorder, out indefinitely), Oskar Lindblom (Ewing's sarcoma, out for season)

Scratches: Chris Stewart (healthy)

Left Wing	Center	Right Wing
28 Claude Giroux	14 Sean Couturier	11 Travis Konecny
25 James van Riemsdyk	13 Kevin Hayes	62 Nicolas Aube-Kubel
18 Tyler Pitlick	12 Michael Raffl	93 Jake Voracek
72 David Kase	21 Scott Laughton	49 Joel Farabee
Defense
9 Ivan Provorov	15 Matt Niskanen
6 Travis Sanheim	5 Phil Myers
8 Robert Hagg	59 Mark Friedman
Goalie
79 Carter Hart	37 Brian Elliott

Lineup Notes

The Flyers lineup remains the same as Wednesday's with the only change being made to the fourth line. The Flyers sent down Mikhail Vorobyev on Thursday and called up David Kase. Kase will play wing on the fourth line and Scott Laughton moves to center.

Lightning Projected Lineup

Injuries: Ondrej Palat, Ryan McDonagh

Scratches: Luke Schenn

Left Wing	Center	Right Wing
91 Steven Stamkos	21 Brayden Point	86 Nikita Kucherov
17 Alex Killorn	71 Anthony Cirelli	9 Tyler Johnson
23 Carter Verhaeghe	67 Mitchell Stephens	37 Yanni Gourde
92 Alexander Volkov	13 Cedric Paquette	14 Pat Maroon
Defense
77 Victor Hedman	44 Jan Rutta
98 Mikhail Sergachev	22 Kevin Shattenkirk
55 Braydon Coburn	81 Erik Cernak
Goalie
88 Andrei Vasilevskiy	35 Curtis McElhinney

Game Notes

Power Play: Flyers (T-18th), Lightning (2nd)
Penalty Kill: Flyers (11th), Lightning (8th)
Recent History vs. Lightning
- Nov. 17, 2018 – Lightning 6, Flyers 5 (F/OT) (at PHI)
- Dec. 27, 2018 – Lightning 6, Flyers 5 (F/OT) (at TB)
- Feb. 19, 2019 – Lightning 5, Flyers 2 (at PHI)
Flyers Leaders vs. Lightning
- Claude Giroux – 35 GP, 5 G, 31 A, 36 P
- James van Riemsdyk – 34 GP, 15 G, 13 A, 28 P
- Travis Konecny – 9 GP, 5 G, 2 A, 7 P
- Ivan Provorov – 9 GP, 3 G, 4 A, 7 P
- Kevin Hayes – 13 GP, 5 G, 5 A, 10 P
- Carter Hart – 1 GP, 0-1-0, 18.00 GAA, .667 SV%
Milestone Watch
- Shayne Gostisbehere needs one point to reach 200 for his career.