The Tampa Bay Lightning will open a three-game homestand Thursday night when they match up with the Philadelphia Flyers for the first time this season.
During a four-game road trek through the heart of the Western Conference’s Central Division, Tampa Bay opened with a resounding 5-2 win at Colorado on Oct. 30 that featured the first multi-goal game of the season from newly acquired forward Jake Guentzel.
But as the trip continued north, the Lightning’s record went south.
The decline started with two poor showings: A 5-3 loss at Minnesota on Friday and a 7-4 unraveling in Winnipeg on Sunday after taking a 2-0 lead eight minutes into the game.
Tampa Bay’s trip closed with a thud in a 3-2 loss to St. Louis on Tuesday. Nikita Kucherov recorded two assists against the Blues and has tallied a point in all eight of the Lightning’s road games this season.
Top center Brayden Point left the Winnipeg contest eight minutes in after he made it 2-0 with a power-play goal, his eighth tally this season. Captain Victor Hedman notched his 582nd career assist on the goal, tying him with former captain Steven Stamkos for second on the franchise’s all-time list, which Martin St. Louis tops with 588.
Point, who had 90 points (46 goals, 44 assists) last season, including 12 game-winning goals, is listed as day-to-day with a lower-body injury. While Point may have avoided serious injury, his absence remains a key concern.
“I mean, he’s just a high elite player, so whenever you lose a player like that, the guys got to step up,” Guentzel said. “You know injuries are part of the game, so (we’ve) just got to move on, and next man up.”
Added Cooper before Tuesday’s Blues matchup: “We’ll just take it one game at a time.”
Forward Gage Goncalves, 23, was recalled from AHL Syracuse and drew in for Point on Tuesday.
Philadelphia opened a three-game road trip through the South with a crushing 6-4 loss at Carolina on Tuesday. The Flyers pulled even at 4-4 midway through the third period on Travis Konecny’s second goal of the game, but a loose puck in front of goaltender Aleksei Kolosov turned into trouble in the final minute of regulation.
Somehow, the bouncing puck eluded Philadelphia’s Travis Sanheim and Bobby Brink and found its way onto the stick of Martin Necas. The NHL’s Second Star of the Week then buried his seventh tally of the season for the go-ahead goal with 31 seconds left. Seth Jarvis’ empty-netter provided the final margin of 6-4.
The loss was the Flyers’ third in five games (2-3-0) and spoiled a solid performance by Konecny, who added two assists. His four-point game was one shy of his season-high, which he set with a goal and four assists in a 7-5 home win over Minnesota on Oct. 26.
With top netminder Samuel Ersson out with a lower-body injury, Belarusian backstop Kolosov started against Carolina on Tuesday and allowed five goals on 34 shots as the Hurricanes went on to their seventh straight victory.
The 22-year-old impressed Philadelphia coach John Tortorella after making 20 saves in his second outing this season, a 3-0 home loss to Boston on Saturday.
“He has some personality to his game,” Tortorella said. “Some fight. That’s what I have liked so far.”
After facing Tampa Bay, the Flyers will visit the Florida Panthers to complete the three-game trip.
