Tampa Bay @ Philadelphia preview
Wells Fargo Center
Last Meeting ( Mar 7, 2023 ) Philadelphia 2, Tampa Bay 5
After surging to a five-game winning streak, the Philadelphia Flyers have suddenly dropped two straight -- and both were at home.
The Flyers fell 7-4 to the Colorado Avalanche on Saturday and 5-3 to the Ottawa Senators on Sunday, when they were unable to hold onto a 3-1 lead.
Philadelphia will aim to avoid a three-game skid when it hosts the Tampa Bay Lightning on Tuesday.
Egor Zamula had two goals and one assist while Joel Farabee added one goal and two assists for the Flyers in Sunday's defeat.
"Just the way he's grown into the player he is now, he's so confident with the puck," Farabee said of Zamula.
Yet it wasn't enough.
"We didn't make enough plays," Flyers coach John Tortorella said. "We did not establish forechecking. We were just one and done. The second half of the game, we were just one and done. They generated so much momentum off of their goals. Once they scored, they generated momentum."
Goaltender Samuel Ersson made 29 saves but struggled after the Flyers built a seemingly comfortable 3-1 lead.
To be fair, there were some bizarre bounces and strange scenes occurring in front of him.
"It's kind of those scrum situations, a little bit, maybe tough bounces," Ersson said. "For me, I've got to find a way to make a save on at least one of those. We needed it today and unfortunately, it went in and we didn't find a way to win."
Hours before the game, the Flyers said that Carter Hart, their No. 1 goaltender, requested and was granted an indefinite leave of absence for personal reasons. Ersson is expected to start the Lightning game, while the Flyers recalled goalie Cal Petersen from AHL affiliate Lehigh Valley in a corresponding move.
The Flyers also moved forward Owen Tippett, who suffered a lower-body injury in Saturday's loss, to injured reserve.
The Lightning will arrive in Philadelphia having won five of six.
Their five-game winning streak was snapped in a 2-1 setback to the Detroit Red Wings on Sunday.
The Lightning unleashed only 10 shots over the first two periods and never quite got going offensively.
"You can't just play one period in this league and expect to win," Lightning coach Jon Cooper said. "We had a chance to win, but only because our goalie gave us a chance."
Victor Hedman scored the lone goal and Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 33 shots.
"Some nights, you are struggling to get momentum and fighting to make plays," Hedman said. "We couldn't get anything going until the third, and we had some unbelievable looks and couldn't put anything in."
The Lightning are used to winning championships and making deep runs in the postseason. This season, however, has been more of a struggle with injuries and inconsistency.
Tampa Bay appeared to be on the verge of reversing its fortune before this flat one-goal loss to the Red Wings.
"If you want to make the playoffs, you can't lay an egg like that against the team you're going neck and neck against," Cooper said. "We reeled off five in a row just to pull us back into a race. Now we've got a chance to say, ‘OK, hey, we've arrived,' and we failed (Sunday)."
The Lightning have been much better at home (15-5-3) than on the road (9-13-2) this season.
--Field Level Media