Starting a five-game road trip, John Tortorella's Philadelphia Flyers (28-32-8) are on the Gulf Coast of Florida on St. Patrick's Day to take on Jon Cooper's Tampa Bay Lightning (38-23-5). Game time at Amalie Arena on Monday is 7:00 p.m. EST.
The game will be televised on NBCSP. The radio broadcast is on 93.3 WMMR with an online simulcast on Flyers Radio 24/7.
This is the third and final meeting between the Flyers and Bolts during the 2024-25 season and the second game between the teams within the last week. The Flyers have claimed a pair of shootout wins over Tampa Bay this season: 2-1 (2-0) on Nov. 7 in Tampa and 4-3 (2-1) at Wells Fargo Center on March 13.
The Flyers' shootout win against the Lightning last Thursday was powered by a three-point outburst from Bobby Brink (two goals and an assist). Matvei Michkov and Owen Tippett scored in the shootout, while Ryan Poehling tallied in regulation. Tippett also netted a shootout goal in the Nov. 7 game.
The Lightning snapped a three-game winless spell with a 6-2 road blowout win on Saturday against the Boston Bruins. Anthony Cirelli scored twice while veteran star defenseman Victor Hedman had a goal and assist. The Lightning limited the Bruins to a mere 12 shots for the entire game -- including an incredible 21-0 shot disparity and three-goal outburst in the second period. Goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy made 10 saves for the win.
Here are the RAV4 Things to watch on Monday night plus an x-factor heading into the game.
1. Shot suppression and shot quality
The Flyers got shut out, 5-0, by the Carolina Hurricanes on Saturday. Philly blocked 31 shot attempts in the game -- led by six Nick Seeler blocks and five by Cam York -- but the Hurricanes still put 31 shots on goal. Carolina is perennially the NHL's top puck possession team, and the Flyers were outchanced significantly despite having quite a few scoring opportunities of their own.
In order for the Flyers to beat Tampa Bay for a third time this season, they will need to replicate something much closer to the process from Thursday's game. In that match, the Flyers outshot the Lightning by a 29-20 margin in addition to blocking 18 Tampa shot attempts and winning the majority of the puck battles in regulation as the game progressed.
Given how the Lightning absolutely swarmed the Bruins on Saturday and established a massive edge in both shot quantity and shot quality, the Flyers will face a tall order to establish the same process that lifted them over Tampa Bay four nights ago.
2. Flyers power play
One of the most frustrating aspects of the 1-6-0 homestand the Flyers endured was the fact that the Flyers struggled on both ends of special teams for most of the seven games. The power play went 0-for-17, including 0-for-2 on the power play last Thursday against the Lightning.
For the season overall, the Flyers power play ranks 30th in the NHL at 14.7 percent. Within the month of March, the Flyers (0-for-18) are the only team in the league that has not scored at least once on the power play. All but the Columbus Blue Jackets (1-for-17, three shorthanded goals yielded) and the Flyers have at least two power play tallies so far this month.
Tampa's PK ranks in the top one-third leaguewide this season. The Lightning have killed off penalties at an 81.9 percent rate (8th in the NHL).
3. Flyers penalty kill
The Flyers penalty killing stepped up in last Thursday's game against the Lightning. Trailing 2-1 early in the second period, the Philadelphia PK staved off two Tampa power plays. The latter ended with Brink scoring immediately after leaving the penalty box and receiving a pass from Sean Couturier.
Overall, though, the Philadelphia penalty kill scuffled during the recent homestand. The PK came through on just 11 of 17 (64.7 percent) opportunities. The absence of Garnet Hathaway (upper body injury) and the trade that sent longtime penalty killing stalwart Scott Laughton (the NHL's shorthanded points leader over the last three seasons) to Toronto were evident at times.
For the 2024-25 season overall, the Flyers are still in the middle of the NHL pack but the homestand struggles caused their PK ranking to drop into a tie for 17th (77.8 percent).
Tampa's power play ranks 6th in the NHL at a robust 25.8 percent efficiency. Last Thursday against the Flyers, they made quick work of a first period power play before Philly's PK met the challenge with the aforementioned two kills in the second period.
4. Michkov Watch
Twenty-year-old Russian winger Matvei Michkov ranks third in scoring (47 points in 66 games) among NHL rookies this season. He is one tally behind San Jose's Macklin Celebrini for the goal-scoring lead and two assists behind Celebrini for tops in assists among rookie forwards.
Goals were collectively hard to come by for the Flyers' during the homestand -- shut out by Carolina, limited to a single goal by three straight opponents (Winnipeg Jets, Seattle Kraken, and New Jersey Devils and held to two tallies by Ottawa. Offensive output from any source would be greatly welcomed.
Michkov had points in each of the first three games of the homestand (1g, 2a) but was kept off the scoreboard against New Jersey, Ottawa, Tampa Bay and Carolina. However, he did bag a shootout goal against the Lightning: the third shootout tally of his rookie season.
X-Factor: Containing Kucherov
Over the last three seasons, only Edmonton's Connor McDavid (371 points) and Colorado's Nathan MacKinnon (354 points) have outproduced Lightning standout Nikita Kucherov (350 points in 225 games) among all NHL players. For the 2024-25 campaign, Kucherov is third leaguewide with 93 points in 62 games to date (28 goals, 65 assists).
Last Thursday, Kucherov missed the game against the Flyers due to illness. He returned against Boston on Saturday to chip in an assist and record three shots on goal in 19:25 of ice time. The Russian superstar has just one point in his last three games.
Some NHL team is going to be on the wrong end of Kucherov's next multi-point outburst. The Flyers will do whatever they can to delay that inevitability until they've safely left town and the Lightning head out on a three-game road trip of their own following Monday's game.
