Postgame 5: Flyers Fall to Lightning, 6-3

The Philadelphia Flyers dropped a 6-3 decision to the Tampa Bay Lightning at Wells Fargo Center on Tuesday night. A comeback bid by the Flyers brought Philly within 4-3. However, after withstanding a heavy push by Philadelphia, Tampa added a pair of empty net goals for the final three-goal margin.

The biggest factor in the game: The Flyers took penalties and Tampa Bay's top-rated power play got the better of Philly's second-ranked penalty kill on this night. The Lightning were officially 2-for-3 but scored two seconds after their first power play expired. The Flyers went 1-for-2 on their own power plays.

Art Ross Trophy candidate Nikita Kucherov led the Tampa Bay attack with a four-point game (3g.1a). The Lightning also got tallies from Brayden Point (1g. 1a), Michael Eyssimont, and Brandon Hagel (ENG, 1a). Andrei Vasilevskiy earned the win in goal with 29 saves on 32 shots.

The Flyers received goals from Cam Atkinson (1g, 1a), Jamie Drysdale (PPG) and Cam York (4-on-4). Morgan Frost collected two primary assists. Samuel Ersson played better than his stat line would suggest (16 saves on 20 shots) in taking the loss in goal.

Early and late goals in the first period sent the Lightning to intermission with a 2-0 lead.

Point (22nd goal of the season) gave Tampa a quick 1-0 lead at 1:46 of the first period as he redirected a puck into the net. The lone assist went to Maxwell Crozier. On the play, Point worked his way past Rasmus Ristolainen and was able to make himself a target to tip the puck near the net.

Moments after Tampa's first power play of the game expired, Kucherov (29th goal of the season) hammered a one-timer into the net from the right circle. The assists went to Brandon Hagel and Darren Raddysh as Tampa opened a 2-0 edge at 18:45.

Tampa made it 3-0 with a power play goal at 2:24. In tac-tac-toe fashion, Kucherov finished off his second goal of the game (PPG, 30th of the season) from the right side in the low slot. The assists went to Point and Steven Stamkos.

Philadelphia cut the deficit to 3-1 at 9:56 of the second period as Atkinson (13th of the season) tipped home a setup by Joel Farabee. The secondary assist went to Sean Walker.

The Flyers drew back within 3-2 with a power play goal at 14:04 of the middle frame. After receiving a cross-seam pass out from Frost, Drysdale (PPG, second of the season and first as a Flyer) measured an open wrister from above the right circle and found the net. The apples were collected by Frost and Atkinson.

Tampa scored its second power play goal of the game to make it 4-2 at 17:42 of the second period. Eyssimont (PPG. 8th) wristed home a 15-foot shot from the slot to restore a two-goal edge. The assists were credited to Kucherov and Victor Hedman.

Just 42 seconds into the third period, with the teams skating 4-on-4,  York (6th) of the season showed tremendous hand-eye coordination to bat his own rebound out the air into the net on the backhand. Frost, who generated the initial portion of the play on both sides of the puck, drew the lone assist.

The Flyers had multiple chances in the third period to draw even on the scoreboard. Finally, Hagel (14th) goal of the season, scored an empty net goal at 19:00 of the final period. The assists went to Anthony Cirelli and Calvin de Haan. Kucherov finished off a hat trick into an empty net with 10.1 seconds left.

The Flyers (25-17-6) finished a four-game homestand with a 1-3-0 record. They will visit the Detroit Red Wings at Little Caesars Arena on Thursday for the final game of the season series between the teams. The Flyers are 1-0-1 thus far against Detroit.

Owen Tippett (lower-body injury) missed his second game after exiting Saturday's game against Colorado early in the third period. He was placed on IR on Tuesday afternoon. With Carter Hart taking an indefinite leave of absence, the Flyers recalled veteran goalie Cal Petersen from the AHL's Lehigh Valley Phantoms.

Additionally, Olle Lycskell dressed for his second NHL game of the season. The Flyers continued to start seven defensemen and 11 forwards. Nicolas Deslauriers exited the lineup.

FLYERS STARTING LINEUP

86 Joel Farabee - 14 Sean Couturier - 11 Travis Konecny
62 Olle Lycksell - 48 Morgan Frost - 89 Cam Atkinson
71 Tyson Foerster - 21 Scott Laughton - 19 Garnet Hathaway
27 Noah Cates - 25 Ryan Poehling - (rotation)

6 Travis Sanheim - 9 Jamie Drysdale
24 Nick Seeler - 26 Sean Walker
8 Cam York - 55 Rasmus Ristolainen
5 Egor Zamula

33 Samuel Ersson
[40 Cal Petersen]

TURNING POINT

The Flyers had just gotten through a PK against the NHL's most dangerous power play when Kucherov blasted home his one-timer goal to turn a one-goal edge for Tampa into a 2-0 score. The Flyers made various runs and pushes to get back on the brink of drawing even, but two subsequent Tampa power play goals proved a little too much from which to fully recover.

POSTGAME 5

1) Couturier deflected a shot on net on the shift of the game. Point scored on a re-direct for a 1-0 lead at 1:46.

Lycksell had a look at 5:02 as a defender poked the poke to him at the left hash marks. Shots on goal were 3-3. 

