Philadelphia Flyers vs. Tampa Bay Lightning Pick & Prediction NOVEMBER 7th 2024
Preview and Prediction
The Tampa Bay Lightning will kick off a three-game homestand on Thursday night as they face off against the Philadelphia Flyers for the first time this season.
After starting their four-game road trip with a strong 5-2 victory over the Colorado Avalanche on October 30th, which saw newly acquired forward Jake Guentzel score his first multi-goal game of the season, the Lightning's record took a turn for the worse.
Their decline began with back-to-back losses to the Minnesota Wild (5-3) and the Winnipeg Jets (7-4) after initially taking a 2-0 lead in the first eight minutes of the game.
See also:
'Dylan Holloway, Recovered from Injury, Plans to Return to the Ice on Thursday'
See also:
'Edmonton's Connor McDavid Takes to the Ice for the First Time After Injury'
Tampa Bay's road trip ended on a low note with a 3-2 loss to the St. Louis Blues on Tuesday. However, Nikita Kucherov continued his impressive streak of recording at least one point in all eight of the Lightning's road games this season, with two assists against the Blues.
Unfortunately, the Lightning's top center Brayden Point left the game against Winnipeg early with a lower-body injury after scoring his eighth goal of the season. Captain Victor Hedman also reached a milestone, tying former captain Steven Stamkos for second on the franchise's all-time list for assists with 582.
While Point's injury is not considered serious, his absence is still a major concern for the team. Guentzel acknowledged the impact of losing such a high-caliber player, but also emphasized the importance of the next man stepping up.
Flyers forward Gage Goncalves was called up from AHL Syracuse to fill in for Point in Tuesday's game against the Blues.
Meanwhile, the Flyers began their three-game road trip with a tough 6-4 loss to the Carolina Hurricanes on Tuesday. Despite a strong performance from Travis Konecny, who recorded two goals and two assists, a late goal from the Hurricanes sealed the Flyers' fate.
This loss marks the Flyers' third defeat in their last five games, with Konecny's four-point game falling just short of his season-high of five points in a 7-5 win over the Minnesota Wild on October 26th.
With their top goaltender Samuel Ersson out with a lower-body injury, the Flyers turned to Belarusian netminder Aleksei Kolosov, who made 20 saves in his second start of the season against the Boston Bruins on Saturday. Despite allowing five goals against the Hurricanes, Kolosov impressed head coach John Tortorella with his tenacity and fighting spirit.
See also:
Toronto's Auston Matthews (upper body) sidelined against Boston
See also:
"Absence of Lightning Forward Brayden Point (injured lower body) against Blues"
After their game against the Lightning, the Flyers will head to Florida to face the Panthers and complete their three-game road trip.
Philadelphia Flyers vs. Tampa Bay Lightning
Nicolas Aube-Kubel recorded his first career two-goal game as the Philadelphia Flyers finished round-robin play perfect and snared the Eastern Conference's No. 1 seed Saturday night, beating the Tampa Bay Lightning 4-1 in Toronto.
The Flyers (3-0-0, six points) earned the conference's top spot and a best-of-seven first-round series date with the No. 12-seed Montreal Canadiens, who upset the No. 5-seed Pittsburgh Penguins in four games.
Rookie Joel Farabee recorded his first career playoff goal and assist, and Shayne Gostisbehere and Sean Couturier each had two helpers. Carter Hart returned in goal and made 23 saves for the Flyers, who outscored the opposition 11-3 in the tourney.
The Lightning (2-1-0, four points) will play the winner of the Columbus Blue Jackets-Toronto Maple Leafs series, a wild matchup that featured Toronto staging a dramatic three-goal comeback in the final four minutes and winning in overtime Friday to force a deciding Game 5 Sunday night.
Tampa Bay's Tyler Johnson scored a power-play goal, and goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 26 shots.
Victor Hedman fell awkwardly on a Philadelphia rush in the first period, appearing to tweak his right ankle, and headed to the dressing room. The Lightning defenseman smashed his stick against the grandstand railing in frustration after logging just 2:28 of ice time and was ruled out by the team.
Philadelphia top line forward Jakub Voracek was declared unfit to play, while Lightning forward Steven Stamkos (lower body) missed his third consecutive game.
Lightning sniper Nikita Kucherov hit the crossbar over Hart at the match's five-minute mark. Two minutes later, the Russian right winger stole a cross-ice pass from blueliner Matt Niskanen and skated in on a breakaway, only to be denied by Hart.
Aube-Kubel opened the scoring at 7:40 of the first in front of Vasilevskiy's cage, slipping inside Lightning defenseman Mikhail Sergachev and deflecting in a shot from the point by Gostisbehere.
After a Tampa Bay turnover in the neutral zone, Aube-Kubel whacked a slick dish from Couturier on a two-on-one in for his second goal with six minutes left in the period for a 2-0 lead. The Flyers outshot the Lightning 20-6 in the opening frame.
Johnson cut the lead in half at 5:21 of the second, snapping home his second tally of the tourney, but Farabee blistered a one-timer from the right circle off a Gostisbehere feed at 14:22 as Philadelphia regained its two-goal margin.
The Lightning pulled Vasilevskiy with two minutes remaining, but Tyler Pitlick scored an empty-net goal at 18:40 to seal the win.