Flyers end Lightning home winning streak at eight

TAMPA -- Sean Couturier had a goal and two assists to lift the Philadelphia Flyers to a 5-3 win against the Tampa Bay Lightning at Amalie Arena on Friday.
It was Tampa Bay's first loss in its past nine games at home.

Wayne Simmonds had a goal and an assist, and Claude Giroux had three assists for the Flyers (16-14-8), who ended a three-game losing streak (0-2-1) and won for the second time in their past six (2-3-1). Brian Elliott made 24 saves.
WATCH: [All Flyers vs. Lightning highlights]
"I think we were all pretty hard on ourselves for the result from [Thursday]," Flyers coach Dave Hakstol said of their 3-2 loss at the Florida Panthers. "The biggest and most important thing you can do is have the right answer, and our players had the right answer tonight."
Steven Stamkos, Brayden Point and Tyler Johnson scored for the Lightning (27-8-2), who had not lost at home since Nov. 18. Peter Budaj made 29 saves before leaving the game at 10:26 of the third period with an apparent left-leg injury.

"It will be a boring answer, but we didn't play well," Stamkos said. "Didn't execute. Didn't deserve to win. Didn't have the will to win. Not going to win when you don't have those things."
Simmonds tied the game 1-1 at 6:56 of the second period with a power-play goal. He received a backdoor pass from Couturier and chipped the puck into the open net.
Shayne Gostisbehere gave the Flyers a 2-1 lead with a power-play goal at 10:03, converting a cross-ice pass from Simmonds.
"You could tell right from the beginning we had a little more pep in our step," Gostisbehere said. "Our battle level was a lot higher tonight, and it showed on the scoreboard."

Point tied it 2-2 at 15:37 when he scored off a pass from Ondrej Palat on a 3-on-2 rush.
Couturier put the Flyers ahead 3-2 with 12 seconds remaining in the second when he scored off the rebound of a Giroux shot.
"Every night, it's a tough challenge, it's a new challenge," said Couturier, whose NHL career-high 18 goals lead Philadelphia. "We had two tough losses against [the] Buffalo [Sabres] and Florida, but we came back with two great efforts against [the] Columbus [Blue Jackets] and Tampa Bay on back-to-back nights. It shows the character of our team."
Defenseman Brandon Manning, who returned after missing 10 games with an upper-body injury, made it 4-2 at 1:53 of the third period when he scored on a wraparound after receiving a pass from Giroux, who has 12 assists during a seven-game point streak.
Johnson made it 4-3 with a shorthanded goal at 8:58, but Valtteri Filppula scored into an empty net at 19:28 to make it 5-3.
"[The Lightning] have been on fire all season playing really well," said Filppula, who played for Tampa Bay from 2013-17. "It's good for us to see where we stand and to know that we have a chance against anybody."

Johnson has six goals and 10 assists during an 11-game point streak.
"You have to take positives out of everything," he said. "We know what we did wrong. There are times when you win games and you don't deserve them. Tonight, we didn't deserve to win and we didn't win, so we got to be better.
"We got to learn from this. That's what the regular season is all about. We have to get better every day."
Budaj was injured when Flyers forward Scott Laughton ran into the back of his left leg. He was helped off the ice but returned to the bench by the end of the game. Lightning coach Jon Cooper said he will be re-evaluated in the next couple of days.
Andrei Vasilevskiy made four saves on four shots in relief.

Goal of the game

Manning's wraparound goal at 1:53 of the third period.

Save of the game

Elliott stopping Alex Killorn on a breakaway at 16:34 of the second period.

Highlight of the game

Gostisbehere's power-play goal at 10:03 of the second period.

They said it

"Tonight was a good step. That's all we can control is how our performance was today. Now we've got to take that and move forward with a real important homestand coming up." -- Flyers coach Dave Hakstol
"We [stunk]. They were way better than us. They deserved the two points. We didn't deserve anything. Just name it. Penalty kill. [Stunk]. Forecheck. [Stunk]. Didn't shoot the puck. [Stunk]. Didn't defend. [Stunk]. Coaching. [Stunk]. Just go through the list. But in saying that, we were playing somebody else that made us that way."-- Lightning coach Jon Cooper

Need to know

Lightning forward Nikita Kucherov had two assists and leads the NHL with 54 points (24 goals, 30 assists). ...Flyers forward Jakub Voracek had two assists and is tied with Josh Bailey of the New York Islanders for the NHL lead (38). He got his 400th point with the Flyers with an assist on Filppula's goal. ... Elliott is 8-3-1 in his past 12 starts.

What's next

Flyers: Host the Pittsburgh Penguins on Tuesday (7 p.m. ET; NBCSN, NHL.TV)
Lightning: At the Columbus Blue Jackets on Sunday (6 p.m. ET; FS-O, SUN, NHL.TV)