Tampa Bay has its own early-season problems. The Lightning lost 5-1 at Madison Square Garden in their opener and went 0-for-7 on the power play. Kucherov scored their only goal. They also gave up an empty-netter to Igor Shesterkin, the first goalie goal in Rangers history. Jon Cooper said afterward that there was 'limited pushback' and that it's 'not a staple of what's gone on in this room.' Brandon Hagel said it was one game, and the home opener backed him up.
In front of their own fans, the Lightning beat Washington 3-1. They scored twice in the 1st period, gave one back in the 2nd and put it away in the 3rd. Washington was on the second night of a back-to-back, coming off a 5-2 win over Carolina. The night also had some history attached. Andrei Vasilevskiy was in line for his 600th career game, and John Carlson faced the Capitals for the first time after 17 seasons in their organization and a trade to Tampa last March.
Both teams have a day off before this one, so neither has a schedule excuse. The difference is what each team needs to fix. Tampa's problem is a power play that hasn't clicked yet, which a top unit can fix in one night. Philadelphia's problem is in its own end, and the 3 games so far have been a 7-goal blowout followed by 2 late collapses. Tampa also remembers last fall, when it started 1-4-2 and still finished with 106 points, so the Lightning won't panic over one loss. The Flyers can't talk themselves out of 3 losses the same way.
The Flyers' injury list hits the blue line hardest, and the blue line is already their weak spot. Rasmus Ristolainen is day-to-day, and Helge Grans is on the non-roster injured list with a lower-body injury, so the defensive depth Tocchet is trying to fix is thinner than he'd like. Denver Barkey (lower body) is on injured reserve and Nikita Grebenkin missed the Carolina game. Tampa is missing 2 centers, Yanni Gourde (hip) and Dominic James (hand), but both have been out since camp, so the Lightning built their lineup without them. Puck drop is 7:00 PM ET.