The Philadelphia Flyers and Tampa Bay Lightning hold playoff positions as the regular season winds down, but they are going about it in different ways.
The two Eastern Conference clubs meet for the third time this season Saturday night in Tampa, Fla., with each trying to bolster their postseason hopes.
Flyers coach John Tortorella watched his squad strengthen its third-place status in the Metropolitan Division with a last-minute 2-1 victory Thursday over the red-hot Florida Panthers.
Garnet Hathaway put in a rebound off teammate Marc Staal’s long shot for the winning tally with 22 seconds remaining to help Philadelphia keep pace in the postseason chase.
That win left the club with a four-point lead over the suddenly hot fourth-place New York Islanders, who have won five in a row.
The Islanders trail the Lightning by just two points for the No. 2 wild card in the Eastern Conference and have played two fewer games than Tampa Bay and Philadelphia.
Tortorella was impressed after his club slipped past Florida, which had won six straight and 12 of 13 contests.
“I think they care,” Tortorella said of his group, which is 3-1-1 in its past five games. “I think they believe. We’re banged up out there. We are a team. They know that they are a team. They have that belief.”
The Flyers succeeded without defenseman Sean Walker — traded to the Colorado Avalanche along with a 2026 fifth-round pick on Wednesday in exchange for center Ryan Johansen and a conditional 2025 first-round pick.
The Flyers immediately placed Johansen, 31, on waivers, which he cleared. He was then assigned to the club’s AHL affiliate Lehigh Valley.
“We will see if we can give him a chance to go somewhere else,” Philadelphia general manager Daniel Briere said. “We haven’t decided what the future looks like for him yet.”
When asked whether Johansen was part of the franchise’s future, Briere replied, “Probably not.”
The Lightning will look to shake off a 6-3 loss at home to the Calgary Flames, who never trailed and swept the season series.
Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper did not mince words when it came to assessing the defeat after a five-day break that included time off, team get-togethers and just a couple of practices.
“Embarrassing is what it was,” Cooper said after his side allowed five five-on-five tallies. “You couldn’t have laid (the time off) more perfect for them to come out and put on a great show for the fans. And they did the complete opposite.”
The club is 1-4-1 in its past six home matches.
“The execution was horrendous, but the decision-making was probably even worse than that,” Cooper said. “That was a tough one. … The product they put on the ice tonight for our fans was inexcusable.”
Nikita Kucherov’s assist stretched his point streak to seven games, hitting the scoresheet in 18 of his past 19 outings (11 goals, 22 assists).
Tampa Bay acquired fleet winger Anthony Duclair from the San Jose Sharks ahead of Friday’s NHL trade deadline.
Conor Sheary, who broke a 35-game scoreless drought with an assist, said Duclair would be a welcome addition.
“He’s a fast player who can score goals,” Sheary said. “I remember playing against him in Florida. He’s pretty electric. Happy to have him.”
-Field Level Media