Frost made a gorgeous pass to an open Atkinson just below the hash marks. Vasilevskiy made the save at 6:28. Moments later, Anthony Cirelli tripped Atkinson for a penalty at 6:35. 

Through 11:35, shots on goal were 5-4 Flyers as Nick Perbix cleared a puck into the Tampa bench. After a TV timeout, the next faceoff was in the Tampa left circle. Couturier won it cleanly against Luke Gledening. Play was kept to the perimeter. Tampa iced the puck at 12:36.  Frost lost the draw to Steven Stamkos and Tampa cleared the puck.

At 15:02, Sanheim threaded a point shot through traffic.  Later, Farabee put a puck at the net from the center point area with traffic in front. Vasilevskiy tracked it for a save.

The Flyers went to the penalty kill at 16:43 as Ristolainen was called for tripping Brandon Hagel. Trailing by a goal, it was an important kill opportunity for the Flyers. They got through the 5-on-4 portion, but Kucherov scored almost immediately after the penalty expired.

2) First period shots on goal were 7-5 Flyers. Shot attempts were 17-15 Lightning. Scoring chances were 6-5 Tampa Bay. High-danger scoring chances were 2-1 Flyers per Natural Stat Trick. Faceoffs were 9-5 Lightning. The Flyers blocked 10 Tampa shot attempts led by four blocks from Seeler.

3)  Tampa spent the first shift of the second period in the Philly zone. Tampa iced the puck at the 38-second mark. At the offensive blueline, Walker had the puck poked away by Point. On the backcheck, Walker took a holding penalty at 1:36. Tampa's lethal power play converted at 2:24.

Veteran Calvin de Haan pinched in from the left point for an open shot from the top of the circle at  6:22. Ersson saved it, with the puck going out of play. Shots on goal were 3-1 Tampa Bay.

At 7:59, after receiving a cross-seam pass from Frost, Ristolainen fired a shot from outside the right dot on goal. Vasilevskiy saw it all the way for what turned into a routine save. The Couturier line pressured on the next shift. Late in the shift, Kucherov hit the ice as he jostled with Konecny. The line with Farabee, Frost, and Atkinson came back out two shifts later and Aktinson scored at 9:56.

Atkinson had a bite at his second goal -- this time from center slot -- but was turned away by Vasilevskiy. Shots on goal were now 9-4 Flyers through 11:29. 

Frost used his feet effectively to draw a hooking penalty on Hagel at 12:19. Zamula threaded a shot on net early in the power play. On the ensuing 5-on-4, Frost set up Drysdale for his first goal as a Flyer to make it a 3-2 deficit at 14:04.

The Flyers had a golden chance to tie the score at 15:27 as Atkinson was denied right at the doorstep by Vasilevskiy.  

Atkinson was called for an offensive zone hooking penalty at 16:11. Sanheim was taken down during a shorthanded rush. The fans wanted a penalty call but play continued. At the other end, Tampa's power play struck again at 17:42 for a 4-2 lead.

On the next shift, Laughton wasn't quite able to jam home the puck in a scramble around the Tampa net. At 18:37, Atkinson was wide open for a potential home-run pass, but the Flyers were unable to get him the puck. The Couturier line applied heavy pressure in the final shift of the middle frame.

Foerster fired a puck at the net as the buzzer sounded, and some Tampa players took exception. Hedman and Sanhem received coincidental roughing minors out of a scrum with the period expired. The teams started the third period with two minutes of 4-on-4 play.

4) Second period shots on goal were 14-8 Flyers (21-13 Flyers overall). Shot attempts were 31-17 Flyers (47-33 Flyers overall). Scoring chances were 13-10 Flyers (18-16 Flyers overall). High-danger scoring chances were 5-3 Flyers (7-4 Flyers overall). Faceoffs were 9-5 Flyers (9-5 TB 18-14 Flyers overall).

5)  York's early goal in the third period spurred a wave of momentum and several scoring chances for Philly. Through 4:47, shots on goal were 4-1 Flyers. In the meantime, Seeler blocked his sixth shot.

Ersson made a huge save on Crozier to keep the deficit at one goal. A TV timeout ensued at 6:42. He then denied Nick Paul on a tough chance. Through 9:29, shots were 4-4. Seeler came up with his seventh block at 11:17.

Couturier forechecked Tampa into a turnover and centered a pass out in front to Foerster for a scoring chance at 12:37. Dysdale put a point shot on net at 13:09. Couturier took the puck to the net at 13:52 but couldn't jam through a backhander. A pileup ensued after Konecny was unable to get to the puck.

With 2:42 remaining, the Flyers pulled Ersson for a 6-on-5 attack.  After very heavy pressure by the Flyers, Hagel scored an empty net goal with 59.7 seconds left in regulation.

Third period shots on goal were 11-9 Flyers (32-22 Flyers overall). Shot attempts were 24-19 Flyers (71-53 Flyers overall). Scoring chances were 11-9 Flyers (28-27 Flyers overall). High-danger scoring chances were 9-4 Flyers (15-8 Flyers overall). Faceoffs were 11-9 Flyers (29-23 Flyers overall, led by Couturier's 16-for-22). Seeler recorded seven of the Flyers' 22 blocked shots on the night.