The Tampa Bay Lightning and Philadelphia Flyers will try to jump back into the playoff race when the two squads face off on Monday.
With 25 points, the Lightning is currently 6 points out of eighth place and seven out of the top spot in the division. Despite going 3-7-0 in their last 10 games, the Lightning were able to put together one of their best efforts on Saturday against the Carolina Hurricanes. The 4-1 victory featured no points from superstar Steven Stamkos, but rookies Tyler Johnson and Ondrej Palat each scored their first national hockey league goals. "From the their first shift on the ice, they were everywhere," Lightning coach Guy Boucher said of the rookies. "We knew they were skilled, we knew they were fast and we knew that they worked hard."
"I'm pleased with the result," the coach added. "We've played this way in 14 of our last 16 games, but we just didn't get the result. So, I was pleased tonight."
The Flyers are coming off a huge victory against the New Jersey Devils. The team had lost the first of the home and home 5-2 but managed a solid 2-1 shootout victory in the second With 27 points, the Flyers are four points out of a playoff spot.
"I think from this point on for us they are only going to be must win [games]," forward Danny Briere said. "Sadly we've put ourselves in a rough spot. There's no other way around it. We're not going to be allowed to drop too many games from here going out. I wish we could change some of the outcomes especially in the last week, but we can't change that anymore we've got to move forward."
Predictions: Tampa Bay wins 4-2.
Start Time: 7:30 PM EST
TV: NBCSN, RDS, TSN, CSN-PH