Raw Charge
Summary
The Lightning continue their home stand against the Flyers, who are off to a bit of a rough start. Time: 7:00 PM EST Location: Benchmark International Arena TV/Stream/Radio: The Spot, NBCSP, NHLNetwork, 102.5 The Bone Odds: Lightning -205 Know the Opponents: Broad Street Hockey The Tampa Bay Lightning continue their romp through the Metropolitan Division as they take on the Philadelphia Flyers tonight at Benchmark International Arena. While Bolts fans are resting a little easier following their 3-1 win over the Washington Capitals on Saturday night, the Philly faithful are still waiting to celebrate their first victory. Philadelphia does have a couple of points in the standings thanks to two overtime losses, but they are still sporting a zero in the win column. Offense, or lack there of, has been the issue so far as they have only recorded four goals on the season. Dan Vladar’s first game didn’t go all that well in net as he was victimized by seven Pittsburgh Penguin goals, so expect Joseph Woll to be in net for his third straight game. Woll might not have a win yet as a Flyer, but he’s been their best player, making 79 saves on 84 shots (.929 SV%) in his his two overtime losses. The shots against have been a problem for the Flyers as they’ve spent most of their first three games in their own zone. Head coach Rick Tocchet hasn’t been pleased with his team’s effort or decision making so far, “It’s something that you can get better at, but hockey IQ is everything in today’s game,” Tocchet said. “Just knowing the game, the situation. I think our game management is subpar. The proof’s in the pudding. Knowing when it’s the right time to do certain things.” They are are a young-ish team so there is a chance that the shortened preseason has affected them a bit more than a veteran team like the Lightning, who seemingly shook off their season-opener doldrums in a solid win against the Caps. Still, just because the Flyers have struggled out of the gate doesn’t mean the Lightning can take it easy against them. If they do, youngsters Matvei Michkov and Porter Martone will make them pay. It sounds like the Bolts are rolling with another 11/7 rotation, with a small change in personnel. Emil Lilleberg apparently picked up a bit of an injury in his fight on Saturday and didn’t practice on Sunday. He’s officially listed as day-to-day, and it’s likely Max Crozier will make his first start of the season. Up front, Dominic James has been upgraded to day-to-day, but isn’t expected back on the ice today. The Flyers’ struggles could be exactly what the Lightning need right now to get their offense rolling. Things have looked okay through the first two games, but they haven’t converted chances into goals like they normally do. If they play like they did for the first 50 minutes or so against Washington, they should find their way to putting the puck into the back of the net. Philly has also only killed off 66% of their power play chances against, so this could be a good game for the Lightning to get on the board with the extra skater. The Lightning’s effort in Game Two was much better than Game One, but they can’t rest on their laurels. They need that same type of effort tonight if they’d like to make it two wins in a row. It’s still early in the season, but it’s also time for them to start forging their identity. Tonight will be a good indicator to how they are going to play. Are they going to grind it out every night, or will they play down to their competition from time to time? They should win tonight, but in order to do so, they have to put the pressure on Philadelphia. Forwards: Gage Goncalves Brayden Point Nikita Kucherov Brandon Hagel Anthony Cirelli Jake Guentzel Pontus Holmberg Zemgus Girgensons Conor Geekie Gage Goncalves Jeff Veal Defense: J.J. Moser John Carlson Ryan McDonagh Erik Cernak Victor Hedman Charle-Edouard D’Astous Max Crozier Goaltenders: Andrei Vasilevskiy Dennis Hildeby Flyers Forwards: Travis Konecny Christian Dvorak Matvei Michkov Carl Grrundstrom Trevor Zegras Owen Tippett Tyson Foerster Noah Cates Porter Martone Alex Bump Sean Couturier Noel Acciari Defense: Travis Sanheim Rasmus Ristolainen Cam York Jamie Drysdale Nick Seeler David Jiricek Goaltenders: Joseph Woll Dan Vladar