The Philadelphia Flyers, fresh off a busy trade deadline and a 2-1 victory over the Florida Panthers, head to the west side of the Sunshine State to take on the Tampa Bay Lightning.
The Flyers were saved from overtime thanks to Garnet Hathaway’s seventh goal of the season that came with 21.3 seconds remaining in regulation to knock off the top team in the league.
Philadelphia will have at least one new face in the lineup tonight as defenseman Erik Johnson, donning #77, skated on the second pair with Marc Staal at morning skate. Johnson was acquired from Buffalo for a 2024 fourth-round draft pick on Friday.
Fellow new addition Denis Gurianov, a forward acquired from Nashville for Wade Allison, rotated reps on the fourth line with Cam Atkinson. Gurianov, wearing #15, may play tonight but John Tortorella’s decision whether to sit him or Atkinson has not been revealed yet.
The Lightning are also expected to have both of their new additions on the ice tonight, as forward Anthony Duclair has already joined the team after being traded from San Jose and defenseman Matt Dumba arrived in Tampa today after being acquired from Arizona.
These two teams met just 11 days ago at Wells Fargo Center, where the Flyers cruised to a 6-2 victory behind five third period tallies, including two empty net goals late in the third. The Lightning won the first meeting of the season back on January 23rd in Philadelphia by a score of 6-3, so tonight is the final meeting and will determine the season series winner.
Tonight’s matchup will also have major playoff implications. The Flyers are four points ahead of the New York Islanders for third place in the Metropolitan Division, while the Lightning are only two points ahead of the Islanders for the final Wild Card spot in the Eastern Conference. The Flyers have a chance to build a bit of a cushion with a win while the Lightning are on the verge of missing the postseason, but the roles could just as easily be reversed if the Lightning pull out the victory tonight.
PHI Record: 33-23-8, 74 pts, 3rd in Metropolitan
TBL Record: 33-25-6, 72 pts, 5th in Atlantic
When: 7:00pm ET
Where: Amalie Arena, Tampa, FL
Broadcast Info: NBC Sports Philadelphia, 97.5 The Fanatic
Last Game PHI: 3/7/24, 2-1 W at Florida
Last Game TBL: 3/7/24, 6-3 L vs. Calgary
PHI Goalie: Samuel Ersson (18-12-5, .901 SV%, 2.52 GAA, 3 SO)
TBL Goalie: Andrei Vasilevskiy (21-16-1, .894 SV%, 3.03 GAA, 1 SO)
PHI Projected Lineup
#71 Tyson Foerster – #14 Sean Couturier – #11 Travis Konecny
#86 Joel Farabee – #21 Scott Laughton – #74 Owen Tippett
#27 Noah Cates – #25 Ryan Poehling – #19 Garnet Hathaway
#44 Nicolas Deslauriers – #48 Morgan Frost – #15 Denis Gurianov
#8 Cam York – #6 Travis Sanheim
#18 Marc Staal – #77 Erik Johnson
#5 Egor Zamula – #23 Ronnie Attard
#33 Samuel Ersson
#32 Felix Sandström
Scratches: #10 Bobby Brink, #89 Cam Atkinson
Injuries: #9 Jamie Drysdale, #24 Nick Seeler, #55 Rasmus Ristolainen
TBL Projected Lineup
#91 Steven Stamkos – #21 Brayden Point – #86 Nikita Kucherov
#38 Brandon Hagel – #71 Anthony Cirelli – #10 Anthony Duclair
#23 Mikey Eyssimont – #20 Nick Paul – #41 Mitchell Chaffee
#64 Tyler Motte – #11 Luke Glendening – #73 Conor Sheary
#77 Victor Hedman – #43 Darren Raddysh
#24 Matt Dumba – #81 Erik Černák
#48 Nick Perbix – #44 Calvin de Haan
#88 Andrei Vasilevskiy
#31 Jonas Johansson
Scratches: #7 Haydn Fleury, #51 Austin Watson
Injuries: #84 Tanner Jeannot, #98 Mikhail Sergachev
News and Notes
– The Flyers have won just once in their last six tries at Amalie Arena and are 25-25-1-4 all time on the road in Tampa Bay.
– Travis Konecny leads all active Flyers in goals (7) against the Lightning while Sean Couturier leads in assists (10) and points (15).
– Konecny had his team-best seven-game point streak snapped on Thursday in which he racked up 12 points (5g, 7a).
– The Flyers have not won a season series against the Lightning since 2015-16 (2-0-1).
– Defenseman Adam Ginning was reassigned to AHL Lehigh Valley after playing in Thursday’s game against Florida.
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