Heading to the Sunshine State for the second stop of a three-game road trip, John Tortorella's Philadelphia Flyers (4-8-1) will take on Jon Cooper's Tampa Bay Lightning (7-6-0) on Thursday evening. Game time at Amalie Arena is 7:30 p.m. EST.
The game will be streamed on ESPN+ and Hulu. The radio broadcast is on 97.5 The Fanatic with an online simulcast on Flyers Radio 24/7.
Thursday's match is the first of three meetings this season between the Flyers and Lightning. The teams will rematch on March 13 at Wells Fargo Center and March 17 in Tampa.
The Flyers enter this game coming off a 6-4 loss to the Carolina Hurricanes in Raleigh on Tuesday. Despite a sharp disadvantage in territorial play, the Flyers played a resilient game that fell 31 seconds short of reaching overtime. In a losing cause, Travis Konecny racked up a four-point game (5-on-3 power play goal, 5-on-5 goal, two assists).
Here are five things to watch in Thursday's tilt.
1. Opportunity for Richard
With center Ryan Poehling on Injured Reserve, the Flyers recalled 27-year-old winger Anthony Richard on Wednesday. In Poehling's absence, Noah Cates has shifted from left wing to center.
Signed to a two-year, two-way contract on July 2, Richard was one of the final roster cuts during training camp after a solid showing in drills, scrimmages and preseason games. An offensive standout in the American Hockey League in recent seasons, Richard opened the 2024-25 AHL regular season with nine points (4g, 5a) through his first seven games.
Richard is undersized (listed at 5-foot-10, 185 pounds) but is a speedy and smooth skater with good puck skills. He's averaged north of one point per game in the American Hockey League (126 games, 131 points) since the start of the 2022-23 campaign.
The player has been part of four NHL organizations -- Nashville, Montreal, Boston, and now Philly -- while appearing in a combined 24 National Hockey League games (4g, 4a) with the Predators, Canadiens, and Bruins prior to signing with the Flyers.
Richard has a solid work ethic to go along with his speed and skill. He is average without the puck but has worked hard to hold his own. Point production has been a challenge at the NHL level for the former fourth-round pick (2015) but he's twice scored 25 to 30 goals at the AHL level. As an offensive-minded player, Richard needs the production to hold an NHL lineup slot.
2. Tipp-ing point
Owen Tippett had a tough start to the regular season but seemed to be close to a true breakout as he compiled five points (1g, 4a) over a three-game stretch against Washington, Minnesota and Montreal.
Tippett's lone tally through the first 12 games was a seeing-eye shot in Washington that found the net through a heavy screen by Sean Couturier. However, the four assists gave evidence to Tippett finding other ways to get involved in positive plays.
With nearly the entire Flyers team struggling to score but playing much better from a defensive structure standpoint, Tippett did not record any point in the home-and-home set with Boston (2-0 road win, 3-0 home loss) sandwiched around a 2-1 home victory on Halloween against the St. Louis Blues.
Tippett played into some tough luck in the latter game against Boston. Goalie Joonas Korpisalo made arguably his two best saves of the game on a seemingly ticketed Tippett wrister from the deep slot and a point-blank Morgan Frost chance set up by Tippett. Both plays came during the second period.
On Tuesday in Raleigh, there was no holding back Tippett, He generated his best full-game performance of the season to date: a top-shelf goal off a perfect shot, a power play assist, six shots on goal (Philly only generated 16 as a team), and good chemistry with Konecny and Sean Couturier.
Taken as a whole, Tippett's seven points over the last seven games (2g, 5a) and involvement level in chances that did not go for goals are a positive sign for a team in dire need of positives from which to build offensively.
3. The puck possession game
This topic was the No. 1 concern heading into the Carolina game. After giving up 87 shot attempts while generating a modest 36 against the Hurricanes (the NHL's top-ranked puck possession club for several years in a row), the need to attack more and defend less remains a crucial area of concern.
Statistics can deceive but, in this case, the raw numbers match the eye test: The Flyers come into Tampa ranked 29th in shot-attempt share (Corsi) at 5-on-5 as well as the quality of scoring chances (43.87 percent expected goals share).
Last season, even with the club's swoon over the final 11 games, the Flyers ranked seventh in Corsi and eighth in expected-goals share at five-on-five. This is vital: If you want to compare last season's progress to the regression the Flyers have shown, start with the underlying process.
The Flyers MUST get back to at least the middle of the pack in puck possession and chance generating team metrics if the team is to pull out of the early season struggles to win. Shot blocking and D-zone structure only go far when the team is hemmed in its own end so often.
4. Power play building blocks
The Flyers power play was a bright spot through the first eight games of the regular season, then went cold for the next four games.
In Carolina, the Flyers cashed in on a first period 5-on-3 but were unable to grab another goal during the remaining 5-on-4 time. A third period 5-on-4 lasted just 17 seconds before being washed out by an Emil Andrae holding penalty.
For the season, the Flyers' power play ranks tied for 14th leaguewide at 20 percent efficiency. If sustained over the season, it would be a huge improvement from recent seasons.
If the Flyers are to knock off Tampa on their home ice, special teams may have to carry the day. The Lightning rank in the bottom one-third of the NHL in terms of avoiding penalties (shorthanded 42 times) and have allowed 11 opposing power play games, tied for fourth most in the league so far.
On the other side of special teams, the Flyers themselves have had issues in staying out of the penalty box (shorthanded 45 times, tied for 5th most-penalized team in that area). However, the penalty kill itself remains very strong again so far this season (88.9 percent, ranked third leaguewide).
The Lightning power play (18.6 percent) is still adjusting to the departure of franchise icon Steven Stamkos after last season. For many years, Stamkos was Tampa's No. 1 goal-scoring threat on power plays. However, there is still an array of firepower available. The Fyers would do well not to tempt fate with a high volume of penalties to kill.
5. Behind enemy lines; Tampa Bay Lightning
The Lightning may no longer be the NHL's gold standard club that won back-to-back Stanley Cup championships amid three straight Eastern Conference championships. That mantle now belongs to the Florida Panthers.
Nevertheless, the Bolts remain plenty dangerous with the familiar likes of superstar Nikita Kucherov (10g, 12a, 22 points through 13 games), Brayden Point (8g, 5a) and blueline leader Victor Hedman (3g, 10a). Former Penguins star Jake Guentzel (5g, 8a) has rattled off 13 points to start the season with his new club.
How deep is the Tama roster? So much so that 26-year-old winger Brandon Hagel (7g, 7a), two-way center Anthony Cirelli (2g, 11a and Nick Paul (4g, 7a) are supporting offensive sources and not the lead dogs on the Tampa attack.
Despite all of the offensive talent and the presence of former Vezina Trophy goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy (6-5-0, 2.59 GAA, .903 SV%, one shutout), the Lightning have started November with three straight regulation losses and have dropped four of their last six games.
Why? The answer is that Tampa has over-relied at times on outscoring lapses caused by turnovers that lead to counterattacks and some costly coverage breakdowns. Five of the Lightning's six losses this season have come in games where the club has yielded at least four goals including four games with five or more goals yielded.
Backup goalie Jonas Johansson (4.51 GAA, .866 SV%) has made two starts and one relief appearance to date. After Thursday's game, the Lightning have a week-long schedule break until hosting the Winnipeg Jets on Nov. 14.
