Recap; Game 44/82: Ābols, Grebenkin fights highlight of Flyers’ loss to Lightning

The Philadelphia Flyers (22-14-8) fell to the Tampa Bay Lightning (28-13-3) for the second time in three days, dropping Monday night’s rematch at Xfinity Mobile Arena. Tampa Bay’s early scoring and special teams proved to be the difference once again.

First Period

For the second straight game, the Lightning scored on their first shot of the night. Just 1:10 into the opening frame, Pontus Holmberg slipped a puck past Dan Vladař, with assists from Zemgus Girgensons and Yanni Gourde, giving Tampa Bay an early lead.

Philadelphia generated a quality look shortly after on a 2-on-1 rush featuring Denver Barkey and Travis Sanheim, with Sean Couturier trailing the play. Barkey fed Couturier, but Anthony Cirelli blocked the shot.

The Flyers struggled to generate offense early, registering their first shot on goal just over five minutes in from Rodrigo Ābols. Their next official shot didn’t come until 15:50, when Owen Tippett tested Jonas Johansson. Just moments before that, Tippett flew through the neutral zone and found Couturier, whose shot rang off the post in what was Philadelphia’s best chance of the period.

Second Period

Tampa Bay wasted no time extending its lead, scoring just 33 seconds into the second period. Jake Guentzel beat Vladař off a setup from Erik Černák and Brandon Hagel.

The Flyers nearly responded when Emil Andrae fired a shot from the point that landed right on Ābols’ stick in front of the net, but Johansson held firm. Immediately after the chance, Ābols took a tripping penalty, sending Tampa Bay to the power play.

The Lightning capitalized. Brayden Point converted on the man advantage with assists from Oliver Bjorkstrand and Guentzel. During the play, Cam York collided with Point as the goal was scored, leading to a scrum that resulted in offsetting minors to Sanheim and Bjorkstrand. Point needed help getting off the ice and did not return for the remainder of the game.

Philadelphia finally got on the board later in the period when Christian Dvorak carried the puck up ice on a 2-on-1 with Nick Seeler and elected to shoot, beating Johansson clean for an unassisted goal.

The Flyers earned a power play opportunity after Černák was called for holding, and while they generated some movement during the delayed penalty, the ensuing advantage failed to produce much. Shortly after, Hagel was sent off for interference, but that power play also stalled.

More four-on-four hockey followed as Travis Konecny and Charle-Édouard D’Astous were assessed roughing penalties. Seeler then took an interference penalty that proved costly, as Hagel scored Tampa Bay’s second power play goal of the night, with assists from Darren Raddysh and Nikita Kucherov.

The period ended with tempers flaring once again, as Nikita Grebenkin was called for cross-checking and Gourde for roughing in the final seconds of a chaotic and busy second frame.

Third Period

What began as a relatively tame game fully unraveled in the third.

Early in the period, Ābols delivered a hit on Declan Carlile that escalated into multiple fights. Ābols dropped the gloves with Nick Paul while Grebenkin squared off against Max Crozier at the same time. Grebenkin appeared to enjoy the moment, laughing at Crozier after the fight and heading to the bench trying to amp up the boys. All four players received fighting majors, with Grebenkin and Crozier also assessed game misconducts. Ābols was handed an additional two-minute penalty for boarding, giving Tampa Bay a power play, which the Flyers successfully killed.

The Lightning continued to push the physicality, frequently engaging Garnet Hathaway after whistles. Following one stoppage, Hathaway was assessed a roughing penalty as Tampa Bay earned yet another power play.

Midway through the frame, Konecny was called for cross-checking, while Guentzel received a tripping minor. As Konecny headed to the box, he exchanged words with the officials and was ejected from the game for abuse of officials.

Philadelphia pulled Vladař with 4:44 remaining, but Tampa Bay sealed the game with an empty-net goal from Kucherov, assisted by Raddysh and Cirelli.

Up Next

The Flyers hit the road next, traveling to Buffalo for their next matchup on Wednesday, January 14 at 7:30pm/ET as they look to reset and regroup following the back-to-back losses to Tampa Bay.