Tampa Bay Lightning has scraped during the last two games, but a matchup with Philadelphia Flyers may be exactly what the doctor ordered.
The Lightning hopes to avoid a third straight defeat on Thursday when they visit Flyers, which aims to snap an even longer ski.
After a distance of 10 wins in 11 matches, Tampa Bay has dropped two in a row with a combined margin of 8-1. They fell behind 3-0 against Carolina Hurricanes on Tuesday and never recovered in a possible 4-1 defeat.
“At the end of the day, it’s a 60-minute game,” said Tampa Bay captain Victor Hedman. “(Hurricanes) is a good team and when you give them chances they come to you.”
The lightning has struggled with turnover in each of the last two games and continues to put goalkeeper Andrei Vasilevskiy in a tough place.
“We can’t pat ourselves on the shoulder and say good jobs,” Hedman told 4-0 to Boston. “We first and foremost hunt a playoffs, but positions in our division are on the way and we want to win as many games as we can to sit in the best possible situation come after the season.”
To add damage to the insult, the lightning leader Nikita Kucherov left Tuesday’s game during the second interruption and did not return. Tampa Bay coach John Cooper had no update after the match.
Kucherov in street clothes would be a welcome sight for Flyers, which will take all the breaks they can get at this time. The team has dropped the first five matches in their seven-game home, including a 5-2 defeat against the Ottawa senators on Tuesday.
Philadelphia has collected only eight goals during its five-game image.
“This is a really frustrating, tough stretch for us,” said the Flyers defender Nick Seeler after the Ottawa loss. “Tonight we competed. Other than the stretch in the other where we allowed them to have too many odd man rush-we have to get it out of our game-I thought we supported the puck much better and [defensemen] Could get up and squeeze really well. We just need to get out of this together. “
One of the Flyers goals was made by defender Jamie Drysdale, who has counted on consecutive matches for the first time in his career. He has three goals in March after coming in the month with only two of the season.
“I feel pretty confident about my game,” Drysdale said. “But when we say that we as a team must win and I can still be much better. Made a bunch of mistakes defensively, caused a couple of chances against.”
This is the second of three meetings between Lightning and Flyers this season. Philadelphia published a 2-1 victory on November 7 when Owen Tippett made late in regulation and then Shootout clinics.
The team meets again Monday in Tampa Bay.
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