(SportsNetwork.com) – The Philadelphia Flyers’ winning streak survived a
meeting with the defending Stanley Cup champions, but a fourth consecutive win
could be hard to come by.
The Tampa Bay Lightning hope to continue its dominance of Philadelphia when
the clubs battle Thursday at Amalie Arena.
The Flyers earned a controversial 2-1 victory Tuesday against the visiting Los
Angeles Kings, picking up a third straight win and their fourth in five games
since going winless in the first four tests of 2014-15.
Philly will have to solve the Lightning to keep the win streak going, however,
as Tampa Bay enters tonight’s tilt having won 11 of the last 14 encounters in
this series. The Bolts have beaten the Flyers four straight times overall and
have claimed the last six meetings in Central Florida. Philadelphia’s last
victory in Tampa came in a shootout win on Feb. 15, 2011.
Former L.A. forward Brayden Schenn scored the game-winning goal against the
Kings with 2:24 remaining in overtime, but the tally only counted after a
video review.
Schenn skated in all alone from the hosts’ side of center ice in the neutral
zone and shot low, but while Kings netminder Jonathan Quick smothered the shot
with his pads, the puck was loose for a second. Schenn made a hard stop in the
crease and the force of covering the rebound pushed Quick into the net with
the puck presumably over the goal line.
The original call did not indicate a goal, but upon a conference of all four
officials plus a brief review, the on-ice decision was overruled, giving the
hosts their third straight victory.
“Yeah, it’s always nice scoring goals and I guess it makes it a little extra
special against LA,” said Schenn, who arrived in Philly as part of a June,
2011 deal. “Didn’t spend a whole lot of time there but it was a big win for
our team and we’ve got to keep this going. We haven’t had an easy schedule for
the beginning of the year so it’s another big two points for us.”
Michael Raffl and Chris VandeVelde also lit the lamp while Jakub Voracek added
a pair of assists for the Flyers, who received 38 saves from Ray Emery.
Voracek has 13 points on the season, tying him with Tyler Toffoli of the Los
Angeles Kings for third in the league rankings,
Emery has been in net for all three wins during the Flyers’ current streak and
he has won four straight decisions overall. He expects to get the call over
Steve Mason again tonight.
Flyers forward Vincent Lecavalier is getting close to returning from a bruised
left foot, but the former Lightning captain isn’t expected to play against his
former team.
Tampa Bay has won three of its last four tilts and the Lightning kicked off a
four-game homestand Tuesday with a 7-3 rout of the Arizona Coyotes. Nikita
Kucherov recorded his first career hat trick to fuel the blowout victory.
Brian Boyle added two goals for the Lightning, and Valtteri Filppula and
Matthew Carle also lit the lamp. Ben Bishop stopped 22-of-25 shots to record
the win.
“It was a good start for us and we were rewarded,” said Boyle. “There were
some plays that guys made that were pretty impressive, big-time plays from
some players. That’s always nice when we finish.”
The victory pushed Tampa’s home record this season to 3-1-1. The Flyers are
2-2-0 as the guest.
Bishop will get the start for the Bolts. He lost his only career outing
against Philadelphia while playing for Ottawa on March 2, 2013.
