Flyers vs. Lightning
7 p.m. on Comcast SportsNet
The Flyers (30-23-11) will try to cap off an already successful homestand with another win when they host the red-hot Tampa Bay Lightning (39-22-4) Monday evening.
Here are five things you need to know before puck drop at the Wells Fargo Center:
1. The climb
Make no mistake, the Flyers know where they stand.
They are currently four points back of the Red Wings for the final wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference and five points back of the Penguins for the seventh seed in the East.
The Flyers have a game in hand on both Detroit and Pittsburgh and it's that time of the year where teams are constantly jockeying for position in the playoff chase. The Flyers know how important it is to keep pace with the pack ahead of them but they also understand they can't control anything other than what's in front of them.
“That’s been our mentality quite a bit this year,” Brandon Manning said after Sunday's optional practice (see story). “The way Pittsburgh is playing in front of us and the other teams, I think we’ve just got to worry about what we can do and we’ve talked about it as a group: it’s one at a time. It’s one here and one in Tampa after that. We’ll go from there.”
NHL
Last week, Jakub Voracek, before going down with a lower-body injury, said the Flyers would need at least 10 out of a possible 12 points on their six-game homestand to make a legitimate push for the playoffs. They have eight with one game remaining. Let the scoreboard watching continue.
2. Lightning strike
Now this is the Tampa team everyone was expecting to see at the beginning of the season.
The Lightning, winners of nine straight, have climbed all the way back to the top of the Atlantic Division thanks to their recent surge and have a chance to match their longest-ever run on the road Monday night.
Jon Cooper's bunch has won six in a row away from home and is 20-5-0 in their last 25 games overall. Their most recent victory came Saturday, when they dispatched the Carolina Hurricanes in overtime, 4-3.
"It's hard enough to win in this league, let alone ring off nine in a row," Cooper told the team's official website. "It's a testament to how the group has really stuck together."
The Lightning will be without a key defenseman, however. Former Flyer Braydon Coburn is considered day to day with a lower-body injury. Fellow blueliner Andrej Sustr is also banged up but is expected to return from his lower-body ailment at some point this week.
3. As Gudas it gets
What in the world got into Radko Gudas against Columbus?
The first-year Flyer, who entered the contest with just six assists all season long, scored his first two goals in an orange and black sweater and added two helpers in a 6-0 rout of the Blue Jackets. The two scores ended a 65-game goalless drought for the burly blueliner.
"We’ve been waiting for it all year," Flyers coach Dave Hakstol joked. "He played a good hockey game. His first one obviously from center ice he got a break on it, but that allowed us to push the momentum in the first period, which I thought was key especially when we had a team coming in here on a back-to-back night.”
But what will he do for an encore? It'd be ridiculous to expect another four-point outburst, but Gudas should have a little extra incentive to have a good showing vs. Tampa.
Why, you ask? Well because it was the Lightning who dealt Gudas to the Flyers at the trade deadline last season in the Coburn deal. Gudas was a healthy scratch in Tampa for the 2015-16 season opener, so Monday will mark his first game against his former club.
4. Keep an eye on …
Flyers: Claude Giroux found the back of the net for the 18th time this season in Saturday's blowout of Columbus but he'll likely find another way to burn Tampa. The Flyers' captain has just three markers in 24 career games against the Lightning but he's racked up 20 assists in those tilts. And in the last eight meetings between the clubs, Giroux has a goal and nine assists. So keep a watchful eye on No. 28 when he has the puck on his blade Monday night.
Lightning: This is an easy pick. Steven Stamkos is a certified Flyers killer. The Lightning captain has 10 goals and four assists in his last 10 games against the orange and black and 27 points in 24 career matchups overall. Stamkos has amazing hand/eye coordination and can score in a variety of ways. But the 26-year-old is most dangerous when he's teeing up that one-timer in the slot. He’s one of the few elite snipers in the league.
5. This and that
• The last time these two clubs faced off was on Oct. 8 in the regular-season opener, when Jason Garrison scored twice — including the game-winner — in the Lightning's 3-2 overtime win over the Flyers.
• The Flyers are 0 for 11 on the power play over their last two games.
• The Bolts have won 14 of their last 18 matchups with the Flyers, which is their best results against any Eastern Conference foe since the beginning of the 2010-11 season.
• Steve Mason is 1-3-2 with an .873 save percentage and 2.98 goals-against average in six career meetings with Tampa.
• Andrei Vasilevskiy allowed just one goal on 24 shots and earned a win in his only career start against the Flyers.