Following a week on the road that featured all three possible outcomes, the Tampa Bay Lightning find themselves with work to do — starting against a team that just beat them.
For the second time in five days, the Lightning, tied for second in the Atlantic Division, will play Philadelphia as they host former Tampa Bay coach John Tortorella’s Flyers on Monday night.
In Thursday’s matchup in Philadelphia, the Lightning owned much of the possession, but Owen Tippett’s game-winner in the shootout’s fifth round handed the Flyers a 4-3 victory, breaking their five-game skid (0-5-0).
“In the end, we left a lot of plays on the table,” said Lightning coach Jon Cooper, citing his club’s passing up of shots against the Flyers. “Ultimately, you do that and the game’s in the balance and you lose the extra point.”
The Lightning went 1-1-1 on their three-game road trip. They salvaged a victory Saturday night in a 6-2 outcome in Boston that had the home crowd booing the Bruins, who blanked Tampa Bay 4-0 a week ago in Florida.
The four-goal margin in the trip’s finale was more like it, especially for a squad that is 12-3-2 since Jan. 30 and pursuing a top seed in the playoffs.
“Nothing fazed (us),” Cooper said after his group held Boston without a shot in the second period.
Anthony Cirelli scored twice, giving him 22 goals and reaching a career-high 47 points.
While the Flyers’ playoff chances have dwindled, Tortorella received a boost from a source that is a popular name among the orange-clad Philly faithful — Bobby Brink.
A right wing, the 23-year-old Brink has expanded his game and shown he can be a reliable forward in Tortorella’s demanding approach.
The 5-foot-8 Brink produced two goals and an assist in the win over Tampa Bay and has 10 tallies and 22 assists in 65 matches to go along with 88 hits.
“Bobby has been playing good, period. He just hasn’t finished,” Tortorella said of Brink, selected 34th overall by the Flyers in 2019. “He just hasn’t scored. But he has taken a huge step in his development. The part for me is how hard he plays away from the puck. … He works so hard away from the puck, that helps his offense.”
Tortorella recently switched Brink off the first line, with left winger Tyson Foerster and pivot Noah Cates, to the third grouping centered by Ryan Poehling and featuring third-year winger Olle Lycksell, who has played in just 37 NHL games.
Brink reminds Tortorella of a player he coached on the Columbus Blue Jackets who will be on the Lightning bench Monday.
“I liken Bobby to Oliver Bjorkstrand,” Tortorella said. “Oliver’s a shooter who had to learn to play harder. Oliver learned from (Artemi) Panarin, who has one of the heaviest sticks in the game. Oliver learned a lot from him then.”
Bjorkstrand has 17 goals and 21 helpers overall this season but has potted just one in five games since being acquired by Tampa Bay from Seattle.
Meanwhile, the Metropolitan Division’s best line has been Philadelphia’s second one with Tippett (19 goals), Sean Couturier (10) and rookie Matvei Michkov (20).
On Saturday, the Carolina Hurricanes beat Philadelphia 5-0 to sweep the three-game season series. The Flyers were shut out for the sixth time overall.
–Field Level Media
